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61-502: According to one tradition, it appeared when Ibrahim stood on the stone while building the Kaaba; when the walls became too high, Ibrahim stood on the maqām , which miraculously rose up to let him resume building and also miraculously went down in order to allow Ismail to hand him stones. Other traditions held that the footprint appeared when the wife of Ismail washed Ibrahim's head, or alternatively when Ibrahim stood atop it in order to summon

122-729: A prayer rug , which would provide a clean place to pray). They have been a major export to other areas since the late Middle Ages, used to cover not only floors but tables, for long a widespread European practice that is now common only in the Netherlands . Carpet weaving is a rich and deeply embedded tradition in Islamic societies, and the practice is seen in large city factories as well as in rural communities and nomadic encampments. In earlier periods, special establishments and workshops were in existence that functioned directly under court patronage. Very early Islamic carpets, i.e. those before

183-411: A cup seated upon a lion throne, similar to that of Solomon. A late 12th–13th century bowl depicts an enthroned Seljuk ruler with messengers to either side and headed winged jinn . Other usage of early figurative arts are illustrations of animal fables. Many of them are of Sanskrit origin and translated into Middle Persian in the sixth century for delight, ethical discussion, and political edification. In

244-424: A design may have figurative painting of animals or single human figures. These were often part of designs mostly made up of tiles in plain colours, but with larger fully painted tiles at intervals. The larger tiles are often shaped as eight-pointed stars, and may show animals or a human head or bust, or plant or other motifs. The geometric patterns, such as modern North African zellij work, made of small tiles each of

305-485: A large and widespread village and nomadic industry producing work that stayed closer to traditional local designs. As well as pile carpets, kelims and other types of flat-weave or embroidered textiles were produced, for use on both floors and walls. Figurative designs, sometimes with large human figures, are very popular in Islamic countries but relatively rarely exported to the West, where abstract designs are generally what

366-502: A number of times over the years; historic photographs show that the arch of the Banu Shaybah Gate stood next to it. 21°25′21″N 39°49′35″E  /  21.42262°N 39.82633°E  / 21.42262; 39.82633 This Islam-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sitara (textile) A sitara or sitarah ( Arabic : سِتَارَة [si.taː.ra] )

427-453: A rich tradition, especially in Persian , Mughal and Ottoman painting . These pictures were often meant to illustrate well-known historical or poetic stories. Some interpretations of Islam, however, include a ban of depiction of animate beings, also known as aniconism. Islamic aniconism stems in part from the prohibition of idolatry and in part from the belief that creation of living forms

488-614: A set of textiles sent to Mecca. The tradition is that the textiles are provided by the ruler responsible for the holy sites. In different eras, this has meant the Mamluk Sultans , the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire , and presently the rulers of Saudi Arabia . The construction of the sitaras is both an act of religious devotion and a demonstration of the wealth of the rulers who commission them. The earliest recorded sitara

549-431: A show of humility by artists who believe only God can produce perfection, although this theory has also been disputed. East Persian pottery from the 9th to 11th centuries, decorated only with highly stylised inscriptions and called "epigraphic ware", has been described as "probably the most refined and sensitive of all Persian pottery". Large inscriptions made from tiles, sometimes with the letters raised in relief , or

610-755: A significant influence on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles. From its beginnings, Islamic art has been based on the written version of the Quran and other seminal religious works, which is reflected by the important role of calligraphy, representing the word as the medium of divine revelation. Religious Islamic art has been typically characterized by the absence of figures and extensive use of calligraphic , geometric and abstract floral patterns. Nevertheless, representations of human and animal forms historically flourished in nearly all Islamic cultures, although, partly because of opposing religious sentiments, living beings in paintings were often stylized, giving rise to

671-482: A single colour that are either cut to shape or are small and of a few shapes, used to create abstract geometric patterns. Later large painted schemes use tiles painted before firing with a part of the scheme – a technique requiring confidence in the consistent results of firing. Some elements, especially the letters of inscriptions, may be moulded in three-dimensional relief , and in especially in Persia certain tiles in

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732-514: A strict aversion to depiction of God throughout Islamic tradition. No Islamic artistic product has become better known outside the Islamic world than the pile carpet, more commonly referred to as the Oriental carpet ( oriental rug ). Their versatility is utilized in everyday Islamic and Muslim life, from floor coverings to architectural enrichment, from cushions to bolsters to bags and sacks of all shapes and sizes, and to religious objects (such as

793-447: A variety of decorative figural designs. Both religious and secular art objects often exhibit the same references, styles and forms. These include calligraphy, architecture, textiles and furnishings, such as carpets and woodwork. Secular arts and crafts include the production of textiles, such as clothing, carpets or tents, as well as household objects, made from metal, wood or other materials. Further, figurative miniature paintings have

854-651: Is God's prerogative. Although the concept of "Islamic art" has been put into question by some modern art historians as a construct of Western cultural views, 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 classification since the late 19th century. Scholars such as Jacelyn K. Kerner have drawn attention to its wide-ranging scope referring to more than 40 nations and to

915-436: Is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide range of lands, periods, and genres, Islamic art is a concept used first by Western art historians in the late 19th century. Public Islamic art is traditionally non- representational , except for

976-458: Is also known as the burqu' . A smaller sitara covers an internal door of the Kaaba, the Bab al-Tawba . Being protected from weathering, this internal sitara is replaced much less frequently. The tradition is also more recent; the earliest documented internal sitara was in 1893. The Maqam Ibrahim (Station of Abraham) is a small square stone near the Kaaba which, according to Islamic tradition, bears

1037-671: Is an ornamental curtain used in the sacred sites of Islam . A sitara forms part of the kiswah , the cloth covering of the Kaaba in Mecca . Another sitara adorns the Prophet's Tomb in the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi mosque in Medina . These textiles bear embroidered inscriptions of verses from the Quran and other significant texts. Sitaras have been created annually since the 16th century as part of

1098-637: Is meant to include "all of the arts produced by Muslim peoples, whether connected with their religion or not." Calligraphic design is omnipresent in Islamic art, where, as in Europe in the Middle Ages , religious exhortations, including Qur'anic verses, may be included in secular objects, especially coins, tiles and metalwork, and most painted miniatures include some script, as do many buildings. Use of Islamic calligraphy in architecture extended significantly outside of Islamic territories; one notable example

1159-549: Is the use of Chinese calligraphy of Arabic verses from the Qur'an in the Great Mosque of Xi'an . Other inscriptions include verses of poetry, and inscriptions recording ownership or donation. Two of the main scripts involved are the symbolic kufic and naskh scripts, which can be found adorning and enhancing the visual appeal of the walls and domes of buildings, the sides of minbars , and metalwork. Islamic calligraphy in

1220-455: The Rawḍah ash-Sharifah (Noble Garden) of the mosque. The Met's sitara was commissioned by Abdul Hamid II for the interior door of the Kaaba and is 280 centimetres (110 in) high. It is dated 1315 AH (1897–98 AD ) and calls for blessings for Abbas II of Egypt , who would have overseen the textile's production. An 18th century sitara, commissioned by Selim III for the Prophet's Mosque,

1281-492: The Abbasid Caliphate (c. 749–1258). Prior to the early 14th century, a halo was a common symbol to designate rulers. Under Asian influence, the halo as a symbol of sacredness was replaced by a flame. Reminiscent of the Islamic prophet Solomon, rulers were often depicted as sitting on a throne endowed with religious symbols. An ivory casket carved in early eleventh century Cordova shows a Spanish Muslim ruler holding

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1342-1058: The Khalili Collection of Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage , the British Museum , the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). During the Ottoman era, many sacred textiles, including some sitaras, were returned to Istanbul after use, now forming part of the collection of the Topkapı Palace . Among the Khalili collection's sitaras is one from the Kaaba, 499 centimetres (196 in) high, dating from 1606. Made in Cairo, it

1403-488: The Persianate world, especially for poetry, and Turkish , with Urdu appearing in later centuries. Calligraphers usually had a higher status than other artists. For a long time, Islam was considered aniconic. Existing pictures among the Muslim royalty have been described as an "aberration" by Thomas Walker Arnold and ascribed to only a later Persinate and Turkic cultural period. However, figurative arts existed since

1464-464: The Reconquista . Armenian carpet -weaving is mentioned by many early sources, and may account for a much larger proportion of East Turkish and Caucasian production than traditionally thought. The Berber carpets of North Africa have a distinct design tradition. Apart from the products of city workshops, in touch with trading networks that might carry the carpets to markets far away, there was also

1525-696: The 13th century, strongly influencing the Ottoman miniature of Turkey and the Mughal miniature in India. The term "Persian miniature" refers whereby to the language used to decorate the images, and should not obscure its ties to Arabic imagery. Siyah Qalam (Black Pen), frequently depicts anecdotes charged with Islamic imagery about the animal souls ( nafs ) and the " ruling soul " ( rūḥ ). Most human characters are clothed like dervishes and bearded like ascetics in Islamic tradition. Animals often feature as symbol of

1586-409: The 16th and 17th centuries are still produced in large numbers today. The description of older carpets has tended to use the names of carpet-making centres as labels, but often derived from the design rather than any actual evidence that they originated from around that centre. Research has clarified that designs were by no means always restricted to the centre they are traditionally associated with, and

1647-423: The 16th century and continue to the present. The colours used have changed in different eras. The present colour scheme for the sitara of the Kaaba, in use since the early 20th century, is gold and white embroidery on a black background. The inscriptions embroidered in gold and silver wire have become more ornate over time. These inscriptions include verses from the Quran and supplications to Allah , as well as

1708-549: The 16th century, are extremely rare. More have survived in the West and oriental carpets in Renaissance painting from Europe are a major source of information on them, as they were valuable imports that were painted accurately. The most natural and easy designs for a carpet weaver to produce consist of straight lines and edges, and the earliest Islamic carpets to survive or be shown in paintings have geometric designs, or centre on very stylized animals, made up in this way. Since

1769-620: The 21th century, iconophobic followers of various Islamist groups , such as the Taliban , aim to destroy forms of Islamic figurative depictions. Motivated by Saudi mentors ( Wahhabism ), the Taliban launched an attack on arts in March 2001 in Afghanistan . The religious justification derives from a hadith mentioned by Sahih Bukhari . Others see the rejection of iconography as rooting in

1830-450: The 8th century, they were translated into Arabic. Although there has been a tradition of wall-paintings, especially in the Persianate world, the best-surviving and highest developed form of painting in the Islamic world is the miniature in illuminated manuscripts , or later as a single page for inclusion in a muraqqa or bound album of miniatures and calligraphy . The tradition of the Persian miniature has been dominant since about

1891-551: The 8th century, under Egyptian influence, but most of the best production was much later, by potters presumed to have been largely Muslim but working in areas reconquered by the Christian kingdoms. It mixed Islamic and European elements in its designs, and much was exported across neighbouring European countries. It had introduced two ceramic techniques to Europe : glazing with an opaque white tin-glaze , and painting in metallic lusters . Ottoman İznik pottery produced most of

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1952-666: The 8th century. Another significant contribution was the development of stonepaste ceramics , originating from 9th century Iraq. The first industrial complex for glass and pottery production was built in Raqqa , Syria , in the 8th century. Other centers for innovative pottery in the Islamic world included Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550). Lusterwares with iridescent colours may have continued pre-Islamic Roman and Byzantine techniques, but were either invented or considerably developed on pottery and glass in Persia and Syria from

2013-569: The 9th century onwards. Islamic pottery was often influenced by Chinese ceramics , whose achievements were greatly admired and emulated. This was especially the case in the periods after the Mongol invasions and those of the Timurids . Techniques, shapes and decorative motifs were all affected. Until the Early Modern period Western ceramics had very little influence, but Islamic pottery

2074-775: The Kaaba from 1985. The Museum of Turkish Calligraphy Art in Istanbul has a complete kiswah. In 1983 the Saudi Arabian government donated a sitara from the Kaaba to the headquarters of the United Nations , where it remains on display. Islamic art Features Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities Islamic art

2135-516: The Kaaba were part of a set of textiles made annually at a dedicated workshop in Cairo, the Dar al-Kiswa , until 1927 when the king Ibn Saud established a workshop in Mecca. At the start of the 20th century, the Cairo workshop employed more than a hundred artists and textile workers. Responsibility for transporting the textiles from Cairo to Mecca was given to a specially chosen Muslim family, for whom it

2196-572: The Sultan sending a sitara to cover the Prophet's Tomb began in the 10th century. A white sitara was provided for the tomb in the 12th century by the Fatimids . Being away from direct sunlight, the Medina textiles have been replaced less frequently than the Kaaba textiles; in the 15th century, this was every six or seven years as the fabric wore out. The basic designs of the sitara were established in

2257-672: The background cut away, are found on the interiors and exteriors of many important buildings. Complex carved calligraphy also decorates buildings. For most of the Islamic period the majority of coins only showed lettering, which are often very elegant despite their small size and nature of production. The tughra or monogram of an Ottoman sultan was used extensively on official documents, with very elaborate decoration for important ones. Other single sheets of calligraphy, designed for albums, might contain short poems, Qur'anic verses, or other texts. The main languages, all using Arabic script , are Arabic , always used for Qur'anic verses, Persian in

2318-406: The background, with recession (distance from the viewer) indicated by placing more distant figures higher up in the space, but at essentially the same size. The colours, which are often very well preserved, are strongly contrasting, bright and clear. The tradition reached a climax in the 16th and early 17th centuries, but continued until the early 19th century, and has been revived in the 20th. Since

2379-426: The best work in the 16th century, in tiles and large vessels boldly decorated with floral motifs influenced, once again, by Chinese Yuan and Ming ceramics. These were still in earthenware; there was no porcelain made in Islamic countries until modern times, though Chinese porcelain was imported and admired. The medieval Islamic world also had pottery with painted animal and human imagery. Examples are found throughout

2440-544: The flowing loops and curves of the arabesque are central to Islamic art, the interaction and tension between these two styles was long a major feature of carpet design. There are a few survivals of the grand Egyptian 16th century carpets, including one almost as good as new discovered in the attic of the Pitti Palace in Florence, whose complex patterns of octagon roundels and stars, in just a few colours, shimmer before

2501-566: The footprint of Abraham . It used to be housed in a structure with its own sitara that was replaced annually. The minbar (pulpit) within the Great Mosque has its own sitara. Having been in contact with the holiest site of Islam, the textiles are regarded as infused with barakah (blessings). After use, they are usually split into parts to be given to dignitaries or pilgrims. Fragments of recent kiswahs adorn many of Saudi Arabia's government buildings and embassies. The tradition of

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2562-471: The form of painting or sculptures is sometimes referred to as Quranic art . The various forms of traditional Arabic calligraphy and decoration of the manuscripts used for written versions of the Qur'an represent a central tradition of Islamic visual art. The arabesque is often used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible and infinite nature of God. Mistakes in repetitions may be intentionally introduced as

2623-630: The formative stage of Islam. Such arts have been boasted by Arabic speaking caliphats of Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordova, inspired by Sasanid and Byzantine models. Figurative arts enjoyed prestige among both orthodox Sunni circles as well as Shia Muslims. The disappearance of royal-sponsored figurative arts in Arabic-speaking lands at a later period is best explained by the overthrow of their ruling dynasties and reduction of most their territories to Ottoman provincial dependencies, not by religious prohibition. Another drawback for Arnold's argument against

2684-625: The growing public interest both in Western as well as, more recently, in Muslim societies. Further, the List of Islamic museums bears witness to this art historical term having found wide acceptance. The Encyclopædia Britannica defines "Islamic arts" as including visual arts, literature, performing arts and music that "virtually defies any comprehensive definition". In a strict sense, the term might only refer to artistic manifestations that are closely related to religious practice. Most often, however, it

2745-437: The involvement of designers used to the latest court style in the general Persian tradition. These use a design style shared with non-figurative Islamic illumination and other media, often with a large central gul motif, and always with wide and strongly demarcated borders. The grand designs of the workshops patronized by the court spread out to smaller carpets for the merely wealthy and for export, and designs close to those of

2806-449: The lower and untaimed self. The abstract forces to tame the physical body are depicted in the forms of demons ( dīv ) and angels . Chinese influences included the early adoption of the vertical format natural to a book, which led to the development of a birds-eye view where a very carefully depicted background of hilly landscape or palace buildings rises up to leave only a small area of sky. The figures are arranged in different planes on

2867-489: The market expects. Islamic art has very notable achievements in ceramics, both in pottery and tiles for walls, which in the absence of wall-paintings were taken to heights unmatched by other cultures. Early pottery is often unglazed, but tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra , dating to around

2928-738: The medieval Islamic world, particularly in Persia and Egypt . The earliest grand Islamic buildings, like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem , had interior walls decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine style, but without human figures. From the 9th century onwards the distinctive Islamic tradition of glazed and brightly coloured tiling for interior and exterior walls and domes developed. Some earlier schemes create designs using mixtures of tiles each of

2989-584: The mid-20th century following the departure of the Dutch colonialists, several Indonesian painters combined Abstract Expressionism with geometric forms, Indonesian symbols and Islamic calligraphy , creating religiously influenced Abstract Art . The spiritual centre of this movement is the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), with leading teachers such as A.D. Pirous , Ahmad Sadali , Mochtar Apin and Umi Dachlan as their main representatives. In

3050-561: The names of the rulers who commissioned the textiles. Sitaras made in the Ottoman Empire included the Sultan's tughra (their official calligraphed monogram) in their design. The shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith) is another text used repeatedly. Sitaras for the Kaaba were traditionally decorated with gold buttons and tassels . Although they are usually divided into parts after use, rare examples of complete sitaras exist in some collections. These collections include

3111-636: The origin of many carpets remains unclear. As well as the major Persian, Turkish and Arab centres, carpets were also made across Central Asia, in India, and in Spain and the Balkans. Spanish carpets, which sometimes interrupted typical Islamic patterns to include coats of arms , enjoyed high prestige in Europe, being commissioned by royalty and for the Papal Palace, Avignon , and the industry continued after

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3172-509: The people to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. The stone inside the casing is square shaped and measures 40 cm (16 in) in length and width, and 20 cm (7.9 in) in height. It used to be enclosed by a structure called the Maqsurat Ibrahim which was covered by a sitara : an ornamental, embroidered curtain that was replaced annually. Currently, it is placed inside a golden-metal enclosure. The outer casing has changed

3233-484: The religious value of figurative arts in Islamic culture is, that a sizable number of rulers ordering figurative arts in the 14th-17th century, were religious zealots proclaiming to spread and enforce the laws of the sharia. Although not many early examples survived, human figurative art was a continuous tradition in Islamic lands, notably several of the Umayyad Desert Castles (c. 660–750), and during

3294-490: The rites of the hajj is the tawaf which involves walking seven times around the Kaaba. The textile coverings of the Kaaba are among the most sacred objects in Islamic art . A sitara, on average 5.75 metres (18.9 ft) by 3.5 metres (11 ft), covers the door of the Kaaba and forms part of the kiswah : the textile covering of the building. This is assembled by sewing together four separate textile panels. This sitara

3355-614: The viewer. Production of this style of carpet began under the Mamluks but continued after the Ottomans conquered Egypt. The other sophisticated tradition was the Persian carpet which reached its peak in the 16th and early 17th century in works like the Ardabil Carpet and Coronation Carpet ; during this century the Ottoman and Mughal courts also began to sponsor the making in their domains of large formal carpets, evidently with

3416-761: The widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque . These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy , geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques . Other forms of Islamic art include Islamic miniature painting, artefacts like Islamic glass or pottery , and textile arts, such as carpets and embroidery . The early developments of Islamic art were influenced by Roman art , Early Christian art (particularly Byzantine art ), and Sassanian art, with later influences from Central Asian nomadic traditions. Chinese art had

3477-479: Was a high honour. The textiles were usually cut up and distributed once replaced. Ottoman royals and dignitaries would convert the pieces to clothing or tomb coverings. The Kaaba , situated in the Great Mosque of Mecca , is the most holy site in Islam. It is the qibla , the point that Muslims face towards while praying. The Five Pillars of Islam include the hajj , a pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites. One of

3538-476: Was commissioned by Ahmed I . Others, similarly embroidered with multiple verses from the Quran, were commissioned by Abdülmejid I and Mahmud II . This collection also includes several sitaras for the Prophet's Mosque, from the 18th century onwards. One in red silk, 280 centimetres (110 in) high, was made in Istanbul in the early 19th century. It bears the cartouche of Mahmud II who commissioned it for

3599-536: Was donated to the Ashmolean Museum by Nasser Khalili in 2012. Khalili also donated two sitaras made for the Prophet's Mosque to the British Museum in 2012. One is dated AH 1204 (1789–1790 AD) and bears the name of Selim III . The other was commissioned by Mahmud II in the early 18th century and bears his tughra . The Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation includes a sitara from the door of

3660-648: Was made in Egypt in 1544, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent . Suleiman set aside the revenue of ten villages to fund the creation of textiles for the Kaaba and the Prophet's Mosque: an arrangement that continued until 1813. Replacing the textiles is one of the privileges of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques , a title adopted by Mamluk , Ottoman , and Saudi Arabian rulers. Sitaras for

3721-611: Was very sought after in Europe, and often copied. An example of this is the albarello , a type of maiolica earthenware jar originally designed to hold apothecaries' ointments and dry drugs. The development of this type of pharmacy jar had its roots in the Islamic Middle East. Hispano-Moresque examples were exported to Italy, stimulating the earliest Italian examples, from 15th century Florence. The Hispano-Moresque style emerged in Al-Andalus - Muslim Spain - in

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