Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World
Edited by Mohammad Gharipour, Irvin Cemil Schick
- 30 case studies explain different aspects and contexts of calligraphy in Islamic architecture
- Geographically wide-ranging – covers North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, China and Spain
- Takes an interdisciplinary approach to analysing calligraphy as part of its larger spatial-architectural context
- Lavishly illustrated with over 300 colour images
From Spain to China, Islamic architecture and calligraphy are inexorably intertwined. Mosques, dervish lodges, mausolea, libraries, even baths and market places bear masterpieces of calligraphy that rival the most refined of books and scrolls.This major reference work focuses on architectural inscriptions through the Muslim world, from the emergence of Islam to the present day.
- What were the purposes of these inscriptions?
- How do they infuse buildings with culturally specific meanings, sacred or profane?
- What do they add to architectural design?
- What sorts of materials were used, and how do they interact with light and space?
- Who were their patrons, and what do we know about the artists who produced them?
Find out with this exciting new collection edited by a stellar cast of international contributors.
About the ContributorsNasiba Baimatowa, Harvard University, USA
Bavand Behpoor, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
Süleyman Berk, Yalova University, Turkey
Sheila S. Blair, Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth University, USA
Johanna Blayac, University Paris 8 Saint-Denis, France
Patricia Blessing, Stanford University, USA
Snježana Buzov, Ohio State University, USA
M. Uğur Derman, independent
Edhem Eldem, Boğaziçi University, Turkey
Nina Ergin, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
Mohammad Gharipour, Morgan State University, USA
Sina Goudarzi, independent
Sadiq Javer, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China
Hilal Kazan, independent
Saeid Khaghani, Shahrood University of Technology, Iran
Ulrike-Christiane Lintz, Saarland University, Germany
Tehnyat Majeed, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan
Talip Mert, Marmara University, Turkey
Bernard O’Kane, American University in Cairo, Egypt
José Miguel Puerta Vilchez, University of Granada, Spain
İrvin Cemil Schick, İstanbul Şehir University, Turkey
Ann Shafer, American University in Cairo, Egypt
Bahia Shehab, Mi7-Cairo and American University in Cairo, Egypt
Sumayah Al-Solaiman, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Barbara Stöcker-Parnian, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany
Murat Sülün, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
Hashim Al-Tawil, Henry Ford Community College, USA
Abdülhamit Tüfekçioğlu, Yüzüncü Yıl University, Van, Turkey
Caroline Olivia M. Wolf, Rice University, USA
B: Sites
1. Inscribing the Square: The Inscriptions on the Maidān-i Shāh in Iṣfahān, Sheila S. Blair
2. Speaking Architecture: Poetry and Aesthetics in the Alhambra Palace, José Miguel Puerta Vílchez
3. The Arabic Calligraphy on the Ceiling of the Twelfth-Century Cappella Palatina in Palermo, Sicily: Function and Identity, Hashim Al-Tawil
4. Wall-Less Walls: The Calligraphy at the Hadži Sinanova Tekija in Sarajevo, Snježana Buzov
5. Survey – The Qur’ānic Inscriptions Monument From Jām, Afghanistan, Ulrike-Christiane Lintz
C: Style vs. Content
6. Multi-Sensorial Messages of the Divine and the Personal: Qur’an Inscriptions and Recitation in Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Mosques in Istanbul, Nina Ergin
7. The Revival of Kūfī Script During the Reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II, İrvin Cemil Schick
8. Calligraphy in Chinese Mosques: At the Intersection of Arabic and Chinese Calligraphy, Barbara Stöcker-Parnian
9. Qur’anic Verses on Works of Architecture: The Ottoman Case, Murat Sülün
10. Reading Qājār Epigraphs: Case Studies from Shīrāz and Iṣfahān, Bavand Behpoor
D: Patronage
11. ‘The Pen Has Extolled Her Virtues’: Gender and Power within the Visual Legacy of Shajar al-Durr in Cairo, Caroline Olivia M. Wolf
12. Sovereign Epigraphy in Location: Politics, Devotion and Legitimisation around the Quṭb Minār, Delhi, Johanna Blayac
13. Archival Evidence on the Commissioning of Architectural Calligraphy in the Ottoman Empire, Talip Mert
14. On the Renewal of the Calligraphy at the Mosque of the Prophet (al-Masjid al-Nabawī) under the Reign of Sultan Abdülmecid, Hilal Kazan
15. Faṭimid Kūfī Epigraphy on the Gates of Cairo: Between Royal Patronage and Civil Utility, Bahia Shehab
E: Artists
16. An Art Ambassador: The Inscriptions of ‘Alī Reżā ‘Abbāsī, Saeid Khaghani
17. Mustafa Râkım Efendi’s Architectural Calligraphy, Süleyman Berk
18. Yesârîzâde Mustafa İzzet Efendi and his Contributions to Ottoman Architectural Calligraphy, M. Uğur Derman
19. The Visual Interpretation of Nasta‘līq in Architecture: Mīrzā Gholām Reżā’s Monumental Inscriptions for the Sepahsālār Mosque in Tehran, Sina Goudarzi
F: Regional
20. Ma‘qilī Inscriptions on the Great Mosque of Mardin: Stylistic and Epigraphic Contexts, Tehnyat Majeed
21. The Composition of Kūfī Inscriptions in Transitional and Early-Islamic Architecture of North Khurasan, Nasiba S. Baimatowa
22. Space and Calligraphy in the Chinese Mosque, Sadiq Javer
23. Medium and Message in the Monumental Epigraphy of Medieval Cairo, Bernard O’Kane
24. Allegiance, Praise and Space: Monumental Inscriptions in Thirteenth-Century Anatolia as Architectural Guides, Patricia Blessing
25. Symmetrical Compositions in Pre-Ottoman and Ottoman Architectural Inscriptions in Asia Minor, Abdülhamit Tüfekçioğlu
G: Modernity
26. Writing Less, Saying More: Calligraphy and Modernisation in the Last Ottoman Century, Edhem Eldem
27. The Absence and Emergence of Calligraphy in Najd: Calligraphy as a Modernist Component of Architecture in Riyadh, Sumayah Al-Solaiman
28. Cairo to Canton and Back: Tradition in the Islamic Vernacular, Ann Shafer
H: Bibliography
I: List of Figures
J: About the Contributors.
This is a comprehensive and thought-stimulating volume.
The subject of calligraphy on monuments is extremely rich in terms of the varieties of approaches (palaeography, "iconography", meaning, sociology, and aesthetics, among others). This volume allows entry to many of these aspects. It also serves to illustrate the paradox of Islamic art: unity of the Arabic alphabet, and variety of local declinations.
