A Story of Islamic Art

Marcus Milwright
Paperback, 328 pages
9781032448152

Providing an introduction to the artistic and architectural traditions of the Islamic world, A Story of Islamic Art explores fifty case studies, taken from different regions of the Islamic world and from the seventh to the twenty-first centuries.

The novel aspect of these case studies is that they are presented as fictional narratives, allowing the reader to imagine art and architecture, either in their original cultural settings or at some later point in their histories. These stories are supported by a scholarly framework that allows the reader to continue their exploration of the chosen artefacts and their historical context.

The fifty case studies take the form of short stories, each of which focuses on one or more object from the Islamic world. These encompass portable items in a wide variety of media, book illustrations, calligraphy, photographs, architectural decoration, buildings, and archaeological sites. The book also provides a detailed introduction, maps, timeline, glossary, and guides for further reading. This book offers accessible answers to key questions in the scholarship on Islamic art and architecture from its earliest times to the present. The issues dealt with in each of the stories include iconography, attitudes towards representation, the role of script, the elaboration of geometric decoration, the creation of sacred and secular spaces in architecture, and the socio-cultural context of art production and consumption. Artistic interactions between the Islamic world and other regions including Europe and China are also discussed in this book.

Contents
Timeline

1: Sanaʿa, 660
2: Aswan, 691
3: Aleppo, 695
4: Damascus, 714
5: Qusayr ʿAmra, 745
6: Akhmim, 751
7: Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, 774
8: Basra, 841
9: Samarra, 856
10: Qayrawan, 863
11: Bukhara, 930
12: Rusafa, 998
13: Baghdad, 1000
14: Tripoli, 1070
15: Samarqand, 1085
16: Kharraqan, 1093
17: Harran, 1104
18: Herat, 1183
19: Mecca, 1199
20: Kashan, 1201
21: Wasit, 1236
22: Palermo, 1248
23: Tabriz, 1306
24: Cairo, 1361
25: Granada, 1375
26: Xi’an, 1402
27: Panjakent, 1490
28: Nizwa, 1531
29: Venice, 1547
30: Erzincan, 1568
31: Sofia, 1582
32: Isfahan, 1637
33: Agra, 1642
34: Hawizeh Marshes, 1673
35: Istanbul, 1733
36: Breslau, 1766
37: Lahore, 1799
38: Nafplio, 1831
39: Kuala Lumpur, 1886
40: London, 1892
41: Edirne, 1899
42: Simunul, 1902
43: Qalʿat Bani Hammad, 1908
44: Manzala, 1910
45: Hindiyya, 1918
46: Rabat, 1937
47: Cleveland, 1956
48: Djenné, 1985
49: New York, 2015
50: Anywhere, 2020