Islamic Art and Visual Culture : An Anthology of Sources

by Ruggles, D. Fairchild

• ISBN13: 9781405154024
• ISBN10: 1405154020
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-25
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

Islamic Art and Visual Culture is a collection of primary sources in translation accompanied by clear and concise introductory essays that provide unique insights into the aesthetic and cultural history of one of the worldrs"s major religions. Collects essential translations from sources as diverse as the Qurrs"an, court chronicles, technical treatises on calligraphy and painting, imperial memoirs, and foreign travel accounts Includes clear and concise introductory essays Situates each text and explains the circumstances in which it was written--the date, place, author, and political conditions Provides a vivid window into Islamic visual culture and society An indispensable tool for teachers and students of art and visual culture

Author Biography

D. Fairchild Ruggles is Professor of Landscape, Art, and Architectural History at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her first book, Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain (2000), won the Eleanor Tufts Award from the American Society for Hispanic Art Historical Studies. Her most recent book is Islamic Gardens and Landscapes (2008), which won the J.B. Jackson Prize from the Foundation for Landscape Studies. Her edited and co-edited books include Women, Patronage and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies (2000), Cultural Heritage and Human Rights (2007), Sites Unseen: Landscape and Vision (2007), and Intangible Heritage Embodied (2009).

Table of Contents

Introduction

Foundations: religious, political, juridical, and administrative documents from Early Islam and places in transition

The Qur'an, on paradise

The Qur'an, on the qibla

Hadith, on waqf

The Pact of cUmar

Behavior, gifts, treasuries, and collections

Kitab al-hadaya wa al-tuhaf, a description of wedding gifts

al-Muqaddasi, a description of the Shiraz library

Kutadgu Bilig, a "Mirror for Princes" on the qualifications of a gatekeeper and the etiquette for feasts

Kitab al-hadaya wa al-tuhaf, on the looting of the Fatimid treasury

al-Ghazali, on the magnanimity of kings

Ibn Khaldun, on the emblems of sovereignty

Safiye's letter to Queen Elizabeth I

Tavernier, on the Ottoman mosaic collection

Art

Workshops, guilds, and crafts in general

The Ikhwan al-Safa', on the education of craftsmen

Clavijo, on Timurid trade with China

Ahmad Ibn cArabshah, on Timur's seizure and relocation of artisans

Khwandamir, on guilds and an extraordinary work of glass

A report from a book workshop

Bernier, on Delhi artisans

calligraphy and scribes

Ibn Qutayba, on the education of a scribe

Ibn al-Nadim, on the transmission and authorization of books

al-Ghazali, on pens and secretaries

Rashid al-Din's atelier endowment

Simi Nishapuri, on papers, color, and ink

Mawlana Sultan-cAli, a treatise on writing

Khwandamir, a biographical sketch of a Timurid calligrapher

Calligraphy sample sheet

Qadi Ahmad, on the invention of the pen

painting

Sadiqi Beg, a treatise on painting

Abu'l-Fazl cAllami, on painting the human figure

Jahangir, a painting of a flying rodent and a portrait gallery

Evliya elibi, an account of manuscript defacement

textiles

al-Bayhaqi, on tiraz-stamped paper and textile

al-Mascudi, on the patronage of textiles

An Egyptian tiraz inscription

Narshakhi, on Bukhara's cloth

Ibn Balkhi, on linen manufacture

Geniza letter regarding trade and markets prices

Ceramics, glass, ivory, and other media

Abu al-Qasim, on ceramic luster and gilding

Ibn Battuta, on Chinese porcelain

Mamluk vase with blazon

Clavijo, on Timurid emblems

Clavijo, a wondrous tree in Timur's palace

Three coins

Jahangir strikes a new kind of coin

Geometry, aesthetics

Ibn Hazm, on vision

Ibn al-Haytham, on vision

Space: architecture and urbanism

cAbd al-Rahman III, on architecture and immortality

Architectural technique

Ibn Khaldun, on mudbrick and stucco

Abu'l-Fazl cAllami, on building materials and technique

Safar Efendi, on names of colors and marbles

Architectural types and elements

al-Bukhari, a hadith on the first minbar

Ibn Khaldun, the adoption of the maqsura

al-Maqrizi, the dar al-imara of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun

Badi al-Zaman al-Hamdani, a bathhouse visit

al-Wansharisi answers a query about qibla

Abu al-Fazl, on illumination and candlesticks

Urbanism and land

Hilal al-Sabi', an estimation of the number of bathhouses in Baghdad

Ibn cAbdun's hisba manual for Seville

Ibn Khaldun, on the role of the market supervisor

al-Wansharisi answers a query about waqf violation

Places

The Qur'an, Bilqis and the glass floor

The Arabian Peninsula

Nasir-i Khusraw, a description of the Kaaba

Ibn Jubayr, a description of the mosaics in the Medina Mosque

Syria, Jordan & environs

Dome of the Rock inscriptions

al-Yacqubi, on the Dome of the Rock as a pilgrimage site

al-Baladhuri, an explanation of how the Muslim community obtained the site for the Mosque of Damascus

Ibn Shaddad, on Rusafa

Ibn Jubayr, a description of Aleppo's citadel

Iraq

al-Baladhuri, on the founding of Kufa

al-Mascudi, on the founding of Samarra

Kitab al-hadaya wa al-tuhaf, a reception of Byzantine ambassadors in Baghdad

al-Andalus

Ibn cIdhari, on the Mosque of Cordoba

Signatures of stone masons in the Mosque of Cordoba

cAbd al-Rahman I's ode to a palm tree

Ibn Ghalib, on the construction of Madinat al-Zahra'

al-Maqqari, a description of a glass pavilion in Toledo

Navagero, on the Alhambra

The Maghreb, Africa, and Sicily

Ziza Palace inscription

Ibn Naji, the mihrab of the Great Mosque of Kairouan

al-Muqaddasi, a description of Sabra al-Mansuriyya

Ibn Marzuq, on Merinid madrasas and zawiyas

Ibn Marzuq on Merinid bridges and fountains

cAbd Salam Shabeni, a description of Timbuktu

Egypt

Mufaddal ibn Abi al-Fada'il, on the Fatimid processions to the four mosques

Nasir-i Khusraw, a description of the Fatimid palace in Cairo

Ibn Battuta, a description of Cairo's cemeteries

al-Maqrizi, on the foundation of the Madrasa-Mausoleum of Sultan Salih Nejm al-Din Ayyub

Baybars al-Jashankir's waqfiyya

al-Maqrizi, on the organization of the Sultan Qala'un hospital

Inscription on the faade of Sultan Qala'un Madrasa-Mausoleum complex

al-Maqrizi, a description of the Madrasa al-Nasiriya's Gothic portal

Turkey and the Ottoman Empire

Ibn Battuta, on a church conversion in Bursa

Evliya elebi, a description of the Ulu Cami in Bursa

Kritovoulos, on the Ottoman conquest and reconstruction of Istanbul

The Inscription on the Imperial Gate of the Topkap? Palace

Evliya elebi, a description of the Topkap? Palace

Matraki Nusuh, a view of Aleppo

Sinan's account of building the Selimiye Mosque

Hafiz Hseyn al-Ayvansarayi, a description of the Sleymaniye Mosque

Mustafa b. Ahmed cAli, on building with booty

Tavernier, a description of the Topkap? diwan

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's visits to harems

Iran and Central Asia

Narshakhi, on the images on the doors of Bukhara's congregational mosque

Inscription on the Gunbad-i Qabus

Abu cAmr al-Juzjani, a description of the Ghurid palace in Firuz-koh

Olearius, a description of Uljaytu's tomb in Sultaniyya

Clavijo, a description of the Aq Saray near Samarkand

Babur, a description of Samarkand

Babur, on the construction of the Bagh-i Wafa

Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi, on the construction of the Dilgusha garden

Kaempfer's plan of Isfahan

Junabadi, a description of Isfahan

Iskandar Beg Munshi, a description of the Masjid-i Shah in Isfahan

South Asia

Ibn Battuta, a description of Delhi and the Qutb Minar

Firuz Shah, on architectural restoration

Tarikh-i Da'udi, on the destruction of Hindu idols

Babur plans a garden in Agra

Gulbadan Begum, on building projects in Agra and Dholpur

Nizam al-Din Ahmad Haravi, on the foundation of Fatehpur-Sikri

cInayat Khan, on Shah Jahan's motivation for building the Diwan-i Amm in the Agra Fort

cInayat Khan, on the construction of the Taj Mahal

cInayat Khan, on water problems at the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore

Bernier, a description of Shahjahanabad

Thvenot, a description of Aurangzeb's birthday celebration

East Asia

Ibn Battuta, on caravanserais and mosques in China

Index

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