1. Islamic Arts

2. Arts of the Object Ceramics Metalwork Glass Woodwork Textiles Architecture Tombs Mosques The Arts of the Book Calligraphy Illustration Principal Arts

3. Arts of the Object

4. Main Styles of Islamic Art • Geometric • Calligraphic • Organic/Figural • Medallions

5. Geometric • Based on mathematical shapes

6. Calligraphic • Uses Arabic script as the focal point of a design Marble foundation stone from Egypt

7. Organic/Figural • Identifiedby: • Curving lines • Humans or animal • Flowers or vines

8. Medallion • Central image that is more important than other elements of the design

9. Pop Quiz Identify the Style

10. Which Style? Geometric

11. Which Style? • Organic/Figural • Can you see the bird?

12. Which Style? • Medallion Style

13. Which Style? • Calligraphic • “Science, its taste is bitter at the beginning but, at the end, sweeter than honey.”

14. Arabo-Andalusian Music What to listen for: • Timbre • Lute • Improvisation • Microtones • Quarter step above the previous note • Arabic music has 17 notes • Meter/Tempo Lute

16. Architecture

17. Petra • Rock Tomb • Hellenistic similarities • What movie? • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Frontal view of the Khaznet-Fir`awn (the Treasury of Pharoah), a second century A.D. rock tomb in Petra.

18. Three Styles of Mosques

19. Hypostyle Mosque • Prayer hall is formed of rows of columns • Usually multiple columns vertically • Dominant style in the early period Hypostyle Hall of the Mosque of the Umayyad, Damascus

20. Central-Dome Mosque • Prayer hall's space is dominated by a central dome surrounded by smaller and lower semi-domes. The Selimiyye Mosque in Edirne

21. Iwan Mosque • Prayer hall is an iwan, or up to four iwans, surrounding a courtyard. • Most popular type in the medieval period Two of the Four Iwan of the Friday Mosque in Isfahan

22. Minaret, a tower from which criers call the prayers.

23. The Dome of the Rock(Qubbat al-Sakhra)

24. The Dome of the Rock(Qubbat al-Sakhra) View of the interior of the Dome of the Rock, showing the inner ambulatory arcade.

25. Ka'ba in MeccaMasjid al-Haram • Center of worship and pilgrimage • The qibla towards which worshippers face when praying.

26. Arts of the Book

27. Calligraphy • Calligraphy – beautiful writing • The most revered form of artistic expression in the Islamic world • Word of God in visual form

28. Characteristics of Calligraphy • Earliest form of Arabic script was called Kufic script. • Pages from the Koran, Syria or Iraq. 9th century • Ink, pigments, and gold on vellum, 8” x 11 ½”

29. Qur'an (Koran) • The red dots above and below the letters indicate accents • The medallion in the margin signifies a text division

30. Illustrations