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Islamic artsprings from a vast geographical expanse - from Spain to Indo- nesia-andits history consists of a dynamic interchange of peoples and ideas. It is complex, and aswiththeartof Europe or theFar East, reflects each political and religious moment of flux, and evolves its own periods of renaissance andconservatism. Western Islamzc Afrt, an exhibit opening on November I5, iS anattempt to explore a fascinating part of thewhole, and oneof the most important yet least studied areas of art history. Early Muslim geographers and historians understood the Maghrzb- "The West"- asencompassing North Africa (west of Egypt), Spain, and southern Italy. Egypt and Syria, too,must be included in our survey, fortheyhad a fluctuating relationship to bothEast andWest. Syria was perhaps the most direct source fortheintellectual aswell as thematerial development of western Islam. Indeed, it was thespecifically Syrian transformation of a lateclassical and early Christian civilization intoan Islamic form thatwas carried to Spain during theeighth century. There, in Cordova, theUmay- yad dynasty continued and prospered forthree hundred years after it lost Damascus to the rival Abbasid dynasty; the split withthe East was made final by theformation, in thetenth century, of anofficial western caliphate. And asfor Egypt, in a period such asthat of theFatimids it was altogether within the cultural Maghrzb, for the Fatimids wereBerbers-non-Arabs indigenous to North Africa. Every object in thisinstallation is from the Museum's owncollection. Many of the pieces have never before been displayed, although theywill allbepermanently installed in thenew Islamic galleries dueto open during theMuseum's centennial celebrations. The carving o£ rock crystal-andthe cut glass thatimitated it -was perfected in Fati- mid Egypt and was highly admired through- out the Muslim world.Indeed,the later Persian glass oftensought to copy not only itstechnique butitsrich vocabulary of forms. This bottle, probably used asa perfume con- tainer, continues the very abstract, angled carving o£ the preceding Tulunid period in Egypt, instead of contemporary figurative motifs. Bottle. Egypto-Arabic, Fatimid period, X-XI century. Cartfed roct crystal, height 23 inches. Giftof George D. Pratt, 3I.*25 DON AANAVI, Afssistant Curator of Islamic Afrt Western Islamic Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin www.jstor.org ®

Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, V. 27, No. 3, November, 1968

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Page 1: Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

Islamic art springs from a vast geographical expanse - from Spain to Indo- nesia-and its history consists of a dynamic interchange of peoples and ideas. It is complex, and as with the art of Europe or the Far East, reflects each political and religious moment of flux, and evolves its own periods of renaissance and conservatism. Western Islamzc Afrt, an exhibit opening on November I5, iS an attempt to explore a fascinating part of the whole, and one of the most important yet least studied areas of art history.

Early Muslim geographers and historians understood the Maghrzb- "The West"- as encompassing North Africa (west of Egypt), Spain, and southern Italy. Egypt and Syria, too, must be included in our survey, for they had a fluctuating relationship to both East and West. Syria was perhaps the most direct source for the intellectual as well as the material development of western Islam. Indeed, it was the specifically Syrian transformation of a late classical and early Christian civilization into an Islamic form that was carried to Spain during the eighth century. There, in Cordova, the Umay- yad dynasty continued and prospered for three hundred years after it lost Damascus to the rival Abbasid dynasty; the split with the East was made final by the formation, in the tenth century, of an official western caliphate. And as for Egypt, in a period such as that of the Fatimids it was altogether within the cultural Maghrzb, for the Fatimids were Berbers-non-Arabs indigenous to North Africa.

Every object in this installation is from the Museum's own collection. Many of the pieces have never before been displayed, although they will all be permanently installed in the new Islamic galleries due to open during the Museum's centennial celebrations.

The carving o£ rock crystal-and the cut glass that imitated it -was perfected in Fati- mid Egypt and was highly admired through- out the Muslim world. Indeed, the later Persian glass often sought to copy not only its technique but its rich vocabulary of forms. This bottle, probably used as a perfume con- tainer, continues the very abstract, angled carving o£ the preceding Tulunid period in Egypt, instead of contemporary figurative motifs.

Bottle. Egypto-Arabic, Fatimid period, X-XI century. Cartfed roct crystal, height 23 inches. Gift of George D. Pratt, 3I.*25

DON AANAVI, Afssistant Curator of Islamic Afrt

Western Islamic Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Artis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletinwww.jstor.org

®

Page 2: Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

The Fatinlids were Berber tribesmen from northwest Africa who claimed descent from Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet; they took power in Egypt in 969 and founded the new capital city of Cairo. In this panel, which may have served as part of a door, one sees the Fatimid accom- plishment: a fusion of pre-Islamic with Islamic ideas, blended with artis- tic interests of their own. The heraldic disposition of the addorsed horses at once relates to Coptic, Hellenistic, and Sasanian sources; but in Islamic art before the Fatimid period, figura- tive motifs had been used only in storytelling, religious, or propagan- distic contexts. The Fatimids en- couraged and developed such motifs as pure decoration, for delight in the motif itself rather than for its useful- ness as a vehicle for symbolism. Here the horses have also been actively "Islamicized"-transformed into geo- metric, arabesque patterns.

Panel. Egypto-Z4rabic, Fatimid period, XI century. Wood, height I33MinC*es.ROgersFUnd, II.205.2

Page 3: Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

For seven hundred years, from the time the Umayyad dynasty fled from Syria in the eighth century, Arab culture flourished in Spain, where its products dazzled both the Muslim and Christian worlds. The motifs seen in this ivory plaque-dancers, and ani- mals of the garden and the hunt - suggest the entertainments of the Umayyad court, and are quite similar to the iconography of the rival Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad: they may, indeed, have been intended as overt artistic "competition" with the enemy. The design, however, is remarkably archaistic, based as it is on a strict repetition of either addorsed or confronted figures. This is typical of Hispano-Moresque works, which often hark back to art forms that were in vogue before the Umayyads left Syria.

Plaque. Hispano-Moresque, about xs cen- tury. Irory, originally painted, width 8 inches. John Stewart Kennedy Fund, s3.z4s

_ _

I . he Almohades, who, like the Fatimids, were of Berber extraction, ruled Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and all of Muslim Spain dur- ing the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The calligraphy shown here is uniquely Maghribi: it presents an austere combination of vertical, horizontal, and circular forms; even the vowel marks, which usually move on diagonal axes, are here either horizontal or semicir- cular. But if the form is austere, the color is brilliant; in addition to the gold chapter head- ing (which is in an archaizing, angular mode), there are sequences of crimson, blue, green, and orange. Also illuminated are the medal- lion finial on the heading, and the verse marks in the text.

Leaf from a Koran. Moroccan, XII-XIII

century. Ing colors, and gold on parch- ment, 2I X 22 inches. Rogers Fund, 42.63

Page 4: Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

Textiles with a succession of interlocking motifs such as this were produced in both Spain and North Africa. They may have been used as hang- ings in mosques, which would have been an ideal setting for them, since in all of western Islamic art few creations are more concerned with the idea of the infinite pattern, and thus with a visual reference to the eternal order and glory that they inspired the viewer to contemplate. In the rela- tively small panel illustrated, one can count at least seven totally different ways of using color and form, combined with taste and finesse.

Textile. Spanish, Hispano-Moresque, xv cen- tury. Woven silt, length 39X inches. Fletcher Fund, 29.22

During the twelfth century Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub, the famous Saladin, achieved hegemony first in Egypt and then in Syria and part of Iraq. His dynasty endured until I250, when its Turkish vassals seized power and formed the Mamluk em- pire. The enameled glass plate seen above is repre- sentative of the Ayyubid predilection for gilt ornament and totally abstract designs that seem to negate the Fatimid figurative tradition. The crosslike motif in the center of the plate, a fre- quent occurrence in thirteenth- and fourteenth- century Egyptian and Syrian art, was probably not used as a Christian symbol, but simply as a decorative device.

Plate. Syrian, Syyubid period, XIII century. Glass, enameled and gilded, diameter 8M2 inches. Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 9I.I.I533

1 he frequent interchange of artists and icono- graphy between East and West often, as here, re- sulted in the grafting of foreign motifs on Islamic objects. The basic form of this tray, with its per- forated star patterns, is indigenous to Egyptian and Near Eastern art; a new feature is the lotus design - a motif that reflects the impact of Chinese art upon eastern Islam during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when t:he conquering Mon- gols swept out of innermost Asia.

Tray. Egypto-Arabic, Mamlut period, I30C)- I350. Brass, originally inlaid with silver, dia- meter I8 inches. Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 9I.I.532

Page 5: Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

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Page 6: Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

The Mamluks governed Egypt and Syria until the Ottoman conquest in the sixteenth cen- tury. The predominant element in all their art was an elongated and rhythmic calligraphy. This might be an instance of a Muslim interpretation of Chinese style (rather than the copying of a motif, such as the lotus on the pierced tray on the preceding page): in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Iraq developed a sinuous, graceful, attenuated figural style that the Muslim artists believed reflected Chinese forms.

Although the Mamluks themselves primarily used nonrepresentational designs, on two ot the vessels in this illustration figurative motifs are used: flying birds in medallions on the ewer, and seated figures on the neck of the candlestick.

Basin, ewer, and candlestict. Egypto-Arabic, Mamlut period, I300-I350. Brass, inlaid with silver, height of ewer 17M2 inches. Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 9l.l.587,600,529

£fiewZ-

Page 7: Aanavi, Don - Western Islamic Art

In Spain, the Mudejar style was born of a fusion of Eastern and European motifs. It emphasized figurative designs, which had previously been relegated to infrequent ap- pearances in Hispano-Moresque textiles. In the popular pattern shown in this piece, typi- cally Islamic arabesque forms are handled with a non-Muslim immediacy and relative lack of intricacy.

Textile (fragment of a chasuble). Spanish, Hispano-Moresque (MudGejar), xv cen- tury. Woren sil&, length 46H inches. Rog- ers Fund, 20.94.I