The Beginnings of Islamic Art
The beginnings of Islamic art
[edit] Before the dynasties
It is quite difficult to distinguish the earliest Islamic objects from their predecessors in Sasanian and Byzantine art; in fact, they utilize the same techniques and the same motifs. There was, notably, a significant production of unglazed ceramics, witnessed by a famous small bowl preserved in the Louvre, whose inscription assures its attribution to the Islamic period. Vegetal motifs were the most important in these early productions.
Umayyad art
Religious and civic architecture were developed under the Umayyads, and new concepts and new plans were put into practice. Thus, the "Arab plan," with court and hypostyle prayer hall, truly became a functional type with the construction of the Great Mosque of Damascus on the most sacred site in the city (on top of the ancient temple of Jupiter and in place of the basilica of St. John the Baptist). This building served as a point of reference for builders (and for art historians) for the birth of the Arab plan.
Mosaics from the riwaq (portico) of the Great Mosque of Damascus.
Mosaics from the riwaq (portico) of the Great Mosque of Damascus.
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is indisputably one of the most important buildings in all of Islamic architecture, marked by a strong Byzantine influence (mosaic against a gold background, 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, Qasr Amra, and Khirbat al-Mafjar) served the caliphs as living quarters, reception halls, and baths, and were decorated to promote an image of royal luxury.
Outside of architecture, work in ceramic was still somewhat primitive (unglazed); some metal objects have also survived, but it remains rather difficult to distinguish these objects from those of the pre-Islamic period.
In architecture, as in the
[edit] Before the dynasties
It is quite difficult to distinguish the earliest Islamic objects from their predecessors in Sasanian and Byzantine art; in fact, they utilize the same techniques and the same motifs. There was, notably, a significant production of unglazed ceramics, witnessed by a famous small bowl preserved in the Louvre, whose inscription assures its attribution to the Islamic period. Vegetal motifs were the most important in these early productions.
Umayyad art
Religious and civic architecture were developed under the Umayyads, and new concepts and new plans were put into practice. Thus, the "Arab plan," with court and hypostyle prayer hall, truly became a functional type with the construction of the Great Mosque of Damascus on the most sacred site in the city (on top of the ancient temple of Jupiter and in place of the basilica of St. John the Baptist). This building served as a point of reference for builders (and for art historians) for the birth of the Arab plan.
Mosaics from the riwaq (portico) of the Great Mosque of Damascus.
Mosaics from the riwaq (portico) of the Great Mosque of Damascus.
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is indisputably one of the most important buildings in all of Islamic architecture, marked by a strong Byzantine influence (mosaic against a gold background, 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, Qasr Amra, and Khirbat al-Mafjar) served the caliphs as living quarters, reception halls, and baths, and were decorated to promote an image of royal luxury.
Outside of architecture, work in ceramic was still somewhat primitive (unglazed); some metal objects have also survived, but it remains rather difficult to distinguish these objects from those of the pre-Islamic period.
In architecture, as in the