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Early Islamic Period: Art
While the
Islamic period has a fixed starting date, signaled by the emigration of
the Prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622, the
birth of Islamic art is far more difficult to single out. Instead, we
can consider its genesis during the first century of Islamic rule. Although relatively little is known about
material culture in Arabia at the time of the
Islamic conquests, the Byzantine and Sasanian lands newly absorbed within the Muslim
commonwealth had their own indigenous artistic
traditions. It seems likely that the art of the preceding
period persisted for a time, as artists who had lately worked under
Byzantine or Sasanian patronage initially continued to follow
preexisting conventions, but under Muslim patronage. It is therefore
difficult at times to distinguish between early Islamic and pre-Islamic
art.
Characteristic of this transitional period is a stucco relief plaque, depicting a king hunting on horseback, from a
small palace in northern Iran, datable to the end of the seventh or the
first half of the eighth century (fig. 1). The technique
(the relief decoration was produced in a mold), style
(for example, the rigidity of the figures despite their
implied movement), and form of this object, as well as
its subject matter, belong to the tradition of Sasanian
art. The king wears a large, carefully detailed crown,
typical of Sasanian royal imagery. In this instance,
however, the crown, in the form of a crescent and globe
set between a symmetrical pair of wings, is not intended
to distinguish a particular king. The entire image was
probably meant as a generic symbol of kingship or
royalty, rather than as a depiction of a specific
Sasanian ruler. Thus, a theme derived from pre-Islamic courtly tradition in Iran was simply continued, although
the image had begun to lose some of its former meaning.
The Sasanian crown, once an insignia of royal power, was
abstracted and removed from its original context,
becoming an important motif in early Islamic art, as can
also be seen on an eighth- to ninth-century textile
fragment (fig. 6)
and a ninth-century ceramic bowl (fig. 7).
The assimilation and
imaginative adaptation of pre-Islamic decorative themes
and motifs – as well as techniques, styles, and
forms – characterize much of the art of early Islamic
times. Glass from this period, of which the museum has an
excellent collection, demonstrates the use of late Roman
techniques and forms adapted and transformed to suit a
new taste or to meet new needs. An example of a rare type
of bottle (now missing its neck) in the museum’s
collection is decorated with applied, mold-pressed masks
in the form of smiling faces (fig. 2). These masks or grotesques were probably
derived from somewhat larger-scale molded decoration on
late Roman glass flasks (so-called head flasks). Here,
however, the faces, with wide eyes and gashlike mouths,
have been reduced to stylized decorative elements, far
removed from their classical prototypes.
Another glass object in
the collection, a cosmetic container in the form of a
bottle mounted on the back of a horse or a donkey,
cleverly recasts a type of late Roman glass vessel while
retaining the same technique and function (fig. 3). In the Islamic
version – which was known over a wide area, including
Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Iran – the Roman balsamarium,
a tube-shaped unguent flask, is typically transformed
through the addition of one or more lively pack animals,
who now transport the flask. Like their late Roman
prototypes, vessels of this type are often elaborately
decorated with trailed or applied glass thread.
Other examples of glass,
metalwork, carved wood, and textiles in the collection
reflect a mixed artistic heritage. Even Umayyad religious
monuments – such as the well-known Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem, whose function and meaning are clearly
Islamic – demonstrate this formative process, which
combined and transformed classical, Byzantine, and Sasanian elements. Gradually, as the Muslim faith and the
nascent Islamic state became more established, a uniquely
Islamic art began to emerge.
The revelation of the Qur’an and its subsequent codification in written
form had an incalculable impact on the development of
Arabic writing and on book production in the first
century of the Muslim era. By early Abbasid times
the Qur’an had achieved a standard arrangement, which
prevailed for several centuries. Following the tradition
of classical antiquity and Byzantium, the codex, or book,
was adapted as the format for the Qur’an, which is
made up of 114 chapters.
Although several styles of
writing were practiced in the seventh and eighth
centuries, by the ninth century so-called Kufic had supplanted
these in the production of Qur'ans. Named after the city
al-Kufa, in southern Iraq, this is a remarkably diverse,
rectilinear script, written, like all Arabic scripts,
from right to left. Early Qur'ans, copied in the Kufic
script (fig. 4),
were generally written in black or dark brown ink. Short
vowels were usually indicated by red, green, or gold
dots, and diacritical marks distinguishing certain
consonants were denoted by diagonal strokes. (This system
was in common use until the eleventh century.) Gold
illumination sometimes signaled the beginning of each
chapter, and gold medallions were often used to denote
groups of five or ten verses.
Parchment, which is made
from cured and scraped animal skin, was the preferred
material for early Islamic and early medieval Qur'ans.
The horizontal format of the parchment page works
particularly well with the angular Kufic script, in which
certain letters are written in broad, horizontal strokes.
A few rare Qur'ans were produced on dyed parchment, and
the museum’s collection includes a page from one of
these sumptuous manuscripts, which was copied in gold
Kufic on parchment dyed blue (fig. 5). Although papermaking was already known in
the early Islamic period, parchment seems to have been
preferred for Qur'ans for as long as Kufic script
remained in popular use, up to the twelfth century. Not
only was Kufic script an ideal partner for the parchment
page, but its rectilinear form was also well suited to
inscriptions in a variety of media, such as wood, stone,
textiles, and ceramics. In these instances the script is
often embellished by palmettes or leaves that sprout from
the tops of the letters; this type of writing is known as
foliated Kufic.
Of the many diverse arts
that flourished in the early Islamic period, textiles
played an especially significant role in society, one
that continued in subsequent periods. Textiles were
ubiquitous in Islamic lands, serving as clothing,
household furnishings, and portable architecture (tents).
The manufacture of and trade in textiles were highly
sophisticated and profitable industries that built upon
Byzantine and Sasanian traditions. Often made with
costly materials such as silk, and gold- and
silver-wrapped thread and decorated with complex designs,
textiles were luxury goods signifying wealth and social
status. Islamic textiles were also widely exported to the
West, where their prominence is underscored by their
impact on European languages. For example, the English
words cotton and mohair derive from Arabic, while
taffeta and seersucker come from Persian.
Despite their prevalence,
comparatively few textiles have survived from the early
Islamic period. Textiles are inherently fragile, and
because of their value Islamic fabrics in all periods
were cut down and reused over and over again until they
literally wore out. Many of the extant early Islamic
textiles were found in Egypt, primarily in graves, where
the dark and dry conditions helped to preserve them. The
fragments that have survived are fabricated from cotton,
linen, silk, and wool, often dyed vivid colors. They
demonstrate a well-developed textile technology notable
for its use of complicated and richly colored designs.
One of the most common
types of early Islamicand early medieval textiles is decorated with a long
band inscribed with the name and titles of the ruler, as
well as the date and place of manufacture. Such inscribed
fabrics, of which a number are preserved in the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, are known as tiraz,
from the Persian word for embroidery. As this
name suggests, the epigraphic decoration (rendered in
Kufic script) was often finely embroidered (see Early Medieval Art [fig. 16] ), but the
inscriptions could also be woven directly into the cloth,
a technique known as tapestry-weaving.
Other types of early
Islamic fabrics were also tapestry-woven, for example, a
fragment in the museum’s collection, whose colorful
decoration reflects the influence of Sasanian art (fig.
6). This textile dates from the eighth or ninth century
and was likely produced in Egypt, where tapestry-weaving
had existed since Pharaonic times. Its linen ground bears
a silk decorative band of rather ungainly birds, perhaps
ducks, each enclosed by a medallion. The medallions
alternate with twin pairs of wings, an abstracted version
of the Sasanian royal crown motif, discussed above (fig.
1). The beaded border above and
below, a common means of decoration in early Islamic
textiles, was also inspired by Sasanian design. Although
the textile’s once-brilliant colors have been dimmed
by time, and we can now only imagine the larger garment,
wall hanging, or cushion it may once have been, it
nonetheless enriches our visual perception of early
Islamic civilization.
The art of pottery was
greatly advanced in the ninth century with the
development of the technique of luster painting. Luster
painting is a spectacular means of decorating pottery,
perhaps in imitation of precious metal, which was first
developed in Iraq and subsequently spread to Egypt,
Syria, Iran, and Spain. The production of
luster-decorated pottery was complicated, costly, and time-consuming, indicating that such objects were
regarded as luxury wares. This technique combines silver
and copper oxides with sulfur and other materials, which
are applied in liquefied form to the surface of a
previously glazed and fired object. The ware is then refired in a muffled, or reducing, kiln, so that the
oxygen is drawn out from the metal oxides, producing a
dazzling metallic surface. Lusterware can vary in color
from a rich gold to a deep reddish brown.
In the earliest
phase of this technique, two or more luster colors could be applied to a
single object, but it was extremely difficult to produce such polychrome
lusterwares successfully, and monochrome luster became the norm. An
excellent example of polychrome luster is a bowl painted in yellow and
brown luster and decorated with vegetal and abstract designs (fig.
7). The prominent split-leaf motif on the
four quadrants of the bowl is another abstracted, vegetal
version of the pair of wings from the Sasanian royal
crown.
Based on textual accounts, Chinese
porcelains are known to have been exported to, and admired by, the
Abbasid court; they have also been excavated at a variety of sites
throughout the Abbasid empire, suggesting a widespread taste for these
costly imported wares. In order to satisfy that demand Islamic potters
in the ninth century began to imitate the whiteness of high-fired
porcelain by covering low-fired earthenware with an opaque white glaze
of tin oxide.
Although the shapes of these ninth century tin-glazed wares also
frequently follow Chinese prototypes, their decoration demonstrates
greater originality. In contrast to the pure white surface of the
originals, potters in Iraq painted into the raw glazed surface in
cobalt blue, copper green, or manganese purple, which was fixed in a
single firing. Both geometric and vegetal designs are common, as seen, for
example, in a bowl decorated in cobalt blue that combines the two types of
motifs (fig. 8).
One of the most
important arts of the ninth century is architectural ornament, rendered
in stucco, wood, or stone. The museum’s beautifully carved wood panel of
this period (fig. 9), for instance, comes from Egypt,
where wood, on account of its rarity and cost, was
decorated with care and used in contexts generally
reserved for luxury materials. Although it is impossible
to say how this wood panel was used
originally – perhaps it once formed part of a
door – it is possible to assign it to the late ninth
century on the basis of its distinctive decoration.
Decorated in the beveled style, so called on account of
the characteristic slant of the carved design, the panel
depicts highly stylized leaves that have been transformed
into abstract motifs. As is typical of this style, it is
impossible to distinguish between background and
foreground or between natural and abstract forms. The
beveled style may have first been developed at Samarra,
in northern Iraq, which briefly replaced Baghdad as the
Abbasid capital, from 836 to 892. This style was soon
adopted by artists in many parts of the Islamic empire, including Egypt.
The first two centuries of Abbasid rule
saw the emergence and dissemination of a new Islamic style of art – as
exemplified by the objects described above – in which pre-Islamic themes
were fully assimilated or transformed and purely Islamic
forms and techniques were introduced and further refined. With the
dissolution of Abbasid authority, regional modes of
expression began to develop, using this newly created
idiom.
The Samanids were one of
several Persian dynasties that established independent
control over the eastern Islamic provinces of Khurasan
and Transoxiana in the late ninth and tenth centuries.
The age of the Samanids witnessed a rebirth of Persian culture,
marking the rise of modern Persian literature. To this
period belongs a distinctive slip-painted ceramic ware
featuring elegant black Kufic inscriptions set against a
white ground. This type of ware is associated with the
two preeminent ceramic centers of the tenth century:
Nishapur, in Khurasan, and Samarqand, in Transoxiana.
The collection includes
several such slip-painted epigraphic vessels. They were
made from humble earthenware, disguised and beautified
through the application of a (white) slip, a semifluid colored clay used
as a means of coloring and decorating the object, which was then covered
by a colorless, transparent glaze. On one of these (fig.
10), the black inscription encircles the interior of the bowl, while
the spaces between the letters are filled by abstract decoration that is
augmented by the color red. The inscription is read by turning the bowl
counterclockwise. As is typical of the epigraphic slip-painted wares,
the Arabic inscription presents a proverb that retains some resonance
even today: "Frugality is a symptom of poverty." On a rare spouted ewer
(fig. 11) the bold inscription,
perfectly suited to the vessel's contours, announces its function:
"Drink from it/May it be to your health!"
The art of pre-Islamic
Iran had a particularly strong impact on the development
of early Islamic metalwork, in which traditional forms
and techniques were carried on. Gilded silver was a
favorite material in Sasanian times, and such precious
metals also seem to have been used in the production of
luxury wares in early Islamic Iran, based on evidence
from historical and literary texts. The silver and gold
objects described in the textual sources have not
survived in any quantity and were perhaps melted down in
times of need. A large number of bronze and brass vessels
and utensils are preserved, however, attesting to the
high degree of skill and sophistication among Islamic
metalworkers.
One such object, perhaps dating to the tenth century, is a
bronze ewer with a bull’s head (fig. 12).
Bronze vessels of this type should probably be regarded as luxury wares,
and they follow a long-standing practice in Iran of creating zoomorphic
vessels. Here the metalworker has surmounted the body of the ewer with a
bovine-headed spout, which must have provoked delight and even mirth
whenever liquid was poured from it. Animal forms are frequently employed
in the design of utilitarian objects in Islamic art, not only in
metalwork but in pottery and glass as well. One particularly notable
example in the museum’s collection is a charming glass perfume container
in the form of a kneeling quadruped, possibly a camel, whose long,
elegant neck serves as the vessel’s spout (fig. 13).
Here, in order to transform the animal into a functional vessel, it has
been reduced to its most basic yet recognizable forms. The elegant,
curved neck of the camel has been further elongated to serve as the
vessel's spout, the hump is reconfigured as the handle, and the tiny,
almost vestigial feet represent the legs folded beneath the beast.
Image in top banner:
Bowl, Iraq, ninth century;
earthenware, overglaze polychrome luster painted;
2 3/4 x 91/2 in. (6.9 x 24 cm);
The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of
Joan Palevsky
M.73.5.238
Browse the Islamic
art collection at LACMA
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Early Medieval Period: History
