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Essay On Islamic Art

Nature of Islamic Art Islamic art does not only describe the art created in the service of Muslim faith (for example, a mosque and its furnishings) but also include the art produced in the lands ruled by Muslims, produced for Muslim patrons, or created by Muslim artists. “As it is not only a religion but a way of life, Islam fostered the development of a distinctive culture with its own unique artistic language that is reflected in art and architecture throughout the Muslim world”1. The Islamic art was influenced greatly by the preexisting artistic traditions of the conquer lands ruled by Muslims, beside those artists who worked under Byzantine or Sasanian patronage continued to work in their own styles but for Muslim patrons, influencing the Islamic art to rely on earlier …show more content…

“With its geographic spread and long history, Islamic art was inevitably subject to a wide range of regional and even national styles and influences as well as changes within the various periods of its development. It is all the more remarkable then that, even under these circumstances, Islamic art has always retained its intrinsic quality and unique identity. Just as the religion of Islam embodies a way of life and serves as a cohesive force among ethnically and culturally diverse peoples, the art produced by and for Muslim societies has basic identifying and unifying characteristics.”2 Islamic art is usually classified in literature and museums according to the dynasty reigning when the work of art was produced, beginning with the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties that governed a vast and unified Islamic state, and concluding with the more regional, though powerful, dynasties such as the safavids, Ottomans and Mughals. Islamic art is also identified by searching for the four basic components of Islamic ornament. Calligraphy is the most highly regarded and most fundamental element of Islamic art. It is significant that the Qur’an, the book of God’s revelations to the

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Islamic Art Essay

Art is the mirror of any culture and its worldly views. The art of Muslim world mirrors its social values and uncovers the way Muslims see the spiritual domain and the universe. Muslims all over the world embrace the identical system of belief and each one of them is well familiar with the spiritual connection regardless of nationwide, racial differences or conflicts. They consider themselves to be Muslim as a matter of paramount importance. This strong sense of identity and stability inclined en route for a high level of societal and richest artistic traditionalism. Islamic art has persistently validated its dimensions for the innovative reinterpretation of the existed forms of art and one of the innovations is Islamic Wall Art. Islamic …show more content…

Geometric and vegetative motifs are widespread all the way through the lands where Islam was once or still is a dominant religion with its cultural force. Islamic art is seen appearing in the private palaces and buildings such as the Alhambra in Spain in addition to the detailed metal work of Safavid Iran. Similarly, certain building architecture appears throughout the Muslim world: masjids with their minarets, mausoleums, gardens and religious schools (madrasas) all shares mutuality, though, their forms fluctuate …show more content…

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While reading “The Trouble with (the Term) Art,” written by Carolyn Dean in the summer of 2006, we are taken through an array of different scenarios that lead us to questions what art really is. Dean explores the idea that the word “art” is used far too often and too habitually, and that as we study the non-Western cultures we need to use much more discretion regarding what we call the different pieces of their culture. Throughout the essay, Dean supports her thesis that we too often categorize non-Western pieces as art by using different examples of how certain non-art pieces were deemed as art throughout the course of their history. Dean does this by using four key examples of how these ancient pieces are inappropriately called art to successfully support her thesis and avoid biases.

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Calligraphy in islamic art.

Bowl Emulating Chinese Stoneware

Bowl Emulating Chinese Stoneware

Folio from the

Folio from the "Blue Qur'an"

Tiraz Textile Fragment

Tiraz Textile Fragment

Bowl with Arabic Inscription

Bowl with Arabic Inscription

Bifolium from the

Bifolium from the "Nurse's Qur'an" (Mushaf al-Hadina)

Mirror

Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript

Mosque Lamp for the Mausoleum of Amir Aydakin al-'Ala'i al-Bunduqdar

Mosque Lamp for the Mausoleum of Amir Aydakin al-'Ala'i al-Bunduqdar

Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript

Architectural Tile with Partial Inscription

Panel of Four Calligraphic Tiles

Panel of Four Calligraphic Tiles

Section of a Qur'an Manuscript

Section of a Qur'an Manuscript

Copied by `Umar Aqta'

Helmet with Aventail

Helmet with Aventail

Dedicatory Inscription from a Mosque

Dedicatory Inscription from a Mosque

Ceramic Vessel in the Shape of a Mosque Lamp

Ceramic Vessel in the Shape of a Mosque Lamp

Tughra (Insignia) of Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66)

Tughra (Insignia) of Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66)

Calligraphic Roundel, inscribed

Calligraphic Roundel, inscribed "Ya 'Aziz" (Oh Mighty)

essay on islamic art

"Calligraphic Composition in Shape of Peacock," Folio from the Bellini Album

Department of Islamic Art , The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2001

Calligraphy is the most highly regarded and most fundamental element of Islamic art . It is significant that the Qur’an , the book of God’s revelations to the Prophet Muhammad , was transmitted in Arabic, and that inherent within the Arabic script is the potential for developing a variety of ornamental forms. The employment of calligraphy as ornament had a definite aesthetic appeal but often also included an underlying talismanic component. While most works of art had legible inscriptions, not all Muslims would have been able to read them. One should always keep in mind, however, that calligraphy is principally a means to transmit a text, albeit in a decorative form.

Objects from different periods and regions vary in the use of calligraphy in their overall design, demonstrating the creative possibilities of calligraphy as ornament. In some cases, calligraphy is the dominant element in the decoration. In these examples, the artist exploits the inherent possibilities of the Arabic script to create writing as ornament. An entire word can give the impression of random brushstrokes, or a single letter can develop into a decorative knot. In other cases, highly esteemed calligraphic works on paper are themselves ornamented and enhanced by their decorative frames or backgrounds. Calligraphy can also become part of an overall ornamental program, clearly separated from the rest of the decoration. In some examples, calligraphy can be combined with vegetal scrolls on the same surface, though often on different levels, creating an interplay of decorative elements.

Department of Islamic Art. “Calligraphy in Islamic Art.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cali/hd_cali.htm (October 2001)

Further Reading

Blair, Sheila S. Islamic Calligraphy . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.

Grabar, Oleg. The Mediation of Ornament . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.

Additional Essays by Department of Islamic Art

  • Department of Islamic Art. “ The Art of the Almoravid and Almohad Periods (ca. 1062–1269) .” (October 2001)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ Turkmen Jewelry .” (August 2011)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ The Art of the Umayyad Period in Spain (711–1031) .” (October 2001)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ The Nature of Islamic Art .” (October 2001)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ Vegetal Patterns in Islamic Art .” (October 2001)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ Figural Representation in Islamic Art .” (October 2001)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ Geometric Patterns in Islamic Art .” (October 2001)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ The Art of the Mughals before 1600 .” (October 2002)
  • Department of Islamic Art. “ The Art of the Nasrid Period (1232–1492) .” (October 2002)

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List of Rulers

  • List of Rulers of the Islamic World
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  • Anatolia and the Caucasus, 1600–1800 A.D.
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  • Central and North Asia, 1400–1600 A.D.
  • Central and North Asia, 500–1000 A.D.
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  • Iberian Peninsula, 1000–1400 A.D.
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  • Iraq (Mesopotamia), 500–1000 A.D.
  • South Asia, 1400–1600 A.D.
  • South Asia, 1600–1800 A.D.
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Arts of the Islamic world

Taj Mahal, Agra, India (photo: David Castor)

Taj Mahal, Agra, India (photo: David Castor )

What is Islamic Art?

The Dome of the Rock , the Taj Mahal , a Mina’i ware bowl, a silk carpet , a Qur‘an ; all of these are examples of Islamic art. But what is Islamic art?

Islamic art is a modern concept, created by art historians in the nineteenth century to categorize and study the material first produced under the Islamic peoples that emerged from Arabia in the seventh century.

Today Islamic art describes all of the arts that were produced in the lands where Islam was the dominant religion or the religion of those who ruled. Unlike the terms Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist art, which refer only to religious art of these faiths, Islamic art is not used merely to describe religious art or architecture, but applies to all art forms produced in the Islamic World.

Thus, Islamic art refers not only to works created by Muslim artists, artisans, and architects or for Muslim patrons. It encompasses the works created by Muslim artists for a patron of any faith, including Christians, Jews, or Hindus, and the works created by Jews, Christians, and others, living in Islamic lands, for patrons, Muslim and otherwise.

One of the most famous monuments of Islamic art is the Taj Mahal, a royal mausoleum, located in Agra, India. Hinduism is majority religion in India; however, because Muslim rulers, most famously the Mughals , dominated large areas of modern-day India for centuries, India has a vast range of Islamic art and architecture. The Great Mosque of Xi’an , China, is one of the oldest and best preserved mosques in China. First constructed in 742 C.E., the mosque’s current form dates to the fifteenth century C.E. and follows the plan and architecture of a contemporary Buddhist temple. In fact, much Islamic art and architecture was—and still is—created through a synthesis of local traditions and more global ideas.

View of the Great Mosque of Xi'an, Shaanxi, China (photo: Alex Berger, CC BY-NC 2.0)

View of the Great Mosque of Xi’an, Shaanxi, China (photo: Alex Berger , CC BY-NC 2.0)

Islamic art is not a monolithic style or movement; it spans 1,300 years of history and has incredible geographic diversity—Islamic empires and dynasties controlled territory from Spain to western China at various points in history. However, few if any of these various countries or Muslim empires would have referred to their art as Islamic. An artisan in Damascus thought of his work as Syrian or Damascene—not as Islamic.

As a result of thinking about the problems of calling such art Islamic, certain scholars and major museums, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, have decided to omit the term Islamic when they renamed their new galleries of Islamic art. Instead, they are called “Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia,” thereby stressing the regional styles and individual cultures. Thus, when using the phrase, Islamic art, one should know that it is a useful, but artificial, concept.

In some ways, Islamic art is a bit like referring to the Italian Renaissance. During the Renaissance, there was no unified Italy; it was a land of independent city-states. No one would have thought of one’s self as an Italian, or of the art they produced as Italian, rather one conceived of one’s self as a Roman, a Florentine, or a Venetian. Each city developed a highly local, remarkable style. At the same time, there are certain underlying themes or similarities that unify the art and architecture of these cities and allow scholars to speak of an Italian Renaissance.

Qur'an fragment, in Arabic, before 911, vellum, MS M. 712, fols 19v-20r, 23 x 32 cm, possibly Iraq (The Morgan Library and Museum, New York)

Qur’an fragment , in Arabic, before 911, vellum, MS M. 712, fols 19v-20r, 23 x 32 cm, possibly Iraq ( The Morgan Library and Museum , New York)

Similarly, there are themes and types of objects that link the arts of the Islamic World together. Calligraphy is a very important art form in the Islamic world. The Qur’an, written in elegant scripts, represents Allah’s (or God’s) divine word, which Muhammad received directly from Allah during his visions. Quranic verses, executed in calligraphy, are found on many different forms of art and architecture. Likewise, poetry can be found on everything from ceramic bowls to the walls of houses. Calligraphy’s omnipresence underscores the value that is placed on language, specifically Arabic.

Geometric and vegetative motifs are very popular throughout the lands where Islam was once or still is a major religion and cultural force, appearing in the private palaces of buildings such as the Alhambra (in Spain) as well as in the detailed metal work of Safavid Iran . Likewise, certain building types appear throughout the Muslim world: mosques with their minarets , mausolea, gardens, and madrasas (religious schools) are all common. However, their forms vary greatly.

Bathing scene on west wall of west aisle of audience hall, Qasr ‘Amra, c. 730, Jordan (photo: Sean Leatherbury/Manar al-Athar)

Bathing scene on west wall of west aisle of audience hall, Qasr ‘Amra, c. 730, Jordan (photo: Sean Leatherbury/Manar al-Athar)

One of the most common misconceptions about the art of the Islamic world is that it is aniconic; that is, the art does not contain representations of humans or animals. Religious art and architecture, almost from the earliest examples, such as the Dome of the Rock, the Aqsa Mosque (both in Jerusalem), and the Great Mosque of Damascus , built under the Umayyad rulers, did not include human figures and animals. However, the private residences of sovereigns, such as Qasr ‘Amra or Khirbat Mafjar, were filled with vast figurative paintings, mosaics, and sculpture.

The study of the arts of the Islamic world has also lagged behind other fields in art history. There are several reasons for this. First, many scholars are not familiar with Arabic or Farsi (the dominant language in Iran). Calligraphy, particularly Arabic calligraphy, as noted above, is a major art form and appears on almost all types of architecture and arts. Second, the art forms and objects prized in the Islamic world do not correspond to those traditionally valued by art historians and collectors in the Western world. The so-called decorative arts—carpets, ceramics, metalwork, and books—are types of art that Western scholars have traditionally valued less than painting and sculpture. However, the last fifty years has seen a flourishing of scholarship on the arts of the Islamic world.

Medallion Carpet, The Ardabil Carpet, unknown artist (Maqsud Kashani is named on the carpet's inscription), Persian: Safavid Dynasty, silk warps and wefts with wool pile (25 million knots, 340 per sq. inch), 1539–40 C.E., Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan or Kirman, Iran (Virginia & Albert Museum, London)

Medallion Carpet, The Ardabil Carpet , unknown artist (Maqsud Kashani is named on the carpet’s inscription), Persian: Safavid Dynasty, silk warps and wefts with wool pile (25 million knots, 340 per sq. inch), 1539–40 C.E., Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan or Kirman, Iran (Virginia & Albert Museum, London)

Here, we have decided to use the phrase “arts of the Islamic world” to emphasize the art that was created in a world where Islam was a dominant religion or a major cultural force, but was not necessarily religious art. Often when the word “Islamic” is used today, it is used to describe something religious; thus using the phrase, Islamic art, potentially implies, mistakenly, that all of this art is religious in nature. The phrase, “arts of the Islamic world,” also acknowledges that not all of the work produced in the “Islamic world” was for Muslims or was created by Muslims.

Note on organization from the contributing editor

We have organized the material in this section into three chronological periods: early , medieval and late . When starting to learn about a new area of art, chronological organization often enables students to grasp the material and its fundamentals before going on to more complex analysis, like comparing building types or styles. Within each of these chronological groups, we have focused on creating geographic groups or groupings to organize the material further. The Islamic world was only unified very briefly in its history under the Umayyads (661–750 C.E.) and the early Abbasids (750–932 C.E.). Soon various dynasties or rulers simultaneously commanded sections of territory, many of which had no cultural commonalities, aside from their religion.

We are also planning to upload a series of introductory essays on major types of art and architecture from the Islamic world, including carpets and mosques, in addition to essays and videos about specific works of art and architecture. These are forthcoming.

Arabic, Persian and Turkish are complex languages whose transcription from their respective scripts to English has changed considerably over time. For the sake of ease, we have used the most common forms today, omitting the vocalizations. While we have aimed for consistency, we have also tried to use the simplest forms for those who are new to the arts of the Islamic world.

Bibliography

Bloom, Jonathan, and Sheila Blair, Islamic Arts (London: Phaidon Press, 1997).

The Nature of Islamic Art on The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Archnet , a resource focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation issues related to the Muslim world.

Islamic Art reading list from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Images for teaching and learning

Smarthistory images for teaching and learning:.

[flickr_tags user_id=”82032880@N00″ tags=”IslamicWorld,”]

More Smarthistory images…

Important fundamentals

Read a Reframing Art History chapter on Framing Islamic Art

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Essays on Islamic Art

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A Report on Islamic Art: Architecture

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  1. The Nature of Islamic Art | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum ...

    Islamic Art and Architecture, 650–1250. 2d ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Additional Essays by Department of Islamic Art. Department of Islamic Art. “The Art of the Almoravid and Almohad Periods (ca. 1062–1269).” (October 2001) Department of Islamic Art. “Turkmen Jewelry.” (August 2011)

  2. Essay On Islamic Art - 1067 Words | Internet Public Library

    Islamic art also illustrates the concepts of different historical events that have taken place, and gives the particular art pieces a meaning. Islamic art as a whole is generally too abstract to enable the beholder to read a clear message into it. Another characteristic feature of Islamic art is that many motifs and patterns are found in a wide ...

  3. Essay On Islamic Art - 1693 Words - bartleby

    Essay on Progression Of Islamic Art There exist three basic components of traditional Islamic art: calligraphy, geometric patterns, and floral and vegetal motifs. These three stylistic tools are beautifully rendered and masterfully integrated into complex works of art, but there is no question that artistic expression is severely limited under ...

  4. Islamic Art Essay - 1005 Words | Internet Public Library

    Islamic art has persistently validated its dimensions for the innovative reinterpretation of the existed forms of art and one of the innovations is Islamic Wall Art. Islamic …show more content… Geometric and vegetative motifs are widespread all the way through the lands where Islam was once or still is a dominant religion with its cultural ...

  5. Figural Representation in Islamic Art | Essay | The ...

    Ornamentation in Islamic art came to include figural representations in its decorative vocabulary, drawn from a variety of sources. Although the often cited opposition in Islam to the depiction of human and animal forms holds true for religious art and architecture, in the secular sphere such representations have flourished in nearly all ...

  6. The Development of Islamic Art [Free Essay Sample], 975 words ...

    This essay is an assessment of the collaborative nature of artists and art workshops in the pre-modern Islamic world. The paper will highlight the practices and the significance of the process of album-making, the importance of contributing artists, and the standard Islamic art style and representations.

  7. Calligraphy in Islamic Art | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum ...

    Calligraphy is the most highly regarded and most fundamental element of Islamic art. It is significant that the Qur’an , the book of God’s revelations to the Prophet Muhammad , was transmitted in Arabic, and that inherent within the Arabic script is the potential for developing a variety of ornamental forms.

  8. Smarthistory – Arts of the Islamic world

    But what is Islamic art? Islamic art is a modern concept, created by art historians in the nineteenth century to categorize and study the material first produced under the Islamic peoples that emerged from Arabia in the seventh century. Today Islamic art describes all of the arts that were produced in the lands where Islam was the dominant ...

  9. Islamic Art in the Western World | Essay

    Islamic art is a vibrant and distinctive form of Art. Unlike Christian art, Islamic art is not constrained to religious work, but includes artistic traditions in the Muslim culture. Because of the strict ruling against drawings of human or animals which might result in idol worship, Islamic art developed a distinctive character makes use of ...

  10. Essays on Islamic Art Free Examples of ... - GradesFixer

    Calligraphy, derived from the Greek words “kallos” (beauty) and “graphein” (to write), is the art of beautiful writing. It has played a significant role in various cultures throughout history, including Islamic culture. Islamic calligraphy, also known as “khatt,” holds immense importance in Islamic art and...