Islamic Art & Architecture: Background

A survey of Islamic art and architecture in all its traditional grandeur. Essays are organized according to a new chronological-geographical paradigm. The volumes are accompanied by a map, and each subsection is preceded by a brief outline of the main cultural and historical developments during the period in question. The volumes include periods and regions typically excluded from survey books including modern and contemporary art-architecture; China, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sicily, the New World (Americas).

From the supreme confidence of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to the scores of exquisite buildings of Ottoman Istanbul; from the extraordinary virtuosity of Persian painting in the fifteenth century to the vivid ceramic tradition of Ottoman Iznik--Hillenbrand does justice to both the highlights and the ongoing evolution of the full range of Islamic arts. Supported by a glossary of Islamic terms, a time line, and maps, this book traces the architecture, calligraphy, book illumination, painting, ceramics, textiles, and metalwork of a vastly accomplished and influential civilization.

Within roughly a century a vast domain was controlled by Islam: from central Spain to the delta of the Indus and from the Sahara desert and the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, the Central Asian deserts, and the Hindu Kush. The diverse historical, political, religious, social and art-historical threads of these varied influences are woven together in this historical survey. Arranged chronologically, then by region, it covers architecture, architectural decoration, the art of the book and the art of the object - textiles, ceramics, metalwork, woodwork. The broader impact of Islamic art on the non-Muslim world is also considered.

Covers the period from the Mongol conquests in the early 13th century to the advent of European colonial rule in the 19th century. A companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, 650-1250.