Islamic Art And Visual Culture - An Anthology Of Sources

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 world's major religions.

• Collects essential translations from sources as diverse as the Qur'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

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).

Introduction.

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

§1.1 The Qur’an, on paradise.

§1.2 The Qur’an, on the qibla.

§1.3 Hadith, on waqf.

§1.4 The Pact of ^cUmar.

2. Behavior, gifts, treasuries, and collections.

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

§2.2 al-Muqaddasi, a description of the Shiraz library.

§2.3 Kutadgu Bilig, a “Mirror for Princes” on the qualifications of a gatekeeper and the etiquette for feasts.

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

§2.5 al-Ghazali, on the magnanimity of kings.

§2.6 Ibn Khaldun, on the emblems of sovereignty.

§2.7 Safiye’s letter to Queen Elizabeth I.

§2.8 Tavernier, on the Ottoman mosaic collection.

3. Art.

A. Workshops, guilds, and crafts in general.

§3.1 The Ikhwan al-Safa’, on the education of craftsmen.

§3.2 Clavijo, on Timurid trade with China.

§3.3 Ahmad Ibn ^cArabshah, on Timur’s seizure and relocation of artisans.

§3.4 Khwandamir, on guilds and an extraordinary work of glass.

§3.5 A report from a book workshop.

§3.6 Bernier, on Delhi artisans.

B. calligraphy and scribes. 

§3.7 Ibn Qutayba, on the education of a scribe.

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

§3.9 al-Ghazali, on pens and secretaries.

§3.10 Rashid al-Din’s atelier endowment.

§3.11 Simi Nishapuri, on papers, color, and ink.

§3.12 Mawlana Sultan-^cAli, a treatise on writing.

§3.13 Khwandamir, a biographical sketch of a Timurid calligrapher.

§3.14 Calligraphy sample sheet.

§3.15 Qadi Ahmad, on the invention of the pen.

C. painting.

§3.16 Sadiqi Beg, a treatise on painting.

§3.17 Abu’l-Fazl ^cAllami, on painting the human figure.

§3.18 Jahangir, a painting of a flying rodent and a portrait gallery.

§3.19 Evliya Çelibi, an account of manuscript defacement.

D. textiles.

§3.20 al-Bayhaqi, on tiraz-stamped paper and textile.

§3.21 al-Mas^cudi, on the patronage of textiles.

§3.22 An Egyptian tiraz inscription.

§3.23 Narshakhi, on Bukhara’s cloth.

§3.24 Ibn Balkhi, on linen manufacture.

§3.25 Geniza letter regarding trade and markets prices.

E. Ceramics, glass, ivory, and other media.

§3.26 Abu al-Qasim, on ceramic luster and gilding.

§3.27 Ibn Battuta, on Chinese porcelain.

§3.28 Mamluk vase with blazon.

§3.29 Clavijo, on Timurid emblems.

§3.30 Clavijo, a wondrous tree in Timur’s palace.

§3.31 Three coins.

§3.32 Jahangir strikes a new kind of coin.

F. Geometry, aesthetics.

§3.33 Ibn Hazm, on vision.

§3.34 Ibn al-Haytham, on vision.

4. Space: architecture and urbanism.

§4.1 ^cAbd al-Rahman III, on architecture and immortality.

A. Architectural technique.

§4.2 Ibn Khaldun, on mudbrick and stucco.

§4.3 Abu’l-Fazl ^cAllami, on building materials and technique.

§4.4 Safar Efendi, on names of colors and marbles.

B. Architectural types and elements.

§4.5 al-Bukhari, a hadith on the first minbar.

§4.6 Ibn Khaldun, the adoption of the maqsura.

§4.7 al-Maqrizi, the dar al-imara of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.

§4.8 Badi al-Zaman al-Hamdani, a bathhouse visit.

§4.9 al-Wansharisi answers a query about qibla.

§4.10 Abu al-Fazl, on illumination and candlesticks.

C. Urbanism and land.

§4.11 Hilal al-Sabi’, an estimation of the number of bathhouses in Baghdad.

§4.12 Ibn ^cAbdun’s hisba manual for Seville.

§4.13 Ibn Khaldun, on the role of the market supervisor.

§4.14 al-Wansharisi answers a query about waqf violation.

5. Places.

A. Pre-Islamic.

§5.1 The Qur’an, Bilqis and the glass floor.

B. The Arabian Peninsula.

§5.2 Nasir-i Khusraw, a description of the Kaaba.

§5.3 Ibn Jubayr, a description of the mosaics in the Medina Mosque.

C. Syria, Jordan & environs.

§5.4 Dome of the Rock inscriptions.

§5.5 al-Ya^cqubi, on the Dome of the Rock as a pilgrimage site.

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

§5.7 Ibn Shaddad, on Rusafa.

§5.8 Ibn Jubayr, a description of Aleppo’s citadel.

D. Iraq.

§5.9 al-Baladhuri, on the founding of Kufa.

§5.10 al-Mas^cudi, on the founding of Samarra.

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

E. al-Andalus.

§5.12 Ibn ^cIdhari, on the Mosque of Cordoba.

§5.13 Signatures of stone masons in the Mosque of Cordoba.

§5.14 ^cAbd al-Rahman I’s ode to a palm tree.

§5.15 Ibn Ghalib, on the construction of Madinat al-Zahra’.

§5.16 al-Maqqari, a description of a glass pavilion in Toledo.

§5.17 Navagero, on the Alhambra.

F. The Maghreb, Africa, and Sicily.

§5.18 Ziza Palace inscription.

§5.19 Ibn Naji, the mihrab of the Great Mosque of Kairouan.

§5.20 al-Muqaddasi, a description of Sabra al-Mansuriyya.

§5.21 Ibn Marzuq, on Merinid madrasas and zawiyas.

§5.22 Ibn Marzuq on Merinid bridges and fountains.

§5.23 ^cAbd Salam Shabeni, a description of Timbuktu.

G. Egypt.

§5.24 Mufaddal ibn Abi al-Fada’il, on the Fatimid processions to the four mosques.

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

§5.26 Ibn Battuta, a description of Cairo’s cemeteries.

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

§5.28 Baybars al-Jashankir’s waqfiyya.

§5.29 al-Maqrizi, on the organization of the Sultan Qala’un hospital.

§5.30 Inscription on the façade of Sultan Qala’un Madrasa-Mausoleum complex.

§5.31 al-Maqrizi, a description of the Madrasa al-Nasiriya’s Gothic portal.

H. Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.

§5.32 Ibn Battuta, on a church conversion in Bursa.

§5.33 Evliya Çelebi, a description of the Ulu Cami in Bursa.

§5.34 Kritovoulos, on the Ottoman conquest and reconstruction of Istanbul.

§5.35 The Inscription on the Imperial Gate of the Topkapi Palace.

§5.36 Evliya Çelebi, a description of the Topkapi Palace.

§5.37 Matrakçi Nusuh, a view of Aleppo.

§5.38 Sinan’s account of building the Selimiye Mosque.

§5.39 Hafiz Hüseyn al-Ayvansarayi, a description of the Süleymaniye Mosque.

§5.40 Mustafa b. Ahmed ^cAli, on building with booty.

§5.41 Tavernier, a description of the Topkapi diwan.

§5.42 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s visits to harems.

I. Iran and Central Asia.

§5.43 Narshakhi, on the images on the doors of Bukhara’s congregational mosque.

§5.44 Inscription on the Gunbad-i Qabus.

§5.45 Abu ^cAmr al-Juzjani, a description of the Ghurid palace in Firuz-koh.

§5.46 Olearius, a description of Uljaytu’s tomb in Sultaniyya.

§5.47 Clavijo, a description of the Aq Saray near Samarkand.

§5.48 Babur, a description of Samarkand.

§5.49 Babur, on the construction of the Bagh-i Wafa.

§5.50 Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi, on the construction of the Dilgusha garden.

§5.51 Kaempfer’s plan of Isfahan.

§5.52 Junabadi, a description of Isfahan.

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

J. South Asia.

§5.54 Ibn Battuta, a description of Delhi and the Qutb Minar.

§5.55 Firuz Shah, on architectural restoration.

§5.56 Tarikh-i Da’udi, on the destruction of Hindu idols.

§5.57 Babur plans a garden in Agra.

§5.58 Gulbadan Begum, on building projects in Agra and Dholpur.

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

§5.60 ^cInayat Khan, on Shah Jahan’s motivation for building the Diwan-i Amm in the Agra Fort.

§5.61 ^cInayat Khan, on the construction of the Taj Mahal.

§5.62 ^cInayat Khan, on water problems at the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore.

§5.63 Bernier, a description of Shahjahanabad.

§5.64 Thévenot, a description of Aurangzeb’s birthday celebration.

K. East Asia.

§5.65 Ibn Battuta, on caravanserais and mosques in China.

Index.