Chapter 9 Islam Flashcards
Islam Design
does not denote a specific time in history
- Existed from the 7th century to present
- Does not denote a specific location
- does not denote a religion: because islamic design covers all aspects of life, including buildings, interiors and decorative elements design for secular use.
Factors that unified Islamic Design
culture, geographic, religious, political, temporal
Some of its characteristics
geometric
- sometimes having representational ornament
- vegetative or agricultural motif can be found in come islamic art
Islamic lands to be called the Rug belt.
- ties to nomadic past ion which personal belongings had to be.
- portable and durable, providing a waving tradition of hand knotting
- terrain and climate suitable for sheep grazing provides supplies of wool
Flux:
used to make linen
cotton: was intro ducted by?
India
Silk was from?
China
What does islam mean?
submission to god
- Prophet Muhammed founded islam in 622AD
- Islamic design could not have existed before that date
- Islamic design was devised to reveal islam on earth (similar to Gothic style strived to reveal christianity)
Koran:
sacred book of Islam
5 Obligations of Islam:
- Profession of faith
- Charity to the poor
- Daytime fasting during Ramadan
- Pilgrimage to Mecca once in lifetime
- ritual prayer, 5x a day, facing Mecca
Mosque:
A building dedicated for public worship
What is the Largest Mosque?
The Great Mosque at Sammara located North of Baghdad, 9th C.
2 major sects in Islam:
Sunni and the Shia
The Sunni:
were orthodox Muslims who held that, after Muhammad’s Death, leadership of the Islamic community was elective
The Shia:
held that Islamic leadership could only be hereditary, that is, only direct decedents of Muhammad could rule.
Sufism:
mystical and ascetic order that emerged from the Shia sect. later integrated into Sunni sects
Sufis were not only inclined to value the arts, but also to value the art of a specific kind:
ecstatic, allegorical, metaphorical, and rich ith layers of religious reference not immediately obvious.
Structure material varied depending on economic structure:
- Good times: use of stone, high levels of ornament, preservation of structures, precious and semi precious metals
- Times of despair: use of mud brick, low levels of ornament (if any) destruction of structures to re-use materials, precious + semi precious metals melted dow,
The most important building types of Islamic Architecture are?
religious buildings such as
- mosque
- the shrine
- the covent
- the mausoleum
- religious school called the MADRASA
Religious School Name?
Madrasa
Minaret:
a slender tower attached to -or near- a mosque from which the faithful can be called to prayer.
Within the Mosque (parts that make up the mosque)
- Central area, either open or covered, for praying
- a prayer niche or Mihrab (indicate direction of Mecca)
- Pulpit or Minbar: stood adjacent to the prayer niche, and a waster basins as nearby for ritual washing before prayers.
Mihrab:
indicates the direction of Mecca
-highly decorative, part of mosque interior
Minbar:
a prayer niche with water basin nearby
-highly decorated, carries honoring sultan during which rein it was constructed.
The Suleymaniye Mosque was built by who?
Built by Architect Sinan, he was chief architect for a series of powerful sultans, his previous works were mechanic and engineer.
Architecture of the Suleymaniye Mosque
Flooded with light
- Use of Corinthian columns
- Interior surfaces enriched with great quantities of tiles
- Carved wood shutters and doors, stained glass, carpets
- mosque lamps and Koran manuscripts and stand to hold them.
Famous Tile Maker?
Iznik
2 chief materials used in Suleymaniye Mosque
- Ivory colored stone on exterior
- dark gray lead for roofing
Horseshoe Arch
a semicircular shape above straight piers that narrows further below its spring line (imaginary horizontal line above which arch begins to curve).
-Some had round or pointed tips and were Foliate or cusped with small arcs or scallops cut into their intrados.
The Topkapi Palace home of Ottoman Sultans 15th C. -19th C.
Clear organization
- plan is pf scattered pavilions, kiosks, halls, harems, libraries, and service buildings, all meet in courtyard.
- Gigantic kitchen
- Tazar
Tazar:
slightly raised seating platform
The Private House:
From street view, presented plain blank walls
-Interiors would be built around as many as 4 courtyards
marble floors, high decorative ceilings.
The Tent
Islamic Tradition of Nomadic life, served not by permanent structure
The Famous Ardabile Carpet:
36Ft Long, too long to fit inside tent, must have been used outside
Islamic Ornament:
- representative of luxurious platen life, but highly stylized
- animal forms used less often
- human forms used scarcely
- allah NEVER USED
- geometry was a natural alternative to the depictions of humans and animals, squares, rectangles, hexagons, octagons, stars, infinite variations of forms are seen.
Ceramic and Textile Design
rosettes, pearls, dots, hatchings, diamonds, circles, stars, vase forms were used.
Diaper pattern:
checkerboards of lozenge shapes
Arabesque:
fanciful with interlocking vines (based on plate life)
Sunni Ornament:
Strictly opposed to representation of living things in art, on the basis that they were Idolitrous. (meaning no idols)
Shia Ornament:
had more liberal artistic views
- allowed floral, animal, and human subject manner
- real & imaginary animals
- humans, birds, leaves, flowers ives, and trees were often incorporated into patterns or arabesques.
Ibex:
a royal symbol
Lion symbolizes
power
Equestrian subjects symbolize
common
Pine cones symbolize
good luck
Plaster:
composite of soft material that hardens after being spread in place, while soft can be carved and decorated
Stucco:
slow setting kind of plaster, cheap, easy to apply, extremely popular, ornamentation includes cross hatching and geometric vegetation forms
Muqarina:
specialized used of plasterwork, AKA as honeycomb work.
-Consist of superimposed tiers of concave shapes, like a great network of adjacent pendentives.
Woodwork, an important part of Islamic building and interiors. When available it was used for
-door panels
-wall panels
-tie beams
-furniture
-chest
-koran covers
Within carved wood pieces, inlay of ivory, bone and mother of pearl
Open Grille:
turned wood members made into a screen, used on mosque to separate a prince sanctum from the congregation
Mashrabiya:
window grille
- put over windows so that ladies of the sultans house could look out without being seen from public
- also shields interior from extreme sun exposure and gives touch of mystery
Tile
Islamic design is highly imaginable without the profuse and virtuoso use of glazed ceramic tile
2 basic types of tile designs:
- Designs made by the outline of the tile themselves
2. those in which the design extends across number of tiles
Mosaics used where?
on interior and exteriors, flooring and walls
What kind of tile did the grandest mosques use?
Glass-gold mosaics
Suffa:
long, low seating benches/source for english sofa
Pushti:
small mats used mostly as sitting carpets
Balisht:
pillow covers used in same manner as carpets
thrones:
were for rulers and people of authority
beds:
were not used for sleeping, sleeping was customary on the suffa cushions or carpeted floors
Maqsuras
screened enclosures
3 most decorative arts
Ceramics
metalwork
textiles
materials
wood, metals, ivory, mosaics, tile, lacquer, calligraphy, glass, and rock crystal
Earthware:
was made in tan color
fritware:
a white ceramic made from white clay, crushed quartz and glass, developed as an imitation of Chinese ceramics
Mina’i ware
AKA Haft range: meaning 7 colors ceramic
Lajvardina:
similar to Mina’i sober colors and abstract designs
Iznik:
most famous kinds of Islamic tiles, clouds, waves, clusters of grapes, trios of balls, adopted from Chinese, arabesque, scrolls chevrons, geo-vegational depictions, traditional
Metal ewers:
used in mosques to cleanse in before prayer
Techniques used for metal designs
casting, hammering, embossing, filigree, lost wax (circle perdue egyptian)
Damascening:
form of decoration by inlay, beating thin gold or solver wires into tiny groves that have been cut into surface of the base metal.
Niello:
silver compound with a lustrous black appearance: another form of inlay
3 basic types of traditional woven carpets
- persian
- turkish
- chinese
4 basic types of carpet (before machines)
- embroidered and needle work
- flat woven
- tapestry woven
- pile
Islamic carpets were:
cut pile carpets
Quality of carpet is based on what?
density of knots per sq. inch most common 100
Shape ratio:
length of carpet divided by width
Palace carpets
larger than 14’ x 24’
Keleh:
traditional village carpets, made to fit long narrow rooms
Kernarehs
long narrow rugs AKA runners
Scatter rugs:
used as bed cover or furniture cover AKA throw rugs
Prayer Rug:
made of silk, usually shaped like mihrab and points towards mecca
Gul or Gol:
a geometric emblem “flower or rose”
Boteh:
motif familiar from the paisley pattern
Tree-of-Life:
motif symbolizes the life force in the form of a tree, sometimes with fruits and birds int he branches
Vase of immortality:
motif shows foliage sprouting from a case rather than from the ground
herati:
floral representation
hands of fatima
outline of pair of hands near the tops of some prayer rugs
Palmette:
lotus floral motif
