1 The Historical Antecedents, Initial Development, Maturity, and Dissemination of Islamic Geometric Patterns

Abstract

Since the earliest period of Islamic history the ornamental traditions of Muslim cultures have found expression in a highly diverse range of styles and media. Throughout this broad sweep of ornamental diversity and historical longevity there remained an essential Islamic quality that differentiates this tradition from all others. One of the primary characteristics responsible for such cohesion is the pervasive triadic nature of Islamic ornament. From its onset, this ornamental tradition employed three principal design idioms: calligraphy, geometry, and stylized floral. It can be argued that figurative art depicting both human and animal forms is also characteristic of Islamic art. This additional feature of Islamic art requires brief mention, if only to legitimately dismiss it for the purposes of this discussion. During the Umayyad period figurative motifs were widely used in both architecture and the applied arts, and virtually all subsequent Muslim cultures used figurative depictions to a greater or lesser extent. Such work has always been anathema to Islamic religious sentiments and frequently to Muslim cultural sensibilities. Even among the Umayyads, who inherited the figural traditions of the late antique period, the use of figurative depictions was invariably secular and often associated with courtly life. The eighth-century Umayyad palaces of Qusayr ‘Amra and Khirbat al-Mafjar are replete with figurative decoration, the former carried out in fresco and the latter in mosaic and carved stucco. Such notable examples notwithstanding, the surviving religious architecture of the Umayyads is evidence of the interdiction in the use of human and animal depiction within mosques. It is significant that the Umayyad architectural motifs in the mosaics of the Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock were entirely devoid of human and animal figures; and the one area of carved stone ornament that is entirely without animal representation at the eighth century Umayyad palace of Qasr al-Mshatta is a wall directly adjacent to the mosque. The figurative restraint in the ornament of Mosques was adhered to strictly throughout succeeding Muslim cultures, and the continued use of human and animal figures was generally limited to the decoration of utility objects such as ceramic pottery, textiles, metal vessels, furniture, wood and ivory boxes, and the occasional architectural expression in murals and carved relief in such secular locations as palaces, private homes, and bath houses. However, with the exception of the miniature traditions, this form of decoration was certainly never a primary feature in Islamic art or architectural ornament. For all of their beauty and refinement, the figurative aesthetics of the Persian, Mughal, and Turkish miniature traditions were for the most part insular, and did not significantly overlap with other artistic traditions within these Muslim cultures. Notable exceptions include the “miniature” style of the enameled minai’i ware of late twelfth- and thirteenth-century Kashan; the so-called Kubachi painted ceramic vessels created in northeastern Persia during the Safavid period; and the many Persian painted tile panels produced during the Qarjar period. Perhaps the greatest indication of the lesser role that figurative imagery played throughout the history of Islamic art and architecture is the fact that the non-miniature figurative art of Muslim cultures was not subject to the concerted effort toward continued refinement and stylistic development that is a hallmark of the calligraphic, geometric, and floral traditions. As such, with the exception of the miniature traditions, figurative art can be regarded as tangential rather than integral to Islamic art, and to have been occasionally employed rather than part of an ongoing developmental evolution.