The principles and teachings of Islam as a way
of life, a religious code, and a legal system were promulgated by Muhammad (ca.
570–632 A.D.), an Arab merchant from Mecca. These teachings were revealed to him
over a period of many years beginning in 610 and were subsequently codified in
the text known as the Qur’an. The word of God, as set out in the Qur’an and
handed down in the sayings of Muhammad (known as Hadith, or Traditions), forms the core of the religion.
The primary premise of the Islamic faith is monotheism,
a renunciation of all deities except one, Allah, who alone is the creator,
sustainer, and destroyer of life. Islam is Arabic for ”submission,“ here to the single entity of
Allah. The recognition of Muhammad as Allah’s last prophet, a prophet like
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the others that preceded Muhammad, is also a key
element of the belief.
Neither the Qur’an nor the Traditions contain specific
mandates against figural representation in art. However, both sources take a
firm stance against idolatry and the worship of images. These precepts were
interpreted strictly by early Islamic religious leaders and exegetes as an
injunction against the depiction of human or animal figures, although extant
examples of architectural decoration, objects in all media, and illustrated
manuscripts belie that stricture. Four types of ornamentation can be found in Islamic
art: calligraphy, figural forms (human and animal), vegetal motifs, and
geometric patterns. These patterns, either singly or combined, adorn all types
of surfaces, forming intricate and complex arrangements.
While geometric ornamentation may have reached
a pinnacle in the Islamic world, sources for the basic shapes and intricate patterns
already existed in late antiquity in the Byzantine and Sasanian empires.
Islamic artists appropriated key elements from the classical tradition, then
elaborated upon them to invent a new form of decoration that stressed the importance
of unity, logic, and order. Essential to this unique style were the
contributions made by Islamic mathematicians, astronomers, and other
scientists, whose ideas and technical advances are indirectly reflected in the artistic
tradition.
The basic instruments for constructing
geometric designs were a compass and ruler. The circle became the foundation
for Islamic pattern, in part a consequence of refinements made to the compass
by Arabic astronomers and cartographers. The circle is often an organizing element
underlying vegetal designs; it plays an important role in calligraphy, which
the Arabs defined as “the geometry of the line”; and it structures all the
complex Islamic patterns using geometric shapes. These patterns have three basic
characteristics:
1. They are made up of
a small number of repeated geometric elements. The simple forms of the circle,
square, and straight line are the basis of the patterns. These elements are combined,
duplicated, interlaced, and arranged in intricate combinations. Most patterns
are typically based on one of two types of grid -one composed of equilateral triangles,
the other of squares. A third type of grid, composed of hexagons, is a variation
on the triangular schema. The mathematical term for these grids is “regular
tessellation” (deriving from Latin tesserae, i.e., pieces of mosaic), in which
one regular polygon is repeated to tile the plane.
2. They are
two-dimensional. Islamic designs often have a background and foreground pattern.
The placement of
pattern upon pattern serves to flatten the space, and there is no attempt to
create depth. Vegetal patterns are may be set against a contrasting background
in which the plantlike forms interlace, weaving over and under in a way that
emphasizes the foreground decoration. In other instances, the background is
replaced by a contrast between light and shade. Sometimes it is impossible to
distinguish between foreground and background. Some geometric designs are created
by fitting all the polygonal shapes together like the pieces of a puzzle,
leaving no gaps and, therefore, requiring no spatial interplay between
foreground and background.
The mathematical term for this type of construction
is “tessellation.” The conception of space in Islamic art is completely
different from Western models, which usually adopt a linear perspective and
divide the picture space into foreground, middle ground, and background. Artists
of the Islamic world were largely uninterested in linear perspective. Of the various
styles of Islamic art, it was in Persian painting that a type of
three-dimensional space was used in which figures could interact, but this
space presented multiple viewpoints and simultaneously featured bird’s-eye and worm’s-eye
views.
3. They are not
designed to fit within a frame. Geometric ornamentation in Islamic art suggests a remarkable degree of
freedom. The complex arrangements and combinations of elements are infinitely
expandable; the frame surrounding a pattern appears to be arbitrary and the
basic arrangement sometimes provides a unit from which the rest of the design
can be both predicted and projected.
(Extract from ‘Islamic Art and Geometric Design / Activities
for learning’. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York 2004).
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