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David Wade [b] states that "Much of the art of Islam, whether in architecture, ceramics, textiles or books, is the art of decoration – which is to say, of transformation." [10] Wade argues that the aim is to transfigure, turning mosques "into lightness and pattern", while "the decorated pages of a Qur’an can become windows onto the infinite."
The portals are recessed and have trilobed profiles, muqarnas carving, and marble paneling in variations of black and white. The columns at the corner of the mosque and the mausoleum have capitals of Coptic and Byzantine styles, indicating that the Mamluk craftsmen were imitating pre-Islamic designs. [ 7 ]
The Fatimids used a green standard, as well as white. The Saudi Emirate of Diriyah used a white and green flag with the shahadah emblazoned on it. Various countries in the Persian Gulf have red flags, as red represents nationalism. The four Pan-Arab colours, white, black, green and red, dominate the flags of Arab states. [2] [3]
Although the concept of "Islamic art" has been put into question by some modern art historians as a construct of Western cultural views, [9] [10] [11] the similarities between art produced at widely different times and places in the Muslim world, especially in the Islamic Golden Age, have been sufficient to keep the term in wide use as a useful ...
Entrance portal at the Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars in Cairo, Egypt (13th century) Ablaq became a prominent feature of Mamluk architecture in Syria, Egypt and Palestine in the 14th and 15th centuries. During this period, black and white stone were often used as well as red brick in recurring rows, giving a three colored striped building. [3]
Whereas in the eastern Islamic world blues and turquoises were the dominant colours, in western zellij yellows, greens, black, and light brown were very common, with blues and turquoise also appearing in the mix, and they were typically set against a white ground.
Hagia Sophia (Turkish: Ayasofya; Ancient Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, romanized: Hagía Sophía; Latin: Sancta Sapientia; lit. ' Holy Wisdom '), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque,(Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi; Greek: Μεγάλο Τζαμί της Αγίας Σοφίας), is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey.
It is located directly to the right of the mosque's minbar, and is notable for its woodwork which includes an elaborately carved Kufic inscription dedicated to al-Mu'izz. [ 5 ] [ 4 ] The preserved maqsura of the Great Mosque of Cordoba , although no longer part of a functioning mosque, is even older but represents a very different example.