the art of islam - a n i m o a r t . o r g€¢ what are the important elements of islamic art and...
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Do Now:
What are the five most important
works of the early Middle Ages?
What is the most important? Why?
discuss
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
• What are the important elements of Islamic art and architecture?
• How are the ideas and culture of Islam reflected in its art?
• What are the differences between Islam and Christianity?
• How is the art of early Islam different from western art of this period?
VOCABULARY
arabesque, calligraphy, Koran, Mecca, Medina, mihrab, minaret, minbar,
mosque, Mohammed, muqarnas, qiblah, tessellation, pendentive, squinch
Dome of the Rock
Jerusalem
687 - 692
• What type of Christian church does the Dome of the Rock
look like? Give an example.
• What is the importance of this structure?
• How are the mosaics similar to and different other mosaic
work from that period?
San Vitale
Frieze of the
Umayyad palace,
Mshatta, Jordan
ca. 740-750
• Describe this frieze.
• How does this design reflect Islamic
art ideals?
Great Mosque Dome,
Cordova, Spain
961-965
• How is this similar to
and different from
earlier arches we have
studied?
• What support system
does this dome use?
• What architecture does this look like?
Hall of the Two Sisters Dome
Granada, Spain
1354 - 1391
• Describe this structure
using architectural terms.
muqarnas
Mosque of Selim II,
Edirne, Turkey
1568 -1575 CE
• What structure inspired
this mosque?
• How is the structure
and its dome supported?
• Describe the interior of
the dome.
Hagia Sophia - Byzantine
Mihrab from Imami Madrasa
Isfahan, Iran
ca. 1354
• How is calligraphy and arabesques
used in this mihrab?
• What other Islamic art form does this
invoke?
• What is the function of a mihrab?
Determining the direction of the Qiblah was
a central issue and a constant generator of
a scientific environment during the Islamic
Golden Age, one that required both
mathematics and observation.
arabesque
qiblah
Sultan-Muhammed,
The Court of Gayumars folio 20 verso of the Shahnama
Tabriz, Iran
ca. 1525-1535
•How is Persian art different
from the Islamic art we’ve
seen so far?
Key Concepts
• The chief building for Muslim worship is the mosque, which directs the
worshipper’s attention to Mecca through a niche called a mihrab.
• Mosque architecture use the central plan / dome design reminiscent of Hagia
Sophia (dome, arches, squinches, pendentives).
• Calligraphy is the most prized art form, and appears on most Islamic works of art.
• Both figural and non-figural works incorporate calligraphy with arabesques and
tessellations.
• Persian Islamic art often used figures in their work.
•The earliest grand Islamic buildings, like the Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem had
interior walls decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine style, but without human
figures.
• From the 9th century onwards the distinctive Islamic tradition of glazed and
brightly colored tiling for interior and exterior walls and domes developed. Some
earlier schemes create designs using mixtures of tiles each of a single color that are
either cut to shape or are small and of a few shapes, used to create abstract
geometric patterns. Later large painted schemes use tiles painted before firing with
a part of the scheme – a technique requiring confidence in the consistent results of
firing.