Studies in the Islamic Decorative Arts

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A01=Robert Hillenbrand
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
ancient Near East
Author_Robert Hillenbrand
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=AFT
Category=HRH
Category=JBSR
Category=JFSR2
Category=QRP
ceramics
classical world
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
glass
Islamic artists
Islamic Studies
ivory
Language_English
masterpieces of Islamic art
metalwork
PA=Available
Price_€100 and above
PS=Active
softlaunch
textiles
the 7th to the 17th century

Product details

  • ISBN 9781904597506
  • Weight: 1685g
  • Dimensions: 170 x 240mm
  • Publication Date: 31 Dec 2019
  • Publisher: Pindar Press
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
  • Language: English
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Islamic artists channelled their energies not into easel painting and large-scale sculpture, but rather into what Western scholars, obeying a very different hierarchy of art forms, rather disparagingly term the decorative arts or even the minor arts. In point of fact, some of the greatest masterpieces of Islamic art are in the media of ceramics, metalwork, textiles, ivory and glass. Often the images they bear express a complex set of meanings, for Islam inherited much material from the iconographic systems of earlier civilizations, notably those of the ancient Near East and of the classical world. Islam also developed its own distinctive vocabulary of signs and symbols. Accordingly, questions of iconography and meaning bulk large among the studies gathered together in the present volume.

These studies, written over a period of almost thirty years, and taken from a wide variety of published sources, deal with aspects of the decorative arts from Spain to India and from the 7th to the 17th century. They focus in turn upon ceramics and metalwork; on coins, carpets and calligraphy; and on carving in wood and ivory. They are arranged under three headings. The first comprises general surveys of the field covering the content of these arts and confronting the challenges they present, such as the Islamic approach to three-dimensional sculpture. The second deals with questions of iconography and meaning, while the third comprises a series of studies devoted to specific media such as ivory, woodwork and numismatics. This volume therefore offers not only a general introduction to some of the problems posed by Islamic art, but also readings of key objects in an attempt to explore their meaning; and finally, an in-depth focus on individual objects representing specific genres and media.

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