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| Wooden frieze, Egypt 9th/3rd centuryhttp://patterninislamicart.com/background-notes/the-evolution-of-style |
It can be
said that the motivation to create something beautiful is the one of a common
characteristic among human being when we look back at the history of great art
crafts, architecture, and paintings. However the way to practice these
inclinations are very various depends on the periods or the place. In the
Islamic world, the passion to produce beauty was expressed on the decorations
of the architects, on the scripture, vessels, textiles, and so on. These
objects were often ornamented with the continuous patterns of the vegetal
motif, commonly known as arabesque, or geometry. Because of the variety of the
way and objects to use of decoration, the vocabulary and system of them had
been highly developed and organized in the early period of the Islamic world.
In this essay, I would like to discuss about the development of the Islamic
decorative motifs, especially focus on geometrical motifs and vegetal motifs
Even
though there are the rich variations of the motif on the decoration in the
Islamic art, the images of animals and human beings which are commonly became
the objects of the arts are often excluded especially in religious spaces.
Cynthia Finlayson pointed (2001) that this is came from the
strict restriction toward the idol worship. In the era of Muhammad, Islam was
developed against those days main stream Arabic pagan religion which agreed to
worship the idols of goddess and their ancestors. As a result of the evasion of
idolized motifs, vegetal or geometrical motifs were developed to decorate art
objects without violating religious tradition (2001, p.71). However without any
precedent examples, it is almost impossible to see the emergence of totally new
style. These style were introduced to Islamic art world in the Umayyad period
from the land where the Umayyad conquered.
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Panel from a Rectangular Box 10th–early 11th century
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/13.141/
|
According to Ettinghausen, Grabar
and Jenkins-Madina (2001), the main characteristics of techniques and motifs of
the Umayyad arts are, first of all, the wide range of the styles in decoration.
They pointed out two reasons of this variety; first reason is the way at that
time to decorate the objects. Craftsmen first of all created large square
frames and then they start filled with the inside of empty, therefore even
though they tried to create symmetry, these huge space allowed them to create
multiple pattern (2001, p.49). Another reason of the variety of the motifs
which Ettinghausen, Grabar and Jenkins-Madina suggested (2001) is the diversity
of the backgrounds of artisans (2001, p.50-51). As Robinson agued (2016) that the
Umayyad and the Abbasid were the periods of cultural and religious expansion
and mass migrations to the Islamic central cities, especially in the seventh
century, the organization of what succeeded from pre-Islam periods and worlds
such as the Byzantine and the Sasanian was rapidly developed (2016, part 2, para.
2). As the political systems introduced and created the foundation of the
Empire, the skill, the motifs and themes were adapted and became the basic of
the later Islamic art tradition (2001, p.65). They also pointed out that there
were rare differences between the Umayyad ornaments and those of previous era,
such as fresco technique from Roman, Syria and Palestine carvings, and
particularly architecture style of the Sasanian. Ettinghausen, Grabar and
Jenkins-Madina concluded this period as “adaptation and juxtaposition” (2001,
p.65).
On
the other hands, if the Umayyad period were the period of adaptation and
juxtaposition, how about the Abbasid? Robinson described this era as the
development and sophistication of the Islamic organization and culture. With
the development of the caliphate system and following bureaucratic and economic
foundation, the quality of the production also improved and it promoted the
emergence of high culture which was characterized as Islamic original in future
(2016. Part 2, para. 8). Not only the political and market system were
organized but also the motifs and the theme of the motifs were systemized based
on the scientific and philosophical ideas. Therefore as borrowing the terms of
Ettinghausen, Grabar and Jenkins-Madina, the Abbasid is the periods of
”purification and simplification of the Umayyad inheritance” (2001. p. 79). The
development of science which were introduced from ancient Mediterranean world
and India, and translated into Arabian in the Abbasid capital, stirred not only
scientists also artisans to create theoretical grammar of the decorations.
This
scientific moment helped to stylize the geometrical motifs. In the beginning of
the tenth century, the coherent and complete world view was already
established. Under the mathematical and religious studies, the meanings of the
ornamentation were grammatically systemized and the new techniques were
introduced. According to Bier (2008), the geometry of ornament represented the
completion, and she also pointed out that the importance of the symmetry as the
nature of law according to those days Iranian mathematical studies (2008
p.492). Also, the conversations among philosopher at that time were focused on
ideas of the one and many, the limit and the boundary, about the infinity, and
the nature of the number; these were concluded as the sign of God in other
words, these scientists tried to connect the natural science and the God, and
to explain them in scientific way (2008. P.498). Therefore it is no wonder that
the geometric motifs were interpreted under the religious understanding. Bier
agued (2008) that geometry pattern was the infinite series of the space and
patterns which was bounded on only one particular design and these were the
collective of the single pattern. Later one could be understood as the
individual in front of God (2008. p.504-505).
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| http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/118929/istanbul-hosts-first-ever-islamic-geometric-arts-symposium |
On
the one hand, the ornamental geometry developed under the increase of
scientific curiosity among artisans and scholars, on the other hand, vegetal
motifs changed their style as the shift of the place where these were used. The
Islamic vegetal ornamentations were well known as an arabesque, however
according to Herzfeld, (1983) this term was invented in the eighteenth century
by German to explain them to those days German (1938, p. 560). Khazaie discussed (2005) that the origin of
the vegetal ornaments was not from Islamic world, there are several hypotheses
though, but in Persian art of the Sasanid era or from ancient Greek. we can see
similar motifs in ancient Greek architecture as the interpretation of the
palmette. On the other hand, in the pre-Islam Persian art, there were organic
patterns of ornaments, and these were meant to explain the wing and flame based
on the Zoroastrian religion and also used as the motif of “The Tree of Life” it
long after (2005. p. 28). Khazaie regarded (2005) the Persian roots as more
influential origin for the Islamic vegetal ornaments.
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| A rare and finely decorated Qur’an leaf in eastern Kufic script, Persia or Central Asia, circa 1075-1125 ADhttp://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/arts-islamic-world-l16220/lot.10.html |
As Ettinghausen, Grabar
and Jenkins-Madina agued above (2001), in the Umayyad period, the borrowing of
the decoration were obviously seen at the architecture, also Khazaie pointed
out (2005) that there is the wing motif ornamentation in the Dorm of the Rock in
Jerusalem. In the Abbasid era, as the systematization of the Islamic original
culture was rapidly promoted, the motifs which were decorated at the Sasanian
architectures gradually shifted to the representation of the vegetation,
especially on the script with Kufic characters, and then gradually these motifs
were simplified and organized by artisans and scientists (2005, p.31-32).
As well as the
geometric motifs contained the religious significance, Ettinghausen, Grabar and
Jenkins-Madina agued that the arabesque also contained religious meanings, in
the point of the infinite repetition of the pattern which are interpreted as
the permanency of the Islam and God from the atomistic ideas (2001, p.79).
In conclusion, the
characteristic Islamic decorations were established at the early period of
Islamic world. These ornamental motifs well known as arabesque and other
geometric motifs were succeeded from pre-Islamic world, especially from the
Sasanian culture in Persia and ancient Mediterranean world. In the Umayyad
period, these were randomly introduced and as a result the ornamentation of
this period had wide range of variety but these were converged on more
mathematical and religious ways in the Abbasid period with the development of
the scientific knowledge. Through these processes the Islamic culture established
their original and iconic decoration style in these periods and those motifs
became the foundation of the Islamic art objects.
Reference
Ettinghausen, Richard., Grabar, Oleg., and
Jekins-Madina, Marilyn., (2001,) ISLAMIC
ART AND ARCHITECTURE 650-1250, Yale University Press.
Robinson, Chase F. (2016,) ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION in THIRTY LIVES The First
1,000 years, University of California Press, Oakland, California [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved
from Amazon.com
Bier, Carol. (2008,) Art and Mithal:
Reading Geometry as Visual Commentary. Iranian
Studies, Vol.41, No. 4, Sciences. Crafts, and the Prduction of Knowledge:
Iran and Eastern Islamic Lads, p. 491-509
Finlayson, Cynthia. (2001) Behind the
Arabesque: Understanding Islamic Art and Architecture. Brigham Young University Studies, Vol. 40, No.4, Special Issue on
Islam. p. 69-88.
Khazaie, Mohammad. (2005) The Source and
Religious Symbolism of the Arabesque in Medieval Islamic Art of Persia. Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 49, No.
1, p.27-50
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