Angela Sha

AP Art History

The Islamic World Notes

The Rise and Spread of Islam

- Muhammed’s birth: 570 CE
- Arabic peninsula - peripheral to Byzantine/Sasanian empires, resisted Prophet’s teachings
- Taj Mahal is an Islamic mausoleum — spread of Islamic influence

Early Islamic Art

Swiftness of Islamic advance — ruled Syria, Palestine, Iran, Iraq 640 CE
622-756 CE Muhammed leaves Mecca to Medina (622 CE)
Umayyads (first Islamic dynasty) built Dome of the Rock, Great Mosque
756-1453 CE Abbasids produce earliest Korans (Kufic calligraphy)
Spanish Umayyad dynasty builds Great Mosque in Cordoba
Nasrids embellish Alhambra with palaces
Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk dynasties in Egypt: art patrons
1453-1924 CE Ottomans capture Byzantine Constantinople (1453 CE), develop domed
central-plan mosque
Timurid book illumination: Shah Tahmasp
Safavid artisans: manufacturing cuerda seca, mosaic tiles

A. Architecture

Political & cultural center: Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia

Muslim caliphs (Damascus, Baghdad): appointed provincial rulers

First religious and secular buildings

1. Jerusalem
a) Captured from Byzantines in 638 CE
b) *Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 687-692 CE
- Architectural tribute to the triumph of Islam
- Coming of the new religion
- Late Antique tradition
- Domed central-plan structure from Pantheon
- Likely inspiration: Constantine’s Church
- Wood dome: commanding effect
- Exterior restored
- Rich mosaic ornamentation on the base of the dome
2. Religion and Mythology: Muhammed and Islam
a) Muhammed: Final Prophet (Abraham, Moses, Jesus)
b) Beginnings of Islam: Hijra of Muhammed (622 CE) from Mecca to Medina
c) The Kaaba (“cube”): small cubical building that housed the idols of Islam
- Associated with the era of Abraham and Ishmael
d) Tenet: acceptance of, submission to God’s will
e) Koran: “recitations,” Gabriel’s instructions to Muhammed
- Composed of 114 surahs (chapters) divided into verses
f) Five Pillars of Islam
- Profession of faith in God
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AP Art History

- Worship 5 times daily facing Mecca

- Give alms to the poor
- Fast during the month of Ramadan
- Make a pilgrimage to Mecca (once in a lifetime)
g) The Hadith (Muhammed’s words) recorded in the Sunnah (“clear path”)
h) Reward for the faithful: paradise
3. Damascus
a) Transferred capital to Damascus in 661 CE
b) Minarets: modifications of preexisting Roman square towers
c) Great Mosque of Damascus: basic plan
- Hall’s facade with pediment and arches
- Recalling Roman, Byzantine models
- Basic plan maintained in the history of mosque architecture
- Islamic elements: mihrab (semi-circular niche), mihrab 

dome, minbar (pulpit on which the imam stands), minaret
- Late Antique architecture in plan and decoration
- Mosaics: likely works of Byzantine artists (buildings, 

landscapes, no zoomorphic forms)
- Gold background (suggesting Byzantine)
- Borders of stylized vegetal designs (Roman, Early Christian)
4. Art and Society: Major Muslim Dynasties
a) Umayyad Syria/Spain 661-750, 756-1031
b) Abbasid Iraq 750-1258
c) Samanid Uzbekistan 819-1005
d) Fatimid Egypt 909-1171
e) Saljuk Turkey, Iran 1060-1307
f) Ayyubid Egypt 1171-1250
g) Nasrid Spain 1232-1492
h) Mamluk Egypt 1250-1517
i) Ilkhanid Iran 1256-1353
j) Ottoman Turkey 1281-1924
k) Timurid Iran 1370-1501
5. Mshatta and Baghdad
a) Palace at Mshatta in Jordan
b) Shape signified new capital was the center of the universe, caliph’s palace
6. Kairouan
a) Hypostyle design, reflects Muhammed’s house in Medine
b) Carved wood minbar, sturdy buttresses, square in profile
7. Samarra
a) Spiral minaret of the Great Mosque at Sammar, Iraq (Malwiya)
b) Inspired depictions of the biblical Tower of Babel
c) Intended to announce the presence of Islam
8. Architectural Basics: The Mosque
a) Worshipping can be a private act; the qibla (direction toward Mecca) that Muslims
face while praying is important
b) Communal act established
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AP Art History

c) Imam (leader of collective worship) steps on minbar to preach the sermon

d) Mosque (“a place of prostration”) is where the faithful gather for 5 daily prayers
e) Congregational mosque large enough to accommodate an entire population
f) Maqsura (screened area in front of the mihrab reserved for a ruler)
g) Minaret — towers used to call faithful to worship
h) Hypostyle halls — communal worship halls with roofs held up by column
i) Later mosques: four iwans (vaulted rectangular recesses)
j) Central-plan mosques: single large dome-covered interior space
9. Bukhara
a) Samanids (dynasty) erected dome brick mausoleum in Bukhara, Uzbekistan
b) One of the earliest preserved tombs of Islam
10. *The Great Mosque of Códorba
a) Spanish Umayyad dynasty: capital, Codorba
b) One of the largest mosques in the Islamic West
c) Giant hypostyle prayer hall, two-story system
d) Lower arches: horseshoe-shaped (closely associated with 

Muslim architecture)
e) Major renovations: monumental gates of colorful masonry

and intricate surface patterns
f) Extraordinary maqsura: experimentation with multi-lobed arches
g) Design of the dome rests on octagonal base of squinches
11. *The Great Mosque of Isfahan
a) Transformed style of hypostyle mosques
b) Four vaulted swans open onto the courtyard
c) Unfluted column shafts without capitals
d) Pointed arches — brick vaults/domes
e) First known example of four-iwan mosque, plan became 

standard in religious architecture

B. Luxury Arts
1. Ivory
a) Centers of production: courts of caliphs/sultans
b) Cordoba had many ivory pyxides (cylindrical box with a 

hemispherical lid) as motif symbolic of royal power and 

privilege (hunting/musical scenes)
c) *Pyxis of al-Mughira
- Inscription as a prayer for al-Mughira’s well-being
- Decorated with animals and hunters, vine scrolls
2. Metalwork
a) Cast brass ewer, signed by Sulayman
b) Adaptability of motifs to scales/techniques
c) Variability and flexibility of Islamic design, independence from carrier
3. Korans
a) The art of calligraphy (ornamental writing)
b) Passages from the Koran adorned pages of books and the walls of buildings
c) Calligraphy as a holy task, long training; spiritual refinement of scribe
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AP Art History

d) Arabic script (predates Islam)

e) *Folio from Koran
- 9th-10th century Koran page in Dublin
- parallels at the extreme
- Stylized human and animal forms do not appear in Korans
- Five text lines, palm-tree finial
4. Ceramics
a) Samarqand ware: vessel with calligraphic decoration, sealed

with a transparent glaze before firing
b) More demonstration of calligraphy and Arabic proverbs

Later Islamic Art

Permanent presence in South Asia; art and architecture of the Nasrids and onwards
A. Architecture
1. *Alhambra
a) Granada, Spain; Nasrid Dynasty
b) Palace-fortress; many royal residences
c) Stucco walls and ceilings
d) 5000+ muqarnas (stalacite-like prismatic forms) cover ceiling
e) Palace of the Lions: courtyard, 12 marble lions (colonnaded)
2. Cairo
a) Hasan’s mausoleum, praying Muslims faced his tomb
b) Grandiose structure with central courtyard, fountains
3. Ottoman Empire
a) Lavish patrons of architecture
b) New type of mosque: dome-covered square prayer hall
c) Geometric clarity; Haga Sophia — central plan mosque
d) Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople
4. Sinan the Great
a) Sinan: architect for Suleyman the Magnificent (Ottoman sultan)
b) General design: margin of structural safety
c) *Mosque of Selim II
- Edirne (capital of Ottoman Empire)
- Massive dome, set off with 4 slender pencil-shaped minarets
- Height surpasses Hagia Sophia’s dome
- Interior space: mihrab recessed into clove, window

illumination results in brilliantly colored tile panels
- Main hall: fusion of octagon with dome-covered square
- Mathematical equations of forms and ratios
- Sinan as a patron for architecture
5. Isfahan
a) Period of political upheaval
b) Cursive styles of calligraphy
c) Muhaqqaq: an example of unification of calligraphy and ornamentation
6. Imam Mosque
a) Replacement of mosaics with glazed tiles
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AP Art History

b) Geometric patterns on curved surface

c) Safavid tiles cover every surface of the Imam Mosque in Isfahan
7. Materials and Techniques: Islamic Tilework
a) In mosaic tilework, potters fire large ceramic panels and cut them into smaller pieces
(similar to mosaic tesserae)
b) Cuerda seca (dry cord) tilework introduced in Umayyad Spain; polychrome and can
bear geometric/vegetal patterns and Arabic script clearly, more economical

B. Luxury Arts

Private realm of luxury arts: manuscript paintings, ceramics, texiles, metalwork
1. Ardabil Carpets
a) Carpets with 25 million knots; illusion of a heavenly dome
b) Mosque lamps depicted on the carpet
c) No human/animal figures appear
2. Mosque Lamps
a) Usually made of glass; fragile nature
b) Enamel (colors fused to surface) decoration
3. Timurid Bustan
a) Bihzad’s painting: stylistic elements of vivid color, decorative details
b) Manuscript painting (folio, Seduction of Yusuf)
4. Safavid Shahnama
a) Shah Tagmasp, Safavid Ruler: patron of books
b) Shahnama: Book of Kings; Persian national epic poem
c) *Court of Gayumars, folio from Shanama
- Off-center placement on the page; sense of lightness 

permeating the painting
- Gayumar: legendary first king of Iran and his court
- Surrounded by light; delicate touch; sense of lightness/

airiness permeating the painting
5. *Basin, Baptistere de Saint Louis
a) Metalwork, brass basin
b) Inlaid with gold/silver, signed six times by Muhammad Ibn

Al-Zayn (Mamluk artist)
c) Fashioned for a Mamluk patron
d) Central band depicts hunters and Mongol enemies
e) Animals in the friezes, vegetal forms of silver of the bands and

roundels (tondo)
f) Figures and animals decorate inside/underside of the basin
6. Art and Society: Christian Patronage of Islamic Art
a) Christians traveled to Islamic lands as pilgrims or Crusaders
b) Mementos of their journeys
c) Custom-made pieces for Christians
d) e.g. brass canteen decorated with scenes of Jesus
e) Christian manuscripts were used as the source of Christian iconography
f) Artistic interaction between Christians and Muslims