Kaaba Shrine

Pre-Islamic Period, Architecture

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Early Islamic & Ummayyad Art

-Represented the divine presence

-Worshiped by many cults

-Mohammad claimed the site for Islam

-Changed from a communal shrine to an Abrahmic shrine, commemorating Abrahams sacrifice of Ishmael.

Early Mosque

Early Islamic Period, Architecture

Kufa, Iran

Features of an early mosque:

Qibla wall, Mihrab niche, Sahn courtyard, Wudhu fountain, Hypostyle hall.

Early Islamic & Ummayyad Art

-Modified caravansarai, based on the house of the prophet.

-Hypostyle hall, quibla wall, mihrab niche for payer.

Coins of Abd al-Malik

Pre-Reform & Post-Reform Period, bronze, gold.

Early Islamic & Ummayyad Art

-Coinage required as Islam became an empire.

-Mimics Persian and Byzantine coins.

-Islam creates their own identity using Islamic text to represent Ala abstractly, wihout idolatry.

Haram al-Sharif (Dome of the Rock)

Abd al-Malik, Umayyad Period, Architecture

Jerusalem.

Early Islamic & Ummayyad Art

-First true Islamic monument

-Superposition--built on top of the temple mount which was sacred to Jews and Christians.

-Octogonal form, basically a Christian church with a dome, appropriated to Islamic style.

-Commemorates the rock from which Mohammad begane his night journey-associated with the journey for political reasons.

-Book-matched split marble decoration.

-Decorated by Byzantine artists.

-Introduction of decorative Islamic script.

-God is not begat nor begets-challenging Christian sensibility so Muslims could feel ownership of their own monument.

-Decorated with votive crowns representing converted nations.

-Vegetal motifs represent Islamic paradise.

Great Mosque of Damascus

Al Walid, Umayyad Period, Architecture

Damascus.

Early Islamic & Ummayyad Art

-First capital of the Umayyad Califait.

-Superposition-Built on top of the Christian church of John the Baptist, which was built on top of a Roman temple.

-Mimics Byzantine palace architecture.

-Spoilia-columns taken from other historic monuments-shows dominion and connection to the past.

-Columns weren't tall enough, so they put arches on top of the columns and added more columns on top of the arches. This became a classic Islamic mosque freature.

-Covered in mosaics, non-figural decoration.

Khirbet al-Mafjar

Al Walid, Umayyad Period, Architecture

Jordan.

Early Islamic & Ummayyad Art

-Umayyad pleasure palace.

-Extravagant entryway to the bath house.

-Geometric ornament seen here with caligraphic and arabesque.

-Not a mosque, so figural decorations are allowed.

-Private throne room in back.

Great Mosque of Cordoba

Al-Andalus, Islamic Umayyad Spain Period, Architecture

Cordoba, Spain.

Al-Andalus (Islamic Umayyad Spain)

-Spain remains Islamic due to one surviving Umayyad prince.

-Demonstrates the luxurious second flourishing of the Umayyads in Spain.

-Superposition-Built on top of a Christian church-later the Christians built a church in the middle of the mosque.

-Use of spolia.

-Low, flat, columned space represents the egalitarian nature of Islam.

-Mihrab includes caligraphic, geometric, and vegetal decoration.

Pyxis of Al-Mughira

Islamic Umayyad Spain Period, ivory

Lourve, Paris.

Al-Andalus (Islamic Umayyad Spain)

-Umayyad Spain exported many luxury goods.

-Shows courtly scenes, music, animals, wrestling.

Plan of Baghdad

Abbasid Period, Architecture

Baghdad, Iraq.

Abbasid Art

-Capital of the Abbasid empire.

-Conceptual city.

-A microcosm of the utopia of the Abbasid califait.

The Mosque of al-Mutawakkil

Abbasid Period, Architecture

Samarra, Iraq.

(Minaret)

Abbasid Art

-Gigantic mosque.

-Minarat is developed for the call to prayer, and to show the mosque on the horizon.

Mosque of Kairouan

Abassid Period, (Aghlabid N. Africa), Architecture

Kairouan, Tunisia.

(Minaret, Mihrab with ceramic tiles, Wooden Minbar pulpit)

Abbasid Art

-Earliest surviving minaret.

-Earliest example of a minbar

-Made use of imported wood and tile.

Coronation Robe of Roger II of Sicily (Tiraz)

Abbasid Period, Gold Brocaded Silk

Imperial Treasury, Vienna

Abbasid Art

-Abbasid luxury good.

-Gold thread woven into a silk broquade.

-Only surviving example of Tiraz

Mausoleum of Imam Dur

Abbasid Period, Brick & Stucco

Iraq.

(Murqarnas)

Abbasid Art

-Abbasid is the period of classical thought, including the study of geometry and repeated complexity.

-Geometry represents the complexity, order, and union of Ala.

-Mukarna-articulated squinch, complex stacking of niches forming stalagtite vaults.

-Stalagtite Vaults become a defining feature of Muslim architecture.

Ibn al-Bawwab, Quran

Abbasid Period, Manuscript

Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.

Abbasid Art

-Example of caligraphy changing to a more open style.

-Shows the integration of caligraphy with geometry and arabesque design.

Folio from the “Blue” Quran

Fatimid Period, Dyed Parchment & Gold Lettering

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Fatimid

-Egypt breaks off from the Abbasid califait, forming the Fatimid califait which is known for its luxury goods.

-Demonstration of luxurious cufic script.

Mosque, Madrassa and Mausoleum Complex of Sultan Hassan

Mamluk Period, Limestone

Cairo, Egypt.

Mamluk

-Slave culture that became rulers.

-Last Arab Islamic kingdom.

-Three-tiered minaret developed-became the classic minaret.

-Four Iwan plan-very different plan-Iwan porches, persian influence.

-Tomb attached to an Islamic building because tombs aren't allowed in Islamic culture.

-Polychromatic decoration.

Quran of Baybars II

Mamluk Period, Manuscript

British Library, London.

Mamluk

-Mamluk Luxury good.

-Perfect example of the use of Islamic decorative principles-geometry, arabesque, and caligraphy.

-Extreme complexity and detail.

Great Mosque of Isfahan

Seljuq foundation, Ilkhanid & Timurid additions, Architecture

Isfahan, Iran.

Ilkhanid and Timurid Art

-Mongols conquer Baghdad and convert to Islam.

-Write themselves into the history.

-Four iwan style mosque.

-Demonstrates all Islamic decoration methods.

-Seljuq foundation-expanded by the Ilkanids and Timurids.

Shahnama Folio, Iskandar (Alexander the Great) at the Talking Tree

Ilkhanid Period, Ink on Paper

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Ilkhanid and Timurid Art

-Book arts greatly expanded by the Ilkanid.

-Sanama-Book of Kings.

-Rulers depicted as Mongols.

-Breaking the frame of composition.

Aq Saray Palace

Timurid Period, Brick and Tile

Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan.

Ilkhanid and Timurid Art

-Known as the Emerald city.

-Massive double iwan.

Khusraw at Shirin castle

Timurid Period, Ink and gold on paper

Freer and Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington D.C.

-Page from the Khamsa of Nizami, from Tabriz

-Castle breaking the border of the composition common of Timurid style

Ilkhanid and Timurid Art

-Mix of flat and dimensional art.

-Chinese influence.

-Breaks the frame of composition.

The Alhambra Palace

Nasrid Dynasty, Stucco & Architecture

Granada, Spain.

Nasrid Spain

Sulemaniye Camii (Mosque)

Mimar Sinan, Ottoman Period, Architecture

Istanbul, Turkey.

Ottoman Art

Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent

Ottoman Period, Ink, watercolor and gold on paper

Freer and Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington D.C.

Ottoman Art

Taj Mahal

Mughal Period, Sandstone and Marble

Agra, India.

Mughal and Deccan Sultanate Art

The Conference of the Birds

Safavid Period, Opaque watercolor, ink, silver, gold on paper

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Safavid Art

Bronze Heads of Rulers

14^th C., Yoruba Culture, Bronze

Various Collections

Sub-Saharan Africa

West Africa

Yoruba

Brass Head of an Oba, from an ancestral Shrine

18^th C., Benin Culture, Brass

British Museum, London.

Sub-Saharan Africa

West Africa

Benin

Bronze Door Panels with Figures

18^th C., Benin Culture, Bronze

British Museum, London.

Sub-Saharan Africa

West Africa

Benin

Asante Linguist Staff with Ananse

19^th C., Asante Culture, Gilt wood

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Sub-Saharan Africa

West Africa

Asante

Senufo Mask

19^th C., Senufo Culture, Wood

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Sub-Saharan Africa

West Africa

Senufo

Musgum House

19^th-20^th C., Musgum Culture, Mud and straw

Cameroon

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central Africa

Great Zimbabwe (Stone House)

11th-14th C.

Zimbabwe, Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa 

Rock cut Churches of Lalibela

12th-14th C., Bedrock

Lalibela, Ethiopia.

Sub-Saharan Africa

East Africa

Moai

11th-17th C., Tuffa and Basalt

Easter Island.

Oceania

X-ray Style Rock Painting

15th-18th C. Pigment on Rock,

Various locations Australia.

Oceania

Key features of Islamic Ornament

Aniconic. Figural representation can be idolatry. Islam borrows from their cultures with no figural religious elements, preventing possible idolatry.

Use of Islamic script, geometry, and plant forms as a abstract way to represent Ala.

1. Caligraphic ornament - Words represent Ala abstractly. The qurran represents the word of Ala. The qurran is written in Islamic script, and therefore represents the word of Ala. Thus Islamic script represents Ala.

2. Arabesque and vegetal ornament - also abstract and non idolatrous. Likely represent the perfect Islamic paradise.

3. Geometric ornament - Shows the complexity and order of the divine.

Types of mosques

1. Early Hypostyle Mosque - Early mosques: has a large hypostyle hall.

2. Persian Iwan style Mosque - Large iwan porches instead of hypostyle halls. Provides a shaded porch at all times during the day. 

Central floor level fountain cools air and rises through the center.

3. Ottoman Dome style Mosque - Late mosques: Features a central large dome supported on large columns. Extreme decoration on the inner dome and windows were spectacular.