In this comprehensive survey, the authors highlight those characteristics that connect the various arts of all the Islamic lands, without minimizing the differences. Dividing the time into three periods: 600-900, 900-1500 and 1500-1800, they set the artistic development in each era within its historical context and use art as a window into Islamic culture. Written in a lively and accessible style, and illustrated throughout with photographs, maps and plans, the book captures the essence of Islamic culture as expressed in its buildings, books and applied arts, and provides an essential introduction to the subject for both the student and the general reader.

Author: Jonathan Bloom, Sheila S. Blair
Paperback:  448 pages
Company: Phaidon Press  (1997-04-24)
ISBN: 071483176X
List Price: $24.95
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Robert Irwin delves deep into the cultures of the Islamic world to survey the exquisite arts of painting, architecture, porcelain, enamel, manuscript illumination, metalwork, calligraphy, textiles, and more. Including 217 illustrations, 148 in full color, the book covers the earliest foundations of Islam through the brilliant high point of the 17th century.

Author: Robert Irwin
Paperback:  272 pages
Company: Prentice Hall  (2003-09-15)
ISBN: 0131833324
List Price: $24.95
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How do we know Islamic art? What tells us that images and artifacts are products of the Muslim world, a culture that has historically extended from Spain to Southeast Asia and spanned a period from A.D. 622 to our day? This exquisitely and extensively illustrated book allows readers to identify those elements and themes that define art forms as Islamic, and to examine them in works of painting and metalwork, in calligraphy and manuscripts, ceramics, glass, wood, and ivory comprising one of the most imposing collections of arts from across the Muslim world.

Arranged thematically--in chapters focusing on religion and belief, the supernatural and natural worlds, feasting, the hunt, war, music, and power--Islamic Art in Detail provides a much-needed cultural context for these widely varied works while pointing out exceptional features. In its exploration of selected works, the book juxtaposes images of each object with enlarged details--details that might otherwise be virtually invisible to the naked eye--affording surprising comparisons between seemingly unrelated pieces and offering a rare multifaceted view of the art, technique, and iconography of some of the Islamic world's most beautiful images and artifacts.

(20071201)

Author: Sheila R. Canby
Hardcover:  144 pages
Company: Harvard University Press  (2006-11-30)
ISBN: 0674023900
List Price: $22.95
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This richly illustrated book provides an unsurpassed overview of Islamic art and architecture during a time that witnessed the formation of a new artistic culture and its first, medieval, flowering in the vast area from the Atlantic to India. Inspired by Ettinghausen and Grabar's original text, this book has been completely rewritten and updated, and many new illustrations have been added.

Author: Ettinghausen, Oleg Grabar, Marilyn Jenkins-Madina
Paperback:  360 pages
Company: Yale University Press  (2003-08-01)
ISBN: 0300088698
List Price: $37.00
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Author: Nasim Akhtar, S. Daljeet, K.K. Sharma
Paperback:  214 pages
Company: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia  (2002-12-31)
ISBN: 9832591007
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Amazon Price: $84.48

Author: Oleg Grabar
Paperback:  232 pages
Company: Yale University Press  (1987-09-10)
ISBN: 0300040466
List Price: $29.00
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Covering one thousand years of history and an area stretching from the Atlantic to the borders of India and China, Robert Hillenbrand incorporates all the latest discoveries and interpretations in this authoritative guide to the arts of Islam. From the supreme confidence of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to the scores of exquisite buildings of Ottoman Istanbul; from the extraordinary virtuosity of Persian painting in the fifteenth century to the vivid ceramic tradition of Ottoman Iznik--Hillenbrand does justice to both the highlights and the ongoing evolution of the full range of Islamic arts. Supported by a glossary of Islamic terms, a time line, and maps, this book traces the architecture, calligraphy, book illumination, painting, ceramics, textiles, and metalwork of a vastly accomplished and influential civilization.

Author: Robert Hillenbrand
Paperback:  288 pages
Company: Thames & Hudson  (1998-03)
ISBN: 0500203059
List Price: $18.95
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Author: Daud Sutton
Hardcover:  64 pages
Company: Walker & Company  (2007-11-13) (2007-11-13)
ISBN: 0802716350
List Price: $12.00
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Now more than ever, Islam and Islamic culture is a topic that is as misunderstood as it is fascinating. In this exquisite oversized volume spanning 1200 years of history, celebrated scholar Professor Nasser D. Khalili presents a benchmark visual history of the peoples, the cultures, and the artworks that have defined the Islamic world. From Spain to Indonesia, North Africa to China, more than fifty of the world?s nations are of the Muslim faith. The material culture of the Muslim people is accordingly rich and varied, ranging from taking in architectural projects on a huge scale and minutely detailed miniature paintings, exquisitely patterned silk textiles and bold yet sophisticated calligraphy.

Written histories of the art of the Islamic lands have until now either been very general or highly focused on particular regions or types of artifacts. Now the spectacular format of Islamic Art and Culture provides the reader to view the magnificent sweep of the arts of Islam in a unique and accessible way. Diverse developments throughout the Islamic world are compared simultaneously across time and place, and specific objects and buildings seen in the light of key events in Muslim history. From calligraphy to carpets, armor to architecture, this book voluptuously reveals the immense heritage handed down through Islamic artists over the centuries, and examines their relationship to their Western peers.

Author: Nassir Khalili
Hardcover:  192 pages
Company: Overlook Hardcover  (2006-11-16)
ISBN: 1585678392
List Price: $65.00
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From the Alhambra to the Taj Mahal, from the Dome of the Rock to the ever evolving art of calligraphy, Barbara Brend traces the development of classic Islamic art from the seventh through the twentieth century.

The term "Islamic art" suggests a unity of style and purpose, and these works are in fact instantly recognizable for their subtlety of line and sumptuous detail. The Islamic world--from Arabia to North Africa and Spain, from Turkey to Central Asia and India--has a shared cultural heritage of extraordinary richness. Yet it is a common tradition that divides into a diversity of styles. So Brend narrates this history region by region, illustrating her discussion with superb examples drawn from all areas in which Muslim artists and craftsmen have excelled--mosque and palace architecture; the art of the book (calligraphy, painting, and bindings); and the decorative arts, including metalwork, carvings, mosaics, pottery, textiles, and carpets. Throughout, the author elucidates forms, aesthetic principles, themes, and imagery. And she points to sources and influences in the different periods--for example, the prominence of jade and chinoiserie after the Mongol invasion. In Islamic Art Brend expertly guides us through the splendors and delicacies of this classic tradition.

Author: Barbara Brend
Paperback:  240 pages
Company: Harvard University Press  (1992-03-01)
ISBN: 067446866X
List Price: $27.50
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