Rutal Deshmukh by au-designcenter

The Art of Islamic patterns

The Art of Islamic patterns a guide to understand the philosophy and geometry

Contents

Introduction

Types of Patterns

Islamic Art

Arabseque Girih Kufic

Use of Patterns Jali Zeilij Muqarnas

Understanding the Geometry

Understanding the Philosophy

Do it Yourself

Contents

Introduction

Types of Patterns

Islamic Art

Arabseque Girih Kufic

Use of Patterns Jali Zeilij Muqarnas

Understanding the Geometry

Understanding the Philosophy

Do it Yourself

Introduction

Islamic Art Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced in the Islamic world. It covers a wide range of lands, periods, and genres, including Islamic architecture, Islamic calligraphy, Islamic miniature, Islamic glass, Islamic pottery, and textile arts such as carpets and embroidery. It comprises both religious and secular art forms. Religious art is represented by calligraphy, architecture and furnishings of religious buildings, woodwork and carpets. Islamic art is often characterized by recurrent motifs, such as the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition also known as tessellation.

What today is known as Islamic architecture was influenced by Roman, Byzantine, Persian and all other lands which the Muslims conquered in the seventh and eight centuries. Further east, it was also influenced by Chinese and Indian architecture as Islam spread to Southeast Asia. It developed distinct characteristics in the form of buildings, and the decoration of surfaces with Islamic calligraphy, geometric and interlace patterns.

Geometry in Islam plays a significant role, as geometric pattern was turned to an art form and ornamentation purposes due to some constraints of using human or natural figures. These patterns not only show the aesthetics of the craftsmen, but also the extraordinary skills and understanding of geometry in Islam as well. They provide the evidence of no matter how elaborate and complex these patterns are they are based on simple grids.

Types of Patterns

Arabesque

Arabesque is a French term derived from the Italian word arabesco, meaning “in the Arabic style”. It is a form of artistic decoration consisting of “surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils” or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is “Foliate ornament, used in the Islamic world, typically using leaves, derived from stylised half-palmettes, which were combined with spiralling stems”. The arabesque developed out of the long established traditions of plant-based scroll ornament in the cultures taken over by the early Islamic conquests.

It represents the flowing nature of plant forms. This recalls the feminine nature of life giving. The depiction of animals and people is generally discouraged, which explains the preference for abstract patterns.

Arabesque

Three keys elements of composition: The eternal spiral There is a spiral from which the motifs and leaves sprout. The movement of nature inspires the unbroken flow of the spiral and as the spiral advances it radiates secondary spirals and soon the page is overgrown. The spiral progresses from its source and this centrifugal movement reflects the progression of creation from the creator, moving to infinity. Symmetry and structure Once a section of spirals are drawn they are reflected and repeated to fill a page wall or dome. Symmetry is fundamental to a harmonious design, it exemplifies completeness and perfection and the desire for unity.

Rhythm and Balance Islimi designs tessellate across the surface with an even rhythm and texture. No part of the design takes precedence and pushes to the foreground; the designs vibrate and oscillate evenly.

Girih Girih are the combinations of repeated squares and circles, which may be overlapped and interlaced, to form intricate and complex patterns, including a wide variety of tessellations. These are decorative Islamic geometric patterns used in architecture consisting of angled lines that form an interlaced strapwork pattern. Girih patterns can be created in a variety of ways, including the traditional straightedge and compass construction; the construction of a grid of polygons; and the use of a set of girih tiles with lines drawn on them: the lines form the pattern.

The girih style of ornamentation is thought to have been inspired by 2nd century AD Syrian Roman knotwork patterns. These had curvilinear interlaced strapwork with three-fold rotational symmetry. Islamic craftsmen created tremendous patterns with exquisite details using rulers and compasses. They were influenced by the ancient Greek rules of Mathematics which they have artistically taken to a whole new level. However complicated the pattern may seem, it is always based on a grid and a series of iterated lines and shapes. These patterns have evolved with time and changed with different regions.

Kufic Kufic script is a style of Arabic script and architectural decoration. It is characterized by angular, rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation. The script letters used to be wider, which made writing long content more difficult. These characteristics affected the usability of the script and made it more suitable for architectural and written Islamic titles, instead of long texts. An entire word can give the impression of random brush strokes, or single letter can develop into a decorative knot.

Kufic was prevalent in manuscripts from the 7th to 10th centuries. The name of the script derives from Kufa, a city in southern Iraq which was considered as an intellectual center within the early Islamic period. Kufic script is composed of geometrical forms like straight lines and angles along with verticals and horizontals. The calligraphy is principally a means to transmit a text, albeit in a decoarative form. There are many different versions of Kufic script, such as square Kufic, floriated Kufic, knotted Kufic, and others. 15

Use of Patterns

Jali A jali is the term for a perforated stone or latticed screen, usually with an ornamental pattern constructed through the use of calligraphy and geometry. This form of architectural decoration is common in Indo-Islamic Architecture and other Islamic Architecture.

The jali helps in lowering the temperature by compressing the air through the holes. Also when the air passes through these openings, its velocity increases giving profound diffusion. Jalis are becaming less frequent for privacy and security matters.

Muqarnas Muqarnas is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. The structure originated from the squinch. The purpose of muqarnas is to create a smooth, decorative zone of transition in an otherwise bare, structural space. Muqarnas gives the ability to distinguish between the main parts of a building, and serve as a transition from the walls of a room into a domed ceiling. This type of architecture is featured in domes, half-dome entrances, iwans and apses.

It is significant in Islamic architecture because its elaborate form is a symbolic representation of universal creation by God. The two main types of muqarnas are the North African/ Middle Eastern style, composed of a series of downward triangular projections, and the Iranian style, composed of connecting tiers of segments and shapes.

Zeillij The word Zeillij is derived from the verb “zalaja” meaning “to slide,” in reference to the smooth, glazed surface of the tiles. It is a style of mosaic tilework made from individually hand-chiseled tile pieces set into a plaster base. The pieces were typically of different colours and fitted together to form elaborate geometric motifs, such as radiating star patterns. This form of Islamic Art is one of the main characteristics of Islamic Architecture. Zeillij became a standard decorative element along lower walls, in fountains and pools, and for the paving of floors. The most current form of the zellij is a square. Other forms are possible: the octagon combined with a cabochon, a star, a cross, etc. 21

Understanding the Philosophy

Islamic Art reflects the unique Muslim view of life and all spiritual things. For Muslims, God is the center (Allah). He is the biggest focus of their lives. So with such beliefs the Muslims strongly believe in balance and harmony because everything is created and planned by God. Therefore Islamic art developed a unique character of geometric, arabesque, floral, and calligraphic patterns which reflect on their aspects of balance. These patterns were a direct offspring of what they believed about Allah and figural representation. Nothing could be unbalanced or else Allah didn't make it.

Geometric patterns are very popular in Islamic art largely due to its aniconic or symbolic quality. The use of geometric shapes in Islamic art is used to â&#x20AC;&#x153;reflect the language of the universeâ&#x20AC;? and help the worshiper to reflect life and the greatness of creation and the creator, Allah. Geometry is seen as spiritual because circles are used, and circles are seen as infinite, and repetitive patterns are seen as infinite, which connects to the fact that Allah is infinite.

Vegetal patterns, also known as arabesques, are often connected to the Garden of Paradise or the Tree of Life. Interlacing polygons are based on the circular pattern and create some of the most complex patterns known in the world, expressing inexhaustible variety.

Understanding the Geometry

Geometrical Patterns are based on polygons and when the vertexes of these constructive polygons are connected, they give birth to the fundamental Islamic patterns, the star-polygons. This fact forms the base for the classification of the patterns. The star shape symbolizes equal radiation in all directions from a central point. All regular stars 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 pointsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;are created by a division of a circle into equal parts. The center of a circle is an apt symbol of a religon that emphasizes one God, and symbol of the role of Mecca, the center of Islam, toward which all Muslims face in prayer. The rays of a star reach out in all directions, making the star a fitting symbol for the spread of Islam. Geometric Patterns Classification

Hexagon, transforms to an hexagon star and is classified under 6-point geometrical patterns and the pattern will be called as an 6-point star and where the two adjacent rays of the star are parallel, resulting in a shape representing rosette leaves, is classified under 6- fold rosette.

Principal Elements of Geometry

Circle is the ultimate base of all creation and represents the symbol of unity. The regular divisions of circle is the starting point for many patterns and it also originates three most essential figures, the triangle, the square and the hexagon. When the circle is expanded from one circle into three circles the first and the simplest figure originates a triangle. Expanding the circle further gives us a square, symbolizing earth and materiality, also representing the universeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s four main elements: water, earth, fire and air, whereas a hexagon symbolizes the heaven.

The two examples shows how to derive a range of classic motifs from the decagram. These form the basis of 12th century Iranian â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Girihâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; patterns, i.e. patterns that can extend to infinity without regular repetition. Many of the patterns used in Islamic art look similar, even though they decorate different objects. Artists did not seek to express themselves, but rather, to create beautiful objects for everyone to enjoy. Not so in Islam; there the artist sees himself as a humble servant of the community, using his skills and imagination to express awe of Allah, the one God, eternal and all-powerful.

Do it Yourself

Practice the patterns on the given grids, using the reference images.

Several artforms in different parts of the Islamic world make use of these geometric patterns for ceramics, mosaic tiles, kilim carpets, leather, shakaba stained glass, woodwork, and metalwork. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;non-figurative artâ&#x20AC;?, with the linear patterns of foliage, combined without line based ornament designs, calligraphy, or geometric shapes are suitable to be defined as Islamic. This revolutionary approach had a vast affect on art coming out of the desert, and in locations which sought inspiration from it.