Progression Of Islamic Art

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

assimilated artistic styles did utilize figural imagery, yet they still reflected the traditional artistic components of Islam. The introductory plaque at the entrance of the Islamic Art collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art states that Islamic art is characterized by ‘stasis,’ and that even assimilated foreign styles have “always retained its intrinsic quality and unique identity.” The beautifully rendered book miniatures of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp illustrate this last point wonderfully. The Shahnama, translated as “The Book of Kings,” is an Iranian national epic penned by the poet Firdausi between 975-1010 AD. Centuries later, it became the custom for shahs to have their own personal copy of the Shahnama. This naturally transformed the quality of the book into measurement of status. The second shah of the Safavid dynasty, Tahmasp, was a great patron of the arts. Not only did he have his copy ornamented with gold, silver, rich colors, and exquisite ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

the text. This is consistent within popular Islamic thought. Walter Denny writes that objects were decorated with sacred script for it was thought to “invoke good wishes on the owners of pottery and metalwork, and kept the evil eye from thresholds and hearths.” Consequently, Allah is present in the “Sufarai” miniature not through a figural image, for that would extremely blasphemous, but through the written text. This is similar to the western tradition of using mysterious or divine light to represent God without a figural image. Therefore, the placement of the text over the picture alludes to Allah’s descending or presiding over the miniature. The divine words, which are only ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: