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Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims populations.Marilyn Jenkins-Madina, Richard Ettinghausen and Oleg Grabar, 2001, Islamic Art and Architecture: 650–1250, Yale University Press, , p.3; Brend, 10 Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide range of lands, periods, and genres, Islamic art is a concept used first by Western culture Art history in the late 19th century. Public Islamic art is traditionally non-representational, except for the widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque. These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy, geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques. Other forms of Islamic art include Islamic miniature painting, artefacts like Islamic glass or Islamic pottery, and textile arts, such as Oriental rug and embroidery.
The early developments of Islamic art were influenced by Roman art, Early Christian art (particularly Byzantine art), and Sassanian Empire art, with later influences from Central Asian nomadic traditions. Chinese art had a significant influence on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles. From its beginnings, Islamic art has been based on the written version of the Quran and other seminal religious works, which is reflected by the important role of calligraphy, representing the word as the medium of divine revelation.
Religious Islamic art has been typically characterized by the absence of figures and extensive use of calligraphic, geometric and abstract floral patterns. Nevertheless, representations of human and animal forms historically flourished in nearly all Islamic cultures, although, partly because of opposing religious sentiments, living beings in paintings were often stylized, giving rise to a variety of decorative figural designs.
Both religious and Secularity art objects often exhibit the same references, styles and forms. These include calligraphy, architecture, textiles and furnishings, such as carpets and woodwork. Secular arts and crafts include the production of textiles, such as clothing, carpets or tents, as well as household objects, made from metal, wood or other materials. Further, figurative miniature paintings have a rich tradition, especially in Persian, Mughal painting and Ottoman painting. These pictures were often meant to illustrate well-known historical or poetic stories."One group of painters followed a hedonistic orientation toward a festive representation of events and personages, luxurious ornamentation, and wealth of figures and colors; this is illustrated by the miniatures of the Golestān of 1556-57 and the love scenes by the artist ʿAbdallāh in the Būstān of 1575-76 (...). The other group of miniaturists preferred naive genre scenes illustrating folk characteristics, as in the Toḥfat al-aḥrār of the 1670s." Some interpretations of Islam, however, include a ban of depiction of animate beings, also known as aniconism. Islamic aniconism stems in part from the prohibition of idolatry and in part from the belief that creation of living forms is God's prerogative.
The Encyclopædia Britannica defines "Islamic arts" as including visual arts, literature, performing arts and music that "virtually defies any comprehensive definition". In a strict sense, the term might only refer to artistic manifestations that are closely related to religious practice. Most often, however, it is meant to include "all of the arts produced by Muslim peoples, whether connected with their religion or not."
The various forms of traditional Arabic calligraphy and decoration of the manuscripts used for written versions of the Quran represent a central tradition of Islamic visual art. The arabesque is often used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible and infinite nature of God. Mistakes in repetitions may be intentionally introduced as a show of humility by artists who believe only God can produce perfection, although this theory has also been disputed.
East Persian pottery from the 9th to 11th centuries, decorated only with highly stylised inscriptions and called "epigraphic ware", has been described as "probably the most refined and sensitive of all Persian pottery".Arts, p. 223. see nos. 278–290 Large inscriptions made from tiles, sometimes with the letters raised in relief, or the background cut away, are found on the interiors and exteriors of many important buildings. Complex carved calligraphy also decorates buildings. For most of the Islamic period the majority of coins only showed lettering, which are often very elegant despite their small size and nature of production. The tughra or monogram of an Ottoman Sultan was used extensively on official documents, with very elaborate decoration for important ones. Other single sheets of calligraphy, designed for albums, might contain short poems, Qur'anic verses, or other texts.
The main languages, all using Arabic script, are Arabic language, always used for Qur'anic verses, Farsi in the Persianate world, especially for poetry, and Turkish, with Urdu appearing in later centuries. Calligraphers usually had a higher status than other artists.
Although not many early examples survived, human figurative art was a continuous tradition in Islamic lands, notably several of the Umayyad Desert Castles (c. 660–750), and during the Abbasid Caliphate (c. 749–1258). Prior to the early 14th century, a halo was a common symbol to designate rulers. Under Asian influence, the halo as a symbol of sacredness was replaced by a flame.Barry, M. A. (2004). Figurative art in medieval Islam and the riddle of Bihzad of Herat (1465-1535). Flammarion. 59 Reminiscent of the Islamic prophet Solomon, rulers were often depicted as sitting on a throne endowed with religious symbols.Barry, M. A. (2004). Figurative art in medieval Islam and the riddle of Bihzad of Herat (1465-1535). Flammarion. 63-66 An ivory casket carved in early eleventh century Cordova shows a Spanish Muslim ruler holding a cup seated upon a lion throne, similar to that of Solomon. A late 12th–13th century bowl depicts an enthroned Seljuk ruler with messengers to either side and headed winged jinn.On the Exercise of Coastal Control through Observation and Long Distance Communication Systems in Seljuk Territory in the XIIIth Century Other usage of early figurative arts are illustrations of animal fables. Many of them are of Sanskrit origin and translated into Middle Persian in the sixth century for delight, ethical discussion, and political edification. In the 8th century, they were translated into Arabic.
Although there has been a tradition of wall-paintings, especially in the Persianate world, the best-surviving and highest developed form of painting in the Islamic world is the miniature in illuminated manuscripts, or later as a single page for inclusion in a muraqqa or bound album of miniatures and calligraphy. The tradition of the Persian miniature has been dominant since about the 13th century, strongly influencing the Ottoman miniature of Turkey and the Mughal miniature in India. The term "Persian miniature" refers whereby to the language used to decorate the images, and should not obscure its ties to Arabic imagery.Barry, M. A. (2004). Figurative art in medieval Islam and the riddle of Bihzad of Herat (1465-1535). Flammarion. 27
Siyah Qalam (Black Pen), frequently depicts anecdotes charged with Islamic imagery about the nafs ( nafs) and the "Ruh" ( rūḥ). Most human characters are clothed like and bearded like ascetics in Islamic tradition. Animals often feature as symbol of the lower and untaimed self. The abstract forces to tame the physical body are depicted in the forms of ( dīv) and angels.Barry, M. A. (2004). Figurative art in medieval Islam and the riddle of Bihzad of Herat (1465-1535). Flammarion. 278-283. Paris, Flammarion, 2004." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 17.1 (2007): 278-283
Chinese influences included the early adoption of the vertical format natural to a book, which led to the development of a birds-eye view where a very carefully depicted background of hilly landscape or palace buildings rises up to leave only a small area of sky. The figures are arranged in different planes on the background, with recession (distance from the viewer) indicated by placing more distant figures higher up in the space, but at essentially the same size. The colours, which are often very well preserved, are strongly contrasting, bright and clear. The tradition reached a climax in the 16th and early 17th centuries, but continued until the early 19th century, and has been revived in the 20th.
Since the mid-20th century following the departure of the Dutch colonialists, several Indonesian painters combined Abstract Expressionism with geometric forms, Indonesian symbols and Islamic calligraphy, creating religiously influenced Abstract Art. The spiritual centre of this movement is the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), with leading teachers such as A.D. Pirous, Ahmad Sadali, Mochtar Apin and Umi Dachlan as their main representatives.
In the 21st century, iconophobic followers of various Islamism, such as the Taliban, aim to destroy forms of Islamic figurative depictions.Barry, M. A. (2004). Figurative art in medieval Islam and the riddle of Bihzad of Herat (1465-1535). Flammarion. 312 Motivated by Saudi Arabia (Wahhabism), the Taliban launched an attack on arts in March 2001 in Afghanistan.Barry, M. A. (2004). Figurative art in medieval Islam and the riddle of Bihzad of Herat (1465-1535). Flammarion. 40 The religious justification derives from a hadith mentioned by Sahih Bukhari. Others see the rejection of iconography as rooting in a strict aversion to depiction of God throughout Islamic tradition.
Very early Islamic carpets, i.e. those before the 16th century, are extremely rare. More have survived in the West and oriental carpets in Renaissance painting from Europe are a major source of information on them, as they were valuable imports that were painted accurately.King and Sylvester, throughout, but 9–28, 49–50, & 59 in particular The most natural and easy designs for a carpet weaver to produce consist of straight lines and edges, and the earliest Islamic carpets to survive or be shown in paintings have geometric designs, or centre on very stylized animals, made up in this way. Since the flowing loops and curves of the arabesque are central to Islamic art, the interaction and tension between these two styles was long a major feature of carpet design.
There are a few survivals of the grand Egyptian 16th century carpets, including one almost as good as new discovered in the attic of the Pitti Palace in Florence, whose complex patterns of octagon roundels and stars, in just a few colours, shimmer before the viewer.King and Sylvester, 27, 61–62, as "The Medici Mamluk Carpet" Production of this style of carpet began under the Mamluks but continued after the Ottomans conquered Egypt.King and Sylvester, 59–66, 79–83 The other sophisticated tradition was the Persian carpet which reached its peak in the 16th and early 17th century in works like the Ardabil Carpet and Coronation Carpet; during this century the Ottoman and Mughal courts also began to sponsor the making in their domains of large formal carpets, evidently with the involvement of designers used to the latest court style in the general Persian tradition. These use a design style shared with non-figurative Islamic illumination and other media, often with a large central gul motif, and always with wide and strongly demarcated borders. The grand designs of the workshops patronized by the court spread out to smaller carpets for the merely wealthy and for export, and designs close to those of the 16th and 17th centuries are still produced in large numbers today. The description of older carpets has tended to use the names of carpet-making centres as labels, but often derived from the design rather than any actual evidence that they originated from around that centre. Research has clarified that designs were by no means always restricted to the centre they are traditionally associated with, and the origin of many carpets remains unclear.
As well as the major Persian, Turkish and Arab centres, carpets were also made across Central Asia, in India, and in Spain and the Balkans. Spanish carpets, which sometimes interrupted typical Islamic patterns to include coats of arms, enjoyed high prestige in Europe, being commissioned by royalty and for the Papal Palace, Avignon, and the industry continued after the Reconquista.King and Sylvester: Spanish carpets: 11–12, 50–52; Balkans: 77 and passim Armenian carpet-weaving is mentioned by many early sources, and may account for a much larger proportion of East Turkish and Caucasian production than traditionally thought. The of North Africa have a distinct design tradition. Apart from the products of city workshops, in touch with trading networks that might carry the carpets to markets far away, there was also a large and widespread village and nomadic industry producing work that stayed closer to traditional local designs. As well as pile carpets, and other types of flat-weave or embroidered textiles were produced, for use on both floors and walls. Figurative designs, sometimes with large human figures, are very popular in Islamic countries but relatively rarely exported to the West, where abstract designs are generally what the market expects.
Islamic pottery was often influenced by Chinese ceramics, whose achievements were greatly admired and emulated.See Rawson throughout; Canby, 120–123, and see index; Jones & Mitchell, 206–211 This was especially the case in the periods after the and those of the Timurid dynasty. Techniques, shapes and decorative motifs were all affected. Until the Early Modern period Western ceramics had very little influence, but Islamic pottery was very sought after in Europe, and often copied. An example of this is the albarello, a type of maiolica earthenware jar originally designed to hold Apothecary ointments and dry drugs. The development of this type of pharmacy jar had its roots in the Islamic Middle East. Hispano-Moresque examples were exported to Italy, stimulating the earliest Italian examples, from 15th century Florence.
The Hispano-Moresque style emerged in Al-Andalus - Muslim Spain - in the 8th century, under Egyptian influence, but most of the best production was much later, by potters presumed to have been largely Muslim but working in areas reconquered by the Christian kingdoms. It mixed Islamic and European elements in its designs, and much was exported across neighbouring European countries. It had introduced two ceramic techniques to Europe: ceramic glaze with an opaque white tin-glazing, and Lusterware. Ottoman İznik pottery produced most of the best work in the 16th century, in tiles and large vessels boldly decorated with floral motifs influenced, once again, by Chinese Yuan and Ming ceramics. These were still in earthenware; there was no porcelain made in Islamic countries until modern times, though Chinese porcelain was imported and admired.Savage, 175, suggests that the Persians had made some experiments towards producing it, and the earliest European porcelain, Medici porcelain, was made in the late 16th century, perhaps with a Persian or Levantine assistant on the team.
The medieval Islamic world also had pottery with painted animal and human imagery. Examples are found throughout the medieval Islamic world, particularly in Iran and Egypt.
Some elements, especially the letters of inscriptions, may be moulded in three-dimensional relief, and in especially in Persia certain tiles in a design may have figurative painting of animals or single human figures. These were often part of designs mostly made up of tiles in plain colours, but with larger fully painted tiles at intervals. The larger tiles are often shaped as eight-pointed stars, and may show animals or a human head or bust, or plant or other motifs. The geometric patterns, such as modern North African zellij work, made of small tiles each of a single colour but different and regular shapes, are often referred to as "mosaic", which is not strictly correct.
The Mughals made much less use of tiling, preferring (and being able to afford) "parchin kari", a type of pietra dura decoration from inlaid panels of semi-precious stones, with jewels in some cases. This can be seen at the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and other imperial commissions. The motifs are usually floral, in a simpler and more realistic style than Persian or Turkish work, relating to plants in Mughal miniatures.
Between the 8th and early 11th centuries the emphasis in luxury glass was on effects achieved by "manipulating the surface" of the glass, initially by incising into the glass on a wheel and later by cutting away the background to leave a design in relief.Arts, 131–133 The very massive , only found in Europe but normally considered Islamic (or possibly from Muslim craftsmen in Norman Sicily), are an example of this, though puzzlingly late in date.Arts, 131, 141 These and other glass pieces probably represented cheaper versions of vessels of carved rock crystal (clear quartz), themselves influenced by earlier glass vessels.Arts, 141 and there is some evidence that at this period glass cutting and hardstone carving were regarded as the same craft.Endnote 111 in Roman glass: reflections on cultural change, Fleming, Stuart. see also endnote 110 for Jewish glassworkers From the 12th century the industry in Persia and Mesopotamia appears to decline, and the main production of luxury glass shifts to Egypt and Syria, and decorative effects of colour on smooth surfaced glass.Arts, 131, 133–135 Throughout the period local centres made simpler wares such as Hebron glass in Palestine.
Lustre painting, by techniques similar to lustreware in pottery, dates back to the 8th century in Egypt and became widespread in the 12th century. Another technique was decoration with threads of glass of a different colour, worked into the main surface, and sometimes manipulated by combing and other effects. Gilding, painted, and enameled glass were added to the repertoire, and shapes and motifs borrowed from other media, such as pottery and metalwork. Some of the finest work was in mosaic lamps donated by a ruler or wealthy man. As decoration grew more elaborate, the quality of the basic glass decreased, and it "often has a brownish-yellow tinge and is rarely free from bubbles.".Arts, 131–135, 141–146; quote, 134 Aleppo seems to have ceased to be a major centre after the Mongol invasion of 1260, and Timur appears to have ended the Syrian industry about 1400 by carrying off the skilled workers to Samarkand. By about 1500 the Venice were receiving large orders for mosque lamps.Arts, 134–135
The use of drinking and eating vessels in gold and silver, the ideal in ancient Rome and Persia as well as medieval Christian societies, is prohibited by the , as was the wearing of gold rings. Hadithic texts against gold and silver vessels Islamic metalworkers shared with their European counterparts a relatively high social status, compared to other artists and craftsmen, and many larger pieces are signed.
Islamic metalwork includes some three-dimensional animal figures, such as fountainheads or , but only one significant enamelled object of Byzantine cloisonné technique is known.Arts, 201, and earlier pages for animal shapes. The Pisa Griffin is the largest surviving bronze animal, probably from 11th century Al-Andalus. More common objects with elaborate decoration include massive low candlesticks and lamp-stands, lantern lights, bowls, dishes, basins, buckets (these probably for the bath),But see Arts, 170, where the standard view is disputed and , as well as caskets, pen-cases and plaques. Ewers and basins were brought for hand-washing before and after each meal, and so are often lavishly treated display pieces. A typical 13th century ewer from Greater Khorasan is decorated with foliage, animals and the Signs of the Zodiac in silver and copper, and carries a blessing. "Base of a ewer with Zodiac medallions [Iran] (91.1.530)". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2011; see also on astrology, Carboni, Stefano. Following the Stars: Images of the Zodiac in Islamic Art. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997), 16. The inscription reads: "Bi-l-yumn wa al-baraka…" meaning "With bliss and divine grace…" Specialized objects include knives, arms and armour (always of high interest to the elite) and scientific instruments such as , as well as jewellery. Decoration is typically densely packed and very often includes arabesques and calligraphy, sometimes naming an owner and giving a date.Arts, 157–160, and exhibits 161–204
Ottoman silks were less exported, and the many surviving royal have simpler geometric patterns, many featuring stylized "tiger-stripes" below three balls or circles. Other silks have foliage designs comparable to those on Iznik pottery or carpets, with bands forming ogival compartments a popular motif. Some designs begin to show Italian influence. By the 16th century Persian silk was using smaller patterns, many of which showed relaxed garden scenes of beautiful boys and girls from the same world as those in contemporary album miniatures, and sometimes identifiable scenes from Persian poetry. A 16th-century circular ceiling for a tent, 97 cm across, shows a continuous and crowded hunting scene; it was apparently looted by the army of Suleiman the Magnificent in his invasion of Persia in 1543–45, before being taken by a Polish general at the Siege of Vienna in 1683. Mughal silks incorporate many Indian elements, and often feature relatively realistic "portraits" of plants, as found in other media.Arts, 68, 71, 82–86, 106–108, 110–111, 114–115
Although its existence pre-dates Islam, batik reached its zenith in royal Muslim courts such as Mataram and Yogyakarta, whose encouraged and patronised batik production. Today, batik is undergoing a revival, and cloths are used for additional purposes such as wrapping the Quran.
Applied decoration played a particularly important role in Islamic architecture, and this decoration made use of the same motifs predominant in other forms of Islamic art: arabesques, epigraphy, geometric patterns, and other vegetal forms. Methods of decoration included carving, inlay, and painting in materials such as brick, stone, tile, plaster, and wood.
Influences from the Sassanian artistic tradition include the image of the king as a warrior and the lion as a symbol of nobility and virility. Bedouin tribal traditions mixed with the more sophisticated styles of the conquered territories. For an initial period coins had human figures in the Byzantine and Sassanian style, perhaps to reassure users of their continued value, before the Islamic style with lettering only took over.
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one of the most important buildings in all of Islamic architecture, marked by a strong Byzantine influence (mosaic against a gold ground, and a central plan that recalls that of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), but already bearing purely Islamic elements, such as the great epigraphic frieze. The desert palaces in Jordan and Syria (for example, Mshatta Facade, Qusayr 'Amra, and Hisham's Palace) served the caliphs as living quarters, reception halls, and baths, and were decorated, including some wall-paintings, to promote an image of royal luxury.
Work in ceramics was still somewhat primitive and unglazed during this period. Some metal objects have survived from this time, but it remains rather difficult to distinguish these objects from those of the pre-Islamic period.
'Abd al-Malik introduced standard coinage that featured Arabic inscriptions, instead of images of the monarch. The quick development of a localized coinage around the time of the Dome of the Rock's construction demonstrates the reorientation of Umayyad acculturation. This period saw the genesis of a particularly Islamic art.
In this period, Umayyad artists and artisans did not invent a new vocabulary, but began to prefer those received from Mediterranean and Iranian late antiquity, which they adapted to their own artistic conceptions. For example, the mosaics in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus are based on Byzantine models but replace the figurative elements with images of trees and cities. The desert palaces also bear witness to these influences. By combining the various traditions that they had inherited, and by readapting motifs and architectural elements, artists created little by little a typically Muslim art, particularly discernible in the aesthetic of the arabesque, which appears both on monuments and in illuminated .
Some Umayyads commissioned erotic art for private settings. The Umayyad caliph Al-Walid II built the Qusayr Amra, as his country retreat, whose decoration includes naked females and love scenes.Ettinghausen, Grabar, & Jenkins-Madina, p. 47
The ancient city of Baghdad cannot be excavated well, as it lies beneath the modern city. However, Abbasid Samarra, which was largely abandoned, has been well studied, and is known for its surviving examples of stucco reliefs, in which the prehistory of the arabesque can be traced. Motifs known from the stucco at Samarra permit the dating of structures built elsewhere, and are furthermore found on portable objects, particular in wood, from Egypt through to Iran.
Samarra witnessed the "coming of age" of Islamic art. Polychrome painted stucco allowed for experimentation in new styles of moulding and carving. The Abbasid period also coincided with two major innovations in the ceramic arts: the invention of faience, and of metallic lusterware. prohibition of the use of golden or silver vessels led to the development of metallic lusterware in pottery, which was made by mixing sulphur and metallic oxides to ochre and vinegar, painted onto an already glazed vessel and then fired a second time. It was expensive, and difficult to manage the second round through the kiln, but the wish to exceed fine Chinese porcelain led to the development of this technique.Hillenbrand (1999), p.54
Though the common perception of Abbasid artistic production focuses largely on pottery, the greatest development of the Abbasid period was in textiles. Government-run workshops known as tiraz produced silks bearing the name of the monarch, allowing for aristocrats to demonstrate their loyalty to the ruler. Other silks were pictorial. The utility of silk-ware in wall decor, entrance adornment, and room separation was not as important as its cash value along the Silk Road.
Islamic calligraphy began to be used in surface decoration on pottery during this period. Illuminated qur'ans gained attention, letter-forms now more complex and stylized to the point of slowing down the recognition of the words themselves.Hillenbrand (1999), p.58
Al-Andalus was a great cultural center of the Middle Ages. Besides the great universities, which taught philosophies and sciences yet unknown in Christendom (such as those of Averroes), the territory was an equally vital center for art.
Many techniques were employed in the manufacture of objects. Ivory was used extensively for the manufacture of boxes and caskets. The pyxis of al-Mughira is a masterwork of the genre. In metalwork, large sculptures in the round, normally rather scarce in the Islamic world, served as elaborate receptacles for water or as fountain spouts. A great number of textiles, most notably silks, were exported: many are found in the church treasuries of Christendom, where they served as covering for saints' reliquaries. From the periods of rule one may also note a taste for painted and sculpted woodwork.
The art of north Africa is not as well studied. The Almoravid and Almohad dynasties are characterized by a tendency toward austerity, for example in mosques with bare walls. Nevertheless, luxury arts continued to be produced in great quantity. The Marinid and Hafsid dynasties developed an important, but poorly understood, architecture, and a significant amount of painted and sculpted woodwork.
By 1070, the Seljuq Empire emerged as the dominant political force in the Muslim world after they liberated Baghdad and defeated the Byzantines at Manzikert. During the rule of Malik-Shah I, the Seljuks excelled in architecture at the same time in Syria, the (governors of Seljuk princes) assumed power. Quite independent, they capitalized on conflicts with the Frankish Crusades. In 1171, Saladin seized Fatimid Egypt, and installed the transitory Ayyubid dynasty on the throne. This period is notable for innovations in metallurgy and the widespread manufacture of the Damascus steel swords and daggers and the production ceramics, glass and metalwork of a high quality were produced without interruption, and enamelled glass became another important craft.
In 1250, seized control of Egypt from the Ayyubids as the Mamluk Sultanate, and by 1261 had managed to assert themselves in Syria as well their most famous ruler was Baibars. The Mamluks were not, strictly speaking, a dynasty, as they did not maintain a patrilineal mode of succession; in fact, Mamluks were freed Turkish and Caucasian slaves, who (in theory) passed the power to others of like station. This mode of government persevered for three centuries, until 1517, and gave rise to abundant architectural projects; many thousands of buildings were constructed during this period. Patronage of luxury arts favored primarily enamelled glass and metalwork and is remembered as the golden age of medieval Egypt. The Baptistère de Saint Louis in the Louvre is an example of the very high quality of metalwork at this period.
The Seljuq dynasty, nomads of Turkic origin from present-day Mongolia, appeared on the stage of Islamic history toward the end of the 10th century. They seized Baghdad in 1048, before dying out in 1194 in Iran, although the production of "Seljuq" works continued through the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century under the auspices of smaller, independent sovereigns and patrons. During their time, the center of culture, politics and art production shifted from Damascus and Baghdad to Merv, Nishapur, Rayy, and Isfahan, all in Iran.Hillenbrand (1999), p.89 Popular patronage expanded because of a growing economy and new urban wealth. Inscriptions in architecture tended to focus more on the patrons of the piece. For example, sultans, viziers or lower ranking officials would receive often mention in inscriptions on mosques. Meanwhile, growth in mass market production and sale of art made it more commonplace and accessible to merchants and professionals.Hillenbrand (1999), p.91 Because of increased production, many relics have survived from the Seljuk era and can be easily dated. In contrast, the dating of earlier works is more ambiguous. It is, therefore, easy to mistake Seljuk art as new developments rather than inheritance from classical Iranian and Turkic sources.Hillenbrand (1999), Chapter 4
Innovations in ceramics from this period include the production of minai ware and the manufacture of vessels, not out of clay, but out of a silicon paste ("fritware"), while metalworkers began to encrust bronze with precious metals. Across the Seljuk era, from Iran to Iraq, a unification of book painting can be seen. These paintings have animalistic figures that convey strong symbolic meaning of fidelity, treachery, and courage.Hillenbrand, p.100
During the 13th century, the Mongols under the leadership of Genghis Khan swept through the Islamic world. After his death, his empire was divided among his sons, forming many dynasties: the Yuan dynasty in China, the Ilkhanate in Iran and the Golden Horde in northern Iran and southern Russia.
The beginning of the third great period of medieval Iranian art, that of the Timurid dynasty, was marked by the invasion of a third group of nomads, under the direction of Timur. During the 15th century this dynasty gave rise to a golden age in Persian manuscript painting, including renowned painters such as Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād, but also a multitude of workshops and patrons.
dotted the major trade routes across the region, placed at intervals of a day's travel. The construction of these caravanserai inns improved in scale, fortification, and replicability. Also, they began to contain central mosques.
The Turkmen people were nomads who settled in the area of Lake Van. They were responsible for a number of mosques, such as the Blue Mosque in Tabriz, and they had a decisive influence after the fall of the Anatolian Seljuqs. Starting in the 13th century, Anatolia was dominated by small Turkmen dynasties, which progressively chipped away at Byzantine territory. Little by little a major dynasty emerged, that of the Ottoman dynasty, who, after 1450, are referred to as the "first Ottomans". Turkmen artworks can be seen as the forerunners of Ottoman art, in particular the "Milet" ceramics and the first blue-and-white Anatolian works.
Islamic book painting witnessed its first golden age in the thirteenth century, mostly from Syria and Iraq. Influence from Byzantine visual vocabulary (blue and gold coloring, angelic and victorious motifs, symbology of drapery) combined with Mongoloid facial types in 12th-century book frontispieces.
Earlier coinage necessarily featured Arabic epigraphy, but as Ayyubid society became more cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, coinage began to feature astrology, figural (featuring a variety of Greek, Seleucid, Byzantine, Sasanian, and contemporary Turkish rulers' busts), and animal images.
Hillenbrand suggests that the medieval Islamic texts called , copied and illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti were some of the earliest "coffee table books". They were among the first texts to hold up a mirror to daily life in Islamic art, portraying humorous stories and showing little to no inheritance of pictorial tradition.Hillenbrand, p.128-131
Masterpieces of Ottoman manuscript illustration include the two "books of festivals" (Surname-I Hümayun), one dating from the end of the 16th century, and the other from the era of Sultan Murad III. These books contain numerous illustrations and exhibit a strong Safavid dynasty influence; thus they may have been inspired by books captured in the course of the Ottoman-Safavid wars of the 16th century.
The Ottomans are also known for their development of a bright red pigment, "Iznik red", in ceramics, which reached their height in the 16th century, both in tile-work and pottery, using floral motifs that were considerably transformed from their Chinese and Persian models. From the 18th century, Ottoman art came under considerable European influence, the Turks adopting versions of Rococo which had a lasting and not very beneficial effect, leading to over-fussy decoration.Levey, chapters 5 and 6 European-style painting was slow to be adopted, with Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) for long a somewhat solitary figure. He was a member of the Ottoman administrative elite who trained in Paris, and painted throughout his long career as a senior administrator and curator in Turkey. Many of his works represent Orientalism from the inside, as it were.
The arts of jewelry and hardstone carving of gemstones, such as jasper, jade, adorned with rubies, diamonds and emeralds are mentioned by the Mughal chronicler Abu'l Fazl, and a range of examples survive; the series of hard stone daggers in the form of horses' heads is particularly impressive.
The Mughals were also fine metallurgists they introduced Damascus steel and refined the locally produced Wootz steel, the Mughals also introduced the "bidri" technique of metalwork in which silver motifs are pressed against a black background. Famous Mughal metallurgists like Ali Kashmiri and Muhammed Salih Thatawi created the celestial globes.
The art of manuscript illumination also achieved new heights, in particular in the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, an immense copy of Ferdowsi's epic poem containing more than 250 paintings. In the 17th century, a new type of painting develops, based around the album (muraqqa). The albums were the creations of connoisseurs who bound together single sheets containing paintings, drawings, or calligraphy by various artists, sometimes excised from earlier books, and other times created as independent works. The paintings of Reza Abbasi figure largely in this new art of the book, depicting one or two larger figures, typically idealized beauties in a garden setting, often using the grisaille techniques previously used for border paintings for the background.
After the fall of the Safavids, the Qajar dynasty, a Turkmen people tribe established for centuries along the Caspian Sea, assumed power. Qajar art displays an increasing European influence, as in the large oil paintings portraying the Qajar shahs. Steelwork also assumed a new importance. Like the Ottomans, the Qajar dynasty survived until 1925, a few years after World War I, when they were replaced by the Pahlavi dynasty.
The carpet industry has remained large, but mostly uses designs that originated before 1700, and competes with machine-made imitations both locally and around the world. Arts and crafts with a broader social base, like the Zellij mosaic tiles of the Maghreb, have often survived better. Islamic countries have developed modern and contemporary art, with very vigorous art scenes, but the degree to which these should be grouped in a special category as "Islamic art" is questionable, although many artists deal with Islam-related themes, and use traditional elements such as calligraphy. Further, much modern architecture and interior decoration in the Islamic world makes use of motifs and elements drawn from the heritage of Islamic art.
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