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APAH Vocabulary Ch. 13
vocabulary for islamic art and architecture
42
Art History
Undergraduate 1
04/02/2011

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Term
Arabesque
Definition
“Arab-like.” A flowing, intricate pattern derived from stylized organic motifs, usually floral; generally, an Islamic decorative motif.
Term
Arcade
Definition
A series of arches supported by piers or columns.
Term
Assemblage
Definition
An artwork constructed from already existing objects.
Term
Base
Definition
In ancient Greek architecture, the lowest part of Ionic and Corinthian columns.
Term
Blind arcade (A.K.A. Wall Arcade)
Definition
An arcade having no actual openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface.
Term
Caliph(s)
Definition
Muslim rulers, regarded as successors of Muhammad.
Term
Calligraphy
Definition
Greek, “beautiful writing.” Handwriting or penmanship, especially elegant writing as a decorative art.
Term
colonnette
Definition
A thin column.
Term
Cuerda Seca
Definition
A type of polychrome tilework used in decorating Islamic buildings.
Term
Finial
Definition
A crowning ornament.
Term
Hijra
Definition
The flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622, the year from which Islam dates its beginnings.
Term
Hypostyle hall
Definition
A hall with a roof supported by columns.
Term
Imam
Definition
In Islam, the leader of collective worship.
Term
Iwan
Definition
In Islamic architecture, a vaulted rectangular recess opening onto a courtyard.
Term
Kaaba
Definition
Arabic, “cube.” A small cubical building in Mecca, the Muslim world’s symbolic center.
Term
Koran
Definition
Islam’s sacred book, composed of surahs (chapters) divided into verses.
Term
Kufic
Definition
An early form of Arabic script, characterized by angularity, with the uprights forming almost right angles with the baseline.
Term
Madrasa
Definition
An Islamic theological college adjoining and often containing a mosque.
Term
Maqsud of Kashan
Definition
Designer of the carpet for the funerary mosque of Shakyh Safi al-Din, Ardabil, Iran, 1540.
Term
Maqsura
Definition
In some mosques, a screened area in front of the mihrab reserved for a ruler.
Term

Matte (also mat)

 

Definition
In painting, pottery, and photography, a dull finish.
Term
Mihrab
Definition
A semicircular niche set into the qibla wall of an mosque.
Term
Minaret
Definition
A distinctive feature of mosque architecture, a tower from which the faithful are called to worship.
Term
Minbar
Definition
In a mosque, the pulpit on which the imam stands.
Term
Mosaic
Definition
Patterns or pictures made by embedding small pieces (tesserae) of stone or glass in cement on surfaces such as walls and floors; also, the technique of making such works.
Term
Mosaic tilework
Definition
An Islamic decorative technique in which large ceramic panels are fired, cut into smaller pieces, and set in plaster.
Term
Mosque
Definition
The Islamic building for collective worship. From the Arabic word masjid, meaning a “place for bowing down.”
Term

Muhammed Ibn Al-Zayn

 

Definition
Designed the brass basin from Egypt inlaid with gold and silver, ca. 1300.
Term
Muhaqqaq
Definition
A cursive style of Islamic calligraphy
Term
Muqarnas
Definition
Stucco decorations of Islamic buildings in which stalactite-like forms break a structure’s solidity.
Term
Muslim
Definition
A believer in Islam.
Term

Ogive (adj. Ogival)

 

Definition
The diagonal rib of a Gothic vault; a pointed, or Gothic, arch.
Term
pointed arch
Definition
A narrow arch of pointed profile, in contrast to a semicircular arch.
Term
Qibla
Definition
The direction (toward Mecca) Muslims face when praying.
Term
Saz
Definition
An Ottoman Turkish design of sinuous curved leaves and blossoms.
Term
Sinan
Definition

(b. 1489 CE - d. 1588 CE)  Mimar Koca Sinan, the "Great Architect Sinan."

 

Term

Sulayman I

 

Definition
(b. 1494 CE - d. 1566 CE) "Sulayman the Magnificent"  Ottonian sultan from 1520 CE - 1566 CE.
Term
Sultan
Definition
A Muslim ruler.
Term
Sultan - Muhammad
Definition
Created folio 20 verso of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, from Tabriz, Iran, ca. 1525-1530.
Term
Sunnah
Definition
Collection of the Prophet Muhammad’s moral sayings and descriptions of his deeds.
Term
Surahs
Definition
Chapters of the Koran, divided into verses.
Term
tracery
Definition
Ornamental stonework for holding stained glass in place, characteristic of Gothic cathedrals. In plate tracery the glass fills only the “punched holes” in the heavy ornamental stonework. In bar tracery the stained-glass windows fill almost the entire opening, and the stonework is unobtrusive.
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