Unit 7

• West Asia Art


  • Islamic art: geometric patterns, calligraphy, arabesque designs
  • Persian art: miniature paintings, carpets, ceramics
  • Mesopotamian art: ziggurats, cuneiform writing, cylinder seals
  • Ottoman art: Iznik pottery, Turkish carpets, illuminated manuscripts
  • Ancient Egyptian art: hieroglyphics, pyramids, sphinxes
  • Byzantine art: mosaics, icons, frescoes
  • Jewish art: illuminated manuscripts, synagogue architecture, menorahs
  • Armenian art: khachkars (cross-stones), illuminated manuscripts, carpets
  • Sumerian art: votive statues, steles, jewelry
  • Phoenician art: purple dye, glassware, ivory carvings
• Central Asia is a vast region that includes countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan
• The art of Central Asia is heavily influenced by the region's nomadic lifestyle and Islamic culture
• Traditional art forms of Central Asia


  • Carpet weaving
  • Embroidery
  • Pottery
  • Metalwork
• Islamic calligraphy and geometric patterns are commonly found in Central Asian art
• The Silk Road, an ancient trade route that passed through Central Asia, played a significant role in the region's art and cultural exchange
• Contemporary Central Asian artists are exploring new mediums and themes, often addressing political and social issues
• Styles and Art Forms of West and Central Asian Art


  • Metal Work
  • Ceramics
  • Calligraphy, Painting and Textiles
• Metal Work


  • Long history dating back to ancient times
  • Skilled metalworkers used a variety of techniques to create intricate metal vessels decorated with geometric patterns, floral motifs, and calligraphy
  • They also produced weapons and armor for both humans and horses, often decorated with intricate designs
• Ceramics


  • Known for producing high-quality ceramics with intricate designs and vibrant colors
  • Iznik pottery, characterized by its blue and white floral designs
  • Persian pottery, often featuring intricate geometric patterns and calligraphy
  • Central Asian ceramics, known for their bright colors and bold designs
  • Used for practical purposes, such as storing food and water, but also highly valued as decorative objects
• Calligraphy, Painting and Textiles


  • Calligraphy, the art of beautiful writing, is a prominent feature in Islamic art and is often used to decorate religious texts and manuscripts
  • Painting in West and Central Asian art is characterized by intricate designs, bold colors, and intricate patterns
  • Textiles, such as carpets and tapestries, are also highly valued in this region and are often decorated with intricate patterns and designs
• Pyxis


  A small cylinder-shaped container with a detachable lid used to contain cosmetics or jewelry
• Pyxis of al-Mughir


  • Horror vacui
  • Vegetal and geometric motifs
  • Intricately carved container made from elephant ivory
  • Container for expensive aromatics, sometimes also used to hold jewels, gems, or seals
  • Gift for the caliph's younger son
  • Four polylobed medallion scenes showing pleasure activities of the royal court: hunting, falconry, sports, music
  • Calligraphic inscription in Arabic names the owner, asks for Allah's blessings, and includes the date of the pyxis
  • From Muslim Spain
• Folio from a Qur'an


  • Title of each chapter is scripted in gold
  • Script is rigidly aligned in strong horizontal letters well-spaced apart in brown ink
  • Kufic script; strong uprights and long horizontals
  • Great clarity of text is important because several readers read a book at once, some at a distance
  • Arabic reads right to left
  • Consonants are scripted, vowels are indicated by dots or markings around the other letters
  • The diacritical markings of short diagonal lines and red dots indicate vocalizations
  • Pyramids of six gold discs mark the ends of ayat (verses)
  • The Qur'an is the Muslim holy book
  • Calligraphy is greatly prized in Qur'anic texts; elaborate divine words needed the best artists
  • Heading of sura 29 (al-'Ankabūt, or "The Spider") in gold
• Basin (Baptistère de Saint Louis)


  • Original use is for ceremonial hand washing; perhaps a banqueting piece
  • Later use is for baptisms for the French royal family; coats-of-arms originally on the work were reworked with French fleur-de-lys
  • Signed by the artist six times
  • Hunting scenes alternate with battle scenes along the side of the bowl
  • Bottom of bowl decorated with fish, eels, crabs, frogs, and crocodiles
  • May have been a gift from Salar to a sultan
• The Ardabil Carpet


  • Prayer carpet used at a pilgrimage site of a Sufi saint
  • Huge carpet, one of a matching pair, from the funerary mosque of Shayik Safial-Din; probably made when the shrine was enlarged
  • Wool carpet, woven by ten people, probably men; although women also did weaving in this period
  • Wool pile of 5,300 knots per 10 cm. sq.; allows for great detail
  • Medallion in center of carpet may represent the inside of a dome with 16 pendants
  • Mosque lamps hang from two of the pendants; one lamp is smaller than the other, the larger lamp is placed farther away so that it appears the same size as the smaller; some suggest that this is a deliberate flaw to reflect that God alone is perfect
  • Corner squinches also have pendants completing the feeling of looking into a dome
  • Inscription says, "Except for thy threshold, there is no refuge for me in all the world. Except for this door there is no resting-place for my head. The work of the slave of the portal, Masqud Kashani," and the date, 946, in the Muslim calendar
  • World's oldest dated carpet
• Bahram Gur Fights the Karg


  • Large painted surface area; calligraphy on the top and bottom frame the image
  • Areas of flat color
  • Spatial recession indicated by the overlapping planes
  • Atmospheric perspective seen in the light-bluish background
  • Bahram Gur was an ancient Iranian king from the Sassanian dynasty; he represents the ideal king; wears a crown and a golden halo
  • A karg is a kind of unicorn or horned wolf he fought during his trip to India
  • Cross-cultural influences are Bahram Gur wears a garment of European fabric; Chinese landscape conventions can be seen in the background; these aspects connect the painting with trade along the Silk Road
  • Its lavish production suggests it was commissioned by a high-ranking Ilkhanid court official and produced at the court scriptorium as a chronicle of great Persian kings
  • Folio from the text called the Great Ilkhanid Shahnama, or the Book of Kings, a Persian epic
• The Court of Gayumars


  • Large painted surface area; calligraphy diminished
  • Harmony between man and landscape
  • Minute details do not overwhelm the harmony of the scene
  • Very richly and decoratively painted with vibrant colors
  • Minute scale suggest the use of fine brushes, perhaps of squirrel hairs
  • This excerpt shows the first king of Iran, Gayumars, enthroned before his community, ruling from a mountaintop
  • During his reign, men learned how to prepare food and prepare leopard skins as clothing; wild animals are shown as meek and submissive
  • On left, his son Siyamak; on right, his grandson Hushang
  • His court appears in a semicircle below him; court attire includes the wearing of leopard skins
  • The angel Surush tells Gayumars that his son will be murdered by the Black Div, son of the demon Ahriman; his death will be avenged by Hushang, who will rescue the Iranian throne
  • Produced for the Safavid ruler of Iran, Shah Tahmasp I, who saw himself as part of a proud tradition of Persian kings
  • Whole book contains 258 illustrated pages
• The Kaaba


  • Mecca is the spiritual center of Islam; this is the most sacred site in Islam
  • A large mosque surrounds the Kaaba
  • Destination for those making the hajj, or spiritual pilgrimage, to Mecca
  • Pilgrims circumambulate the Kaaba counterclockwise seven times
  • The Kaaba is made of granite; the floor is made of marble and limestone
  • The Kaaba is covered by textiles; the cloth is called the Kiswa and is changed annually
  • Kaaba means cube in Arabic; the Kaaba was rededicated by Muhammad in 631–632
• The Great Ilkhanid Shahnama


  A Persian epic produced for the Safavid ruler of Iran, Shah Tahmasp I, who saw himself as part of a proud tradition of Persian kings
• The whole book contains 258 illustrated pages
• The Kaaba


  An Islamic and Pre-Islamic monument rededicated by Muhammad in 631–632, with multiple renovations; granite masonry, covered with silk curtain, and calligraphy in gold and silver-wrapped thread
• The Kaaba


  • Found in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
  • The most sacred site in Islam
  • A large mosque surrounds the Kaaba
  • Destination for those making the hajj, or spiritual pilgrimage, to Mecca
  • Pilgrims circumambulate the Kaaba counterclockwise seven times
• Materials of the Kaaba


  • The Kaaba is made of granite; the floor is made of marble and limestone
  • The Kaaba is covered by textiles; the cloth is called the Kiswa and is changed annually
• Kaaba


  • Means cube in Arabic; the Kaaba is cube-like in shape
  • Said to have been built by Ibrahim (Abraham, in the Western tradition) and Ishamel for God
  • Existing structure encases the black stone in the eastern corner, the only part of the original structure by Ibrahim that survives
  • Has been repaired and reconstructed many times since Muhammad's time
• Dome of the Rock


  Islamic, Umayyad, 691–692, with multiple renovations, stone masonry and wood roof decorated with glazed ceramic tile, mosaics, and gilt aluminum and bronze dome
• Dome of the Rock

  • Domed wooden octagon
  • Columns are spolia taken from Roman monuments
  • Not a mosque; its original function has been debated
  • Houses several sacred sites: the place where Adam was born, the site in which Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac, the place where Muhammad ascended to heaven, the place where the Temple of Jerusalem was located
  • Meant to rival the Christian church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, although it was inspired by its domed rotunda
  • Arabic calligraphy on the mosaic decoration urges Muslims to embrace Allah as the one God and indicates that the Christian notion of the Trinity is an aspect of polytheism
  • Oldest surviving Qur'an verses; first use of Qur'an verses in architecture; one of the oldest Muslim buildings
  • Erected by Abd al-Malik, caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty
• Great Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh)


  Islamic; Persian; Seljuk, Il-Khanid, Timurid, and Safavid Dynasties; c. 700 additions and restorations in the 14th, 18th, and 20th centuries; made of stone, brick, wood, plaster, ceramic tile
• Great Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh)


  • Large central rectangular courtyard surrounded by a two-story arcade
  • Typical of Muslim architecture is to have one large arch flanked by two stories of smaller arches
  • The qibla iwan is the largest and most decorative; its size indicates the direction to Mecca
  • Southern iwan is an entry for a private space used by the sultan and his retinue; its dome is adorned by decorative tiles; this contains the main mihrab of the mosque
  • Muqarnes: an ornamental and intricate vaulting placed on the underside of arches
  • Elaborately decorated mihrab on the interior points the direction to Mecca; the elaborateness reflects the fact that this is the holiest section of the shrine
• Function of the Great Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh)


  • Muslim mosque
  • Each side of the courtyard, or sahn, has a centrally placed iwan; may be the first mosque to have this feature
• Context of the Great Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh)

  • Iwan originally seen in palace architecture; used here for the first time to emphasize the sanctuary
  • This mosque is nestled in an urban center; many gates give access
  • The mosque's outside walls share support with other buildings
• Great Mosque (Umayyad Dynasty)


  Umayyad Dynasty, 785-786, 8th–10th centuries, made of stone masonry, found in Córdoba, Spain
• Great Mosque (Umayyad Dynasty)


  • Double-arched columns, brilliantly articulated in alternating bands of color
  • Light and airy interior
  • Horseshoe-shaped arches derived from the Visigoths of Spain
  • Hypostyle mosque: no central focus, no congregational worship
  • Elaborately carved doorways signal principle entrances into the mosque and contrast with unadorned walls that otherwise flank the mosque
• History of the Great Mosque (Umayyad Dynasty)


  • The site was originally a Roman temple dedicated to Janus, then a Visigothic church, and then the mosque was built
  • Columns are spolia from ancient Roman structures
  • After a Christian reconquest, the center of the mosque was used for a church
  • Original wooden ceiling replaced by vaulting after Spanish reconquest
• Context of the Great Mosque (Umayyad Dynasty)


  • Complex dome with elaborate squinches was built over the mihrab; it was inspired by Byzantine architecture
  • Horseshoe-shaped arches were inspired by Visigothic buildings in Spain
  • Relatively short columns made ceilings low; doubling of arches enhances interior space, perhaps influenced by the Roman aqueduct in Mérida, Spain
  • Kufic calligraphy on walls and vaults
  • Original patron: Abl al Rahman
• Alhambra


  Nasrid Dynasty, 1354–1391, made of whitewashed adobe stucco, wood, tile, paint, and gilding, found in Granada, Spain
• Alhambra


  • Light, airy interiors; fortress-like exterior
  • Contains palaces, gardens, water pools, fountains, courtyards
  • Small, low-bubbling fountains in each room contribute to cool temperatures in the summer
  • Inspired by the Charbagh gardens from Persia
• Function of the Alhambra

  • Palace of the Nasrid sultans of southern Spain
  • The Alcazaba (Arab for fortress) is the oldest section and is visible from the exterior
  • The Alcazaba is a double-walled fortress of solid and vaulted towers containing barracks, cisterns, baths, houses, storerooms, and a dungeon
• Context of the Alhambra


  Built on a hill overlooking the city of Granada
• Court of the Lions


  • Thin columns support heavy roofs; a feeling of weightlessness
  • Intricately patterned and sculpted ceilings and walls
  • Central fountain supported by 12 protective lions; animal imagery permitted in secular monuments
  • Parts of the walls are chiseled through to create vibrant light patterns within