Chapter 33

Question 1

glazing

Answer 1

lightly pigmented layers added to prefired pottery and fired again to add details

Question 2

four-iwan plan

Answer 2

four vaulted halls, each open on one side, positioned around a courtyard to form one large, interconnected space

Question 3

iwan

Answer 3

large hall or audience chamber

Question 4

mihrab

Answer 4

prayer niche, usually concave with an arched top, located in the qibla wall of a mosque and indicating the direction of Mecca

Question 5

madrasa

Answer 5

school, for Sunni Islamic law and theology

Question 6

fritware

Answer 6

ceramic vessels made using a combination of quartz, glazz frit, and fine white clay; thinner and whiter than vessels made using regular clay

Question 7

overglaze

Answer 7

second decorative coating spplied to already glazed ceramic ware

Question 8

mina’i

Answer 8

describes a multicolored and gilded overglaze process used on ceramics, white fritware

Question 9

Shahnama

Answer 9

Book of Kings

Question 10

folio

Answer 10

one leaf of a book

Question 11

cornice

Answer 11

uppermost strip of molding on a building entablature

Question 12

ablution fountain

Answer 12

water fountain in which Muslims wash ritually before prayer, located in the courtyard of the mosque

Question 13

minbar

Answer 13

stepped pulpit from which the sermon at Friday noon prayer is given in a mosque; placed directly nexted to the mihrab on the qibla wall

Question 14

gilding

Answer 14

laying over a piece with a thin layer of gold

Question 15

roundel

Answer 15

small disk, especially a decorative medallion

Question 16

muqarnas

Answer 16

alternating convex and concave niche-like cells, clustered like a honeycomb; used to decorate transitional spaces in Islamic architecture