The Missing Body

This chapter considers the presumed absence of figurative representations in Islamic art, which to some is yet another indication of Islam’s inability to face and represent reality (accept modernity) – as opposed to the body-centric aesthetics of the Renaissance. It is discovered that Islamic history in fact overflows with examples of representations of sentient life. The contrast between Islam’s figurative art (as secular) and abstract and geometric art (as sacred) should not be seen as contradictory, but as a case of cultural simultaneity, which reflects an Islamicate daily life that has always been both religious and secular at the same time.

THE AESTHETIC DISCOURSE OF DECORATIVE ART )ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION AS A MODEL)

Islam is a major turning point in the life of the nation in particular and humanity in general, because the impact of the Arab-Islamic civilization on human life as a whole is still visible. Art was a manifestation of the Arab Islamic culture and that it represents a pattern of human civilization patterns. Arab Islamic art is one of the important tributaries that accompanied the life and development of the Arab Muslim man. Islamic religious buildings, such as statues, pictures, and other tools used by the Christian churches in their rituals, as these teachings prevented from imitating nature completely. The abstract of the reality of the Creator. This spiritual identity of art is the prominent feature that has marked the history of Islamic art, in all its diverse fields, from diagnosis to abstraction. The Arab-Islamic personality crystallized under the Islamic religion, and art and its aesthetics became a source of interest for Muslim philosophers of beauty, including Al-Ghazali, Abuhyan Al-Tawhidi and Al-Farabi, because Islamic religious thought is far from everything that is analogous in Islamic art so as not to be an emulation of the Creator. From here, the research problem started with the following question: What distinguished the decorative art from the rest of the Islamic arts through its vast civilization from the other arts? And to what extent does it include the aesthetic dimension within the opinions of Muslim philosophers who are interested in the aesthetics of art? 1-As for the importance of the research, it focused on: the possibility of considering it a source for those interested in studying decorative. 2-The possibility of seeing the aesthetics of decorative art and the artist's orientation to this type of art.

The Influence of Philosophy in the Establishment of Islamic Art

Visual arts created by culturally Islamic people from the seventh century onwards are referred to as Islamic art. Islamic art has taken a way of unveiling the interior of the art and its cultural, conceptual, and social messages since its creation and separation from traditional art. This study aims to examine art from an Islamic viewpoint to gain a thorough understanding of Islamic art, its styles, and values. The key goals were to find out what factors influence the establishment of Islamic art and to comprehend the importance of art in Islamic culture. A thematic analysis based on literature was used as the methodology. According to previous scholars, Islamic art represents spiritual harmony, and appreciation of beauty was of great significance in art. The suggestion was drawn that art and what constitutes art are strongly influenced by the history and values of particular communities or religious affiliations. Islamic thinkers take a bold new approach to Islamic art, believing human to be the most divine being formed by Allah (swt).

A Technical Study of a 17th-Century Manuscript of Muḥammad Bin Sulaymān al-Jazūlī’s Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt

In the spring of 2017, the Islamic Art Department, within The Metropolitan Museum of Art (TMMA), acquired an Islamic prayer book, the Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt by Muḥammad bin Sulaymān al-Jazūlī. This paper discusses the findings of a technical study undertaken in the museum’s Sherman Fairchild Center for the Conservation of Works of Art on Paper, focusing on the materials and techniques of one manuscript acquisition specifically, MMA 2017.301. The nature, properties, and characteristics of the text block paper, fiber and pigment identification, chemical compositions, condition assessment, and inherent deterioration mechanisms within the palette are described. The colophon at the end of the manuscript mentions a patron, Sīdī Aḥmad b. Dirham al-Mālikī and identifies its calligrapher as Muḥammad bin Aḥmad bin ʿAbd Al-Raḥmān al-Riyāḥī and confirms its creation date as AH 1035/1625–1626 AD.1

ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON A FIRED STUCCO WINDOW IN THE ISLAMIC ART MUSEUM STORE OF CAIRO, EGYPT

The stucco window in this study is kept in the stores of the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, Egypt, and bears the number 454/7. This window has been exposed to many damage factors, the most important of which is the fire that broke out in the museum in 2006 AD, in addition to the effect of the water that was used to extinguish the fire. This research aims to study the components of the window (stucco - glass - wood) and identify the transformations resulting from the effect of fire using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with EDX, X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy. In addition, the microbiological damage resulting from the moisture that saturates the plaster and wood was investigated.

Analytical comparative study of the Umayyad mosaics in Tiberius and Jericho: دراسة تحليلية مقارنة للفسيفساء الأموية "في طبريا وأريحا "

The aim of the research was to analyze the artistic decorations of the mosaic of the ancient Umayyad civilization in Palestine in the light of a comparative study between the most important umayyad palaces in Khirbet al-Minya in Tiberias and Khirbet al-Masrif in Jericho. There is no doubt that the archaeological site of Khirbet al-Monaina in Palestine has played a major role in the decoration of floors and walls, where we find it covering the dome above the top of the huge hall of the palace and take geometric and floral motifs, in addition to covering some of the floors of rooms filled with many mosaics of various shapes and use. On the other hand, there is a consensus among archaeologists and Islamic arts that the ruins of Khirbet al-Mafjar are unique architectural buildings in Palestine, which represent one of the important examples in the history of Islamic art in the Umayyad period, because of its possession of fine art decorations and various materials of plaster, in addition to mosaic floors and frescoes, as well as buildings rich in examples of patterns used by the Umayyads in architectural decoration. After the comparative analytical study of the Umayyad mosaic in Khirbet al-Mania in Tiberias and Khirbet al-Mafjar in Jericho, the research found out and discovered the similarities and differences between them.