Essay - Artwork Islamic Art is Notable for Its Geometric Aesthetic and...

Artwork

Islamic art is notable for its geometric aesthetic and non-representational imagery. The Louvre collection of ancient Islamic art contains several pieces that epitomize early ***** art, like a fragment from a frieze from the Ibn Tulun mosque in C*****iro, circa 876-879. Fusing art and religion, the frieze depicts Arabic calligraphy, an excerpt from the Koran. The calligraphy ***** rigid and geometric in *****m, less stylized than later styles. The frieze denotes the profound simplicity that is characteristic of much of Islamic decorative art, as well as the strict ***** adherence to a non-representational form. Moreover, ***** frieze would have decorated a mosque, underscoring its religious signific*****nce as ***** ***** pointing ***** the centrality of religion in Islamic *****.

*****, a stele ***** Egypt's Middle Kingdom (2033-1982 BC) also has a definite ***** significance because it was located at a holy pilgrimage site in Egypt. Also ***** the ***** frieze *****, this limestone stele also features writ*****g as an artistic element. Here we see hieroglyphics, and the ***** is thousands of years older than the Islamic one and carved on limestone instead of pine wood. Unlike the Islamic piece, the Egyptian one depicts ***** human form proudly; all depictions of the human form are anathema to ***** doctrine. On ***** particular stele in the *****, the artist actu*****y depicts him ***** his family.

***** art also frequently depicts the human form, and like Islamic and Egyptian art ***** religious significance. Although the vessel itself w***** used to carry women's cosmetics materials, ***** scene portrayed on the clay jar depicts ***** birth of Athena, ***** of the central Greek myths. Therefore, ***** jar did not itself serve a religious purpose as the ***** frieze did, and w***** not ***** at a ***** site like either the Islamic frieze or the ***** stele. This ancient Greek piece does depict a religious scene, though, illustrating the imp*****tance of mythology to ***** culture. Dating from 570-560 *****E, the painted container dates some*****here in between the Egyptian and the Islamic one.

References

Attic black-figure tripod exaleiptron. Louvre. Image online at http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225096&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225096&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500782&fromDept=true&baseIndex=7&bmUID=1144308563342&bmLocale=en

Portion of an epigraphic frieze from the ***** Tulun Mosque. Louvre. Image at http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225604&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225604&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500781&fromDept=true&baseIndex=6&bmUID=1144308025323&bmLocale=en

Stele ***** the master craftsman, scribe and sculptor Irtysen. Louvre. Image ***** at