User:Maclainemary/Islamic ornament

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Architectural ornament in Samarra
 * Ancient nomadic cultures of the Near East developed an emphasis on sophisticated language (Finlayson 70). The traditions, histories and poetry were oral practices that tribes would commit to memory. These ancient paradigms of Islam are reflected in the complexity and layers of symbolic meaning within Islamic art today. Ornament - through its geometric pathways, artistic symbols, and color combinations, reveals the greatness of God and allow the viewer to worship Him without engaging with pagan images in human or animal form. Idol or icon worship especially in houses of prayer were considered dangerous.
 * Artistic alternative of vegetal scrolls (arabesques), geometric designs, and calligraphy, and architectural decor such as archways, muqarnas,
 * They all create “environments of sacred contemplation and union with God, especially within the mosque” (71-2)
 * One major literary work addresses the theoretical implications of Islamic ornament. Oleg Grabar’s The Mediation of Ornament consults representations of pattern. Other important figures who have made statements on ornament include Alois Reigl, Owen Jones, William Morris, John Ruskin, Carl Semper, and Viollet-le-Duc. Grabar is concerned with the transmission of meaning from the visual form of ornament to its interpretation. He asserts that ornament leads the viewer to thought and interpretation. (Bier 29) Grabar argues that decoration seems to complete an object by providing it with quality. (Grabar 25)  It serves a function, provides a quality that anyone can read   Ornament not merely as embellishment but as an intermediary   Grabar assesses the facade of the palace of Mshatta in contemporary Jordan. Erected during the eighth century, this facade was removed and gifted by the Ottomans to the Germans in the early twentieth century. (Grabar 33) On the facade, we see partly geometricized vegetal patterns with hints of animal figures. The iconography of the facade remains unclear, but the ornament holds important qualities. Grabar coined the term terpnopoietic to describe something that provides pleasure. The viewer does not need an explanation of the origins of the Mshatta facade’s motifs in order to derive pleasure from it.   All artistic traditions of Eurasia developed designs based on the representation of nature, plants and animals. These designs have been arranged in a multitude of ways with “varying degrees of approximating realities.” (Grabar 195) The development of vegetal ornamentation from Egypt, the ancient Near East, and the Hellenistic world “culminates in the Islamic arabesque.” (Bier 28)  Vegetatal ornament holds a unique attribute: “It suggests or evokes life. Without representing life, it provides a sense of growth and movement.” (Grabar 224)   Cynthia Finlayson’s Behind the Arabesque: Understanding Islamic Art and Architecture consults a particular prose in the Qur’an in theorizing Islamic ornament.   This passage reads, “God is the light of the heavens and the earth. A likeness of His light is as a pillar on which is a lamp – the lamp is in a glass, the glass is as it were a brightly shining star– lit from a blessed olive-tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof gives light, though fire touch it not - light upon light. (Qur’an 24:35)  Classical Arabic adab literature, literary theory, and practice

Samarra, a city in Iraq, is distinguished for its enormous palaces which features architectural ornament. UNESCO has regarded Samarra as the only existing Islamic capital that retains its original plan, architecture, and carvings. Ernst Herzfeld, a German archeologist of the 20th century, conducted a large-scale excavation at the Main Caliphal Palace of Samarra in 1911-13. Herzfeld obtained boards of carved stucco, marble, ceramic decorative elements, and more. In Herzefeld’s publications, he identified three styles of carved ornament. Those styles being: First Style (which he also referred to as the Beveled Style), the Second Style, and the Third Style. While his classification of styles were generally accepted by his successors, research in this field now contests the source and timeline of these proclaimed styles.

The first pattern that Ernst Herzfeld obvserves, appears on fragments out of marble that were extracted from the Audience Hall Complex. This pattern is made up of horseshoe shapes which repeat in rows. The next two patterns Herzfeld observed on marble wall and consisted of trefoil motifs and petal-shaped symbols. The last motif Herzfeld observed was made of a five-lobed leaf pattern which were representative of palmettes.