Islamic Decorative Arts

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Islamic Decorative Arts
Kevin J. Benoy
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The Basics

• Muslims believe in a world in which everything is
  pre-ordained by Allah.
• Allah is not anthropomorphic so he is never
  presented in art.
• Most Muslims also do not show the images of man
  though this ban was not accepted everywhere and
  in all periods.

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The Basics

• Muslims see balance and harmony in all things as
  a manifestation of Allahs Plan

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Calligraphic Tradition

• The injunction against showing humans or animals
  and the belief in the importance of Gods word as
  dictated in the Koran, and the beauty of Arabic
  script, led to the development of an important
  calligraphic tradition.

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Cursive Scripts

• There are six main cursive Arabic scripts.
• These are
• Deewani
• Kufi
• Farsi
• Reqaa
• Naskh
• Thuluth

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Deewani
Those who teach me have my everlasting respect.
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Kufi

• The Prophet Mohammed peace and blessings be
  upon him.

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Farsi

• Sufficient for me is Allah in Him those who
  trust must put their trust.

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Reqaa

• "In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the
  Most Merciful Say "I seek refuge with (Allah)
  the Lord of the day-break, "From the evil of what
  he has created And from the evil of the
  darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness
  (or the moon as it sets or goes away), And from
  the evil of the witchcrafts when they blow in the
  knots, And from the evil of the envier when he
  envies." (From the Holy Qur'an, Surah 113,
  Al-Falaq (The Day Break)

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Naskh

• Say (O Muhammad) "He is Allah, (the) One. "Allah
  As-Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all
  creatures need, He neither eats nor drinks). "He
  begets not, nor was He begotten "And there is
  none co-equal or comparable unto Him."
• (From the Holy Qur'an, Surah 111, Al-Ikhlas. )

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Thuluth

• "... and if you count the Blessings of Allah,
  never you will be able to count them". (From the
  Holy Qur'an, Surah 14, Ibrahim, Verse 34.)

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Calligraphic Tradition

• Bound by a belief that sacred scripture was
  directly revealed to Mohammed by Allah, the
  Arabic language binds all Muslims together and
  Arabic calligraphy is respected by all.
• All Korans must be in Arabic.

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Calligraphy in Architecture

• Calligraphic verses decorate palaces, homes,
  businesses and public buildings.

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Calligraphy in Carpets

• Carpet weaving is particularly important in
  Islam.
• Carpets are used in worship.
• They were ideal portable wealth to traveling Arab
  merchants.

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Calligraphy in Metalwork
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Calligraphy in Glassware
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Calligraphy in Ceramics
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Geometric Forms

• Another outcome of the largely observed ban on
  human and animal forms was the use of interlaced
  geometric forms.
• These reflected the interconnectedness of all
  things in the belief system of Muslims.
• Abstraction and unity are, therefore at the heart
  of Islamic art.

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Geometry in Islamic Art

• The circle and its center are the starting point
  of Islamic art, as God is at the center of the
  Islamic system of belief.
• Three fundamental forms come out of this
• 1) the triangle
• 2) the square
• 3) the hexagon.

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Geometry in Islamic Art

• The triangle is the symbol of human consciousness
  and the principle of harmony.
• The square symbolizes the physical or material
  world.
• The hexagon symbolizes heaven

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Geometry in Islamic Art

• Infinitely repeated and intricate patterns may be
  seen as the unchanging laws of God.

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Geometry in Islamic Art

• Repeated figures in geometric shapes or foliage
  are called arabesques.
• The design to the left is from the Alhambra in
  Grenada, Spain.

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Floral decoration

• In addition to geometrical forms, floral
  decoration also serve to decorate any kind of
  surface.

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Figurative Art

• The ban on figurative art seems to be based on
  the Hadith oral traditions relating to the
  words and deeds of Mohammed.
• Note that the face of the prophet is not shown.

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Islamic figurative Art

• This kind of art tends to be non-religious,
  though it also exists as manuscript illumination
  and can depict religious figures though never
  Allah..
• It does not attempt to achieve three
  dimensionality.
• Colours are usually flat.

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Mughal Painting

• The Mughal style of painting refers to miniatures
  produced mainly as book illustrations and as
  single works contained within albums.
• This developed from the Persian style of
  miniature painting but with Hindu and Buddhist
  influences.

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Mughal Painting

• The Mughal style is richly reflective of court
  life in Muslim India.
• Note that Mughal decoration reflected the Islamic
  tendency toward horror vacui.
• Note also the repetitive decoration on walls,
  furniture, carpets, fabrics and ceilings.

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Muslim Carpets

• As noted earlier, carpet weaving was an important
  art form in Islam, and remains important in the
  Islamic world today.

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Muslim Carpets

• Carpets were important among the nomadic people
  of the Middle East even before Islam arrived.
• Their prominence in the Muslim world is probably
  due to the habit of Muslims to go barefoot
  indoors.

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Muslim Carpets

• Two traditions of carpet weaving are most
  important in the Muslim world.
• Persian
• Turkish

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Muslim Carpets
The primary difference is in the style of
hand-weaving used.
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Conclusion

• Most Islamic art was decorative and generally not
  figurative. There is no large scale sculpture or
  painting.
• Where human or animal shapes were present, they
  are in common objects or in scenes of everyday
  life with very rare exceptions.

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Conclusion

• This tendency toward the abstract and away from
  the realistic led to a love of abstract
  geometric, floral and calligraphic design

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