Islamic art final

Orientalism

"The unifying characteristic of nineteenth-century Orientalism was its attempt at documentary realism,' Donald Rosenthal declares in the introduction to the catalogue, and then goes on to maintain, quite correctly, that "the flowering of Orientalist painting was closely associated with the apogee of European colonialist expansion in the nineteenth century." Yet, having referred to Edward Said's critical definition of Orientalism in Western literature "as a mode for defining the presumed cultural inferiority of the Islamic Orient part of the vast control mechanism of colonialism, designed to justify and perpetuate European dominance," The key notion of Orientalism itself—cannot be confronted without a critical analysis of the particular power structure in which these works came into being. For instance, the degree of realism (or lack of it) in individual Orientalist images can hardly be discussed without some attempt to clarify whose reality we are talking about. Jean-Léon Géröme's Snake Charmer[l], painted in the late 1860s An iconic distillation of the Westerner's notion of the Oriental couched in the language of a would-be transparent naturalism. The title, however, doesn't really tell the complete story; should really be called The Snake Charmer and His Audience, for we are clearly meant to look at both performer and audience as parts of the same spectacle since we are not invited to identify with the audience. Our gaze is meant to include both the spectacle (the boy) and its spectators (against the wall watching) as objects of picturesque delectation. Both the black and brown folk and us are mystified- defining mood of the painting is mystery, and it is created by a specific pictorial device. Given rear view of the boy holding the snake. Can't tell the gender of the boy, sexually charged mystery at the center of this painting signifies a more general one: the mystery of the East itself, a standard topos of Orientalist ideology. Despite, or perhaps because of, the insistent richness of the visual diet Géröme offers— like the elaborate surfaces of the authentic Turkish tiles, carpet, and basket—we are haunted by certain absences in the painting. One absence is the absence of history. Time stands still suggests the Oriental world is a world without change, a world of timeless, atemporal customs and rituals, untouched by the historical processes that were "afflicting" or "improving" but, at any rate, drastically altering Western societies at the time. Yet these were in fact years of violent and conspicuous change in the Near East as well, changes affected primarily by Western power. Europe: "It was necessary to change Muslim habits, to destroy the age-old fanaticism which was an obstacle to the fusion of races and to create a modern secular state," declared French historian Edouard Driault in La Question d Orient (1898). "It was necessary to transform . . . the education of both conquerors and subjects, and inculcate in both the unknown spirit of tolerance—a noble task, worthy of the great renown of France," he continued. 2) The absence of a sense of history, of temporal change, is intimately related to to the absence of the telltale presence of Westerners. There are never any Europeans in 'picturesque" views of the Orient like these. Indeed, it might be said that one of the defining features of Orientalist painting is its dependence for its very existence on a presence that is always an absence: the Western colonial or touristic presence. Westerner, is present as the controlling gaze, the gaze which brings the Oriental world into being, the gaze for which it is ultimately intended. And this leads us to still another absence. 3) Part of the strategy of an Orientalist painter like Géröme is to make his viewers forget that there was any "bringing into being" at all, to convince them that works like these were simply "reflections," scientific in their exactitude, of a preexisting Oriental reality. Géröme was held to be dauntingly objective and scientific: "Géröme has the reputation of being one of the most studious and conscientiously accurate painters of our time. In a certain sense he may even be called "learned." He believes as firmly as Charles Reade does in the obligation on the part of-the artist to be true even in minute matters to the period and locality of a work pretending to historical character. Balzac is said to have made a journey of several hundreds of miles in order to verify certain apparently insignificant facts concerning a locality described in one of his novels. Of Géröme, it is alleged that he never paints a picture without the most patient and exhaustive preliminary studies of every matter connected with his subject. In the accessories of costume. furniture, etc. it is invariably his aim to attain the utmost possible exactness. It is this trait in which some declare an excess. that has caused him to be spoken of as a "scientific picture maker." 4) The strategies of "realist" mystification go hand in hand with those of Orientalist mystification. Another absence- the apparent absence—of art. As Leo Bersani has pointed out in his article on realism and the fear of desire, "The 'seriousness' of realist art is based on the absence of any reminder of the fact that it is really a question of art." No other artist has so inexorably eradicated all traces of the picture plane as Géröme, denying us any clue to the art work as a literal flat surface. "naturalist" or "authenticist" artist like Géröme tries to make us forget that his art is really art, both by concealing the evidence of his touch, and by insisting on a plethora of authenticating details, especially on what might be called unnecessary ones. These include not merely the "carefully executed Turkish tile patterns," the artist's renditions of Arabic inscriptions creates what Roland Barthes has called "the reality effect". They are signifiers of the category of the real, there to give credibility to the "realness" of the work as a whole, to authenticate the total visual field as a simple, artless reflection—in this case, of a supposed Oriental reality. 5) repairs in the tiles have still another function: a moralizing one which assumes meaning only within the apparently objectivized context of the scene as a whole. Neglected, ill-repaired architecture functions, in 19th Orientalist art, as a standard topos for commenting on the corruption of contemporary Islamic society. "splendid cities, once teeming with a busy population and embellished with ... edifices, the wonder of the world, now deserted and lonely, or reduced by mismanagement and the barbarism of the Moslem creed, to a state as savage as the wild animals by which they are surrounded." At another time, explaining the existence of certain ruins in its environs, he declared that Cairo "contains, I think, more idle people than any town its size in the world." 6) Vice of idleness was frequently commented upon by Western travelers to Islamic countries in the 19th century, and in relation to it, we can observe still another striking absence in the annals of Orientalist art: the absence of scenes of work and industry, despite the fact that some Western observers commented on the Egyptian fellahin's long hours of back-breaking labor, and on the ceaseless work Of Egyptian women engaged in the fields and in domestic labor. When Géröme's painting is seen within this context of supposed Near Eastern idleness and neglect, what might at first appear to be objectively described architectural fact turns out to be architecture moralisée. The lesson is subtle, perhaps, but still eminently available, given a context of similar topoi: these people—lazy, slothful, and childlike, if colorful—have let their own cultural treasures sink into decay. There is a clear allusion here, clothed in the language of objective reportage to the barbaric insouciance of Moslem peoples, who quite literally charm snakes while Constantinople falls into ruins. What I am trying to get at, of course, is the obvious truth that in this painting Géröme is not reflecting a ready-made reality but, like all artists, is producing meanings. The fact that Géröme and other Orientalist "realists" used photographic documentation is often brought in to support claims to the objectivity of the works in question. Indeed, Géröme seems to have relied on photographs for some of his architectural detail, and critics in both his own time and in ours compare his work to photography. But of course, there is photography and photography. Photography itself is hardly immune to the blandishments of Orientalism, and even a presumably innocent or neutral view of architecture can be ideologized. But of course, there is Orientalism and Orientalism. If for painters like Géröme the Near East existed as an actual place to be mystified with effects of realness, for other artists it existed as a project of the imagination, a fantasy space or screen onto which strong desires—erotic, sadistic, or both—could be projected with impunity. this version of Orientalism—Romantic, if you will, and created forty years before Géröme's—is it Western man's power over the Near East that is at issue, but rather, I believe, contemporary Frenchmen's power over women, a power controlled and mediated by the ideology of the erotic in Delacroix's time Delacroix had come too close to an overt statement of the most explosive, hence the most carefully repressed, corollary of the ideology of male domination: the connection between sexual possession and murder as an assertion of absolute enjoyment. The fantasy of absolute possession of women's naked bodies—a fantasy which for men of Delacroix's time was partly based on specific practice in the institution of prostitution or, more specifically, in the case of artists, on the availability of studio models for sexual as well as professional services—also lies at the heart of such typical subjects of Orientalist imagery as Géröme's various Slave Markets. These are ostensibly realistic representations of the authentic customs of picturesque Near Easterners. Like many other art works of his time, Géröme's Orientalist painting managed to body forth two ideological assumptions about power: one about men's power over women; the other about white men's superiority to, hence justifiable control over, inferior, darker races, precisely those who indulge in this sort of regrettably lascivious commerce. Or we might say that something even more complex is involved in Géröme's strategies vis-å-vis the bomme moyen sensuel: the (male) viewer was invited sexually to identify with, yet morally to distance himself from, his Oriental counterparts depicted within the objectively inviting yet racially distancing space of the painting. Like the artistic back, the presence of the black servant in Géröme's Orientalist bath scenes serves what might be called connotative as well as strictly ethnographic purposes. We are of course familiar with the notion that the black servant somehow enhances the pearly beauty of her white' mistress— in which the black figure of the maid seems to be an indicator of sexual naughtiness. But in the purest distillations of the Orientalist bath scene—like Géröme's—the very passivity of the lovely white figure as opposed to the vigorous activity of the worn, unfeminine ugly black one, suggests that the nude beauty is explicitly being prepared for service in the sultan's bed. This sense of erotic availability is spiced with still more forbidden overtones, for the conjunction of black and white, or dark and light female bodies, whether naked or in the guise of mistress and maidservant, has traditionally signified lesbianism. Like other artists of his time, Géröme sought out instances of the picturesque in the religious practices of the natives of the Middle East. This sort of religious ethnographic imagery attempted to create a sleek, harmonious vision of the Islamic world as traditional, pious, and unthreatening, in direct contradiction to the grim realities of history. Obviously, in Orientalist imagery of subject peoples' religious practices one of its functions is to mask conflict with the appearance of tranquillity. Only on the brink of destruction, in the course of incipient modification and cultural dilution, are customs, costumes, and religious rituals of the dominated finally seen as picturesque. Reinterpreted as the precious remnants of disappearing ways of life, worth hunting down and preserving, they are finally transformed into subjects of aesthetic delectation in an imagery in which exotic human beings are integrated with a presumably defining and overtly limiting decor. Another important function, then, of the picturesque—Orientalizing in this case—is to certify that the people encapsulated by it, defined by its presence, are irredeemably different from, more backward than, and culturally inferior to those who construct and consume the picturesque product. They are irrevocably "Other." Orientalism can be viewed under the aegis of the more general category of the picturesque, a category that can encompass a wide variety of visual objects and ideological strategies. Both represent backward, oppressed peoples sticking to traditional practices. These works are united also by shared stylistic strategies: the "reality effect" and the strict avoidance of any hint of conceptual identification or shared viewpoint with their subjects, which could, for example, have been suggested by alternative conventions of representation. The violence visited upon North African people by the West was rarely depicted by Orientalist painting; it was, in fact, denied in the painting of religious ethnography. But the violence of Orientals to each other was a favored theme. Strange and exotic punishments, hideous tortures, whether actual or potential, the marvelously scary aftermath of barbaric executions—these are a stock-in-trade of Orientalist art. One function of Orientalist paintings like these is, of course, to suggest that their law is irrational violence; our violence, by contrast, is law. In Other words, in the case of imagery directly related to political, diplomatic, and military affairs in the inspirational territory of Orientalism, the very notion of "Orientalism" itself in the visual arts is simply a category of obfuscation, masking important distinctions under the rubric of the picturesque, supported by the illusion of the real.

Eugène Delacroix, Women of Algiers, 1834/Postcard Photography

How to think about the Orientalism? Orientalism is is it identity making practice, it is a sense of how artists and people made sense of their place in the world and looking at works of art and reading by forging these identifies and these connections "neither the term Orient nor the concept of the West has any ontological stability; each is made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identification of the Other." -Edward Said France colonizes Algeria in the early part of the 19th century and has a goal of setting up Algeria as a African Paris, they redesign the city, they wanted Algeria to look like Paris and they kept Algeria as their jewel in their crown until 1960s Eugene Delacroix, Women of Algiers, 1834 French painter, leading painter of the French romantic school Eugene Delacroix travels and goes to Algier soon after it is conquered and wants to document the conquest. He is obsessed with Algerian woman and wants to represent them and wants to render them. If you look at the painting he was most likely able to get some kind of access into a harem space, but the image of the harem and the reality of the harem are very different. He mostly did his observation of woman not in close proximity What we see and what is orientalist? see tile work, top right corner is some calligraphy There is careful attention in making a space that is distinctly Islamic (the colors, patterns). the artist was fascinated in rendering this world and those details. 19th century France viewer would have found this material world as exciting and interesting. There is a appreciation for craftsmanship, weaving and carpets that is pervasive. Women seem sober, passive, they are not interacting with each other Four women: three siting on ground smoking hookah The idea of opium is a drug of decadence and decay, a drug that inebriates the body and a puts the body into a languish state (not active), Here is a hookah in the foreground: read this, they are on opium that put them in this state of disconnect, they are laying there Why they are laying there? waiting for people to look upon them and fantasy that is manufactured here is they are waiting for someone to come and have sex with them (this is the medieval harem where women lay in wait for them to be visited by men) The fantasy: the harem is a place where women lay in wait and if you can access this space this is space of fantastic imaginings and creation The harems were gendered spaces, many of these wealthy men had multiple sexual partners, women would not be lounging around and place of female domaine, women had their children with them, it is not a place of lounging, it was a busy space. But the artist does not give us that. Why break the fantasy with presence of children, instead gives us three women laying around with the hookah attended by a woman of darker complexion. He is making a racial hierarchy. He reinforced racial hierarchy where fairness is being privileged as better than darker. Strong image: configuring an image that feeds into all those things Said is saying: a world of decadence, a world of moral decay, world of stasis (that longing, languish quality, these are not active bodies rather in immobilization) Comes back to 19th century France and is very popular It is these images of women through which the vast majority of the idea of Orient is being manufacturing, it is grafted upon the female body

Orientalism

In 'Rhetoric of the Image', Roland Barthes examines the connection between text and image. With the ability to easily print text and photograph in the same space came a new relationship between text and image. In an era of mass production in the form of advertisements, illustrated newspapers, and picture postcards, the text was relegated to a secondary position and clarified the meaning of the image. Alone, a still image is equivocal; words assign a meaning. Language naturalizes an analysis of the image, but this interpretation is often ideological, selective, and anachronistic. The text accompanying images functions as what Barthes describes as 'anchorage': By the nineteenth century, a sense of European superiority over the Middle East and North Africa dominated European society, and European leaders and scholars had established firm stereotypes of Arabs as violent and promiscuous. Colonial powers created a series of oppositions to distinguish between European colonial powers and the lands they conquered. These distinctions provided a rationale for the French civilizing mission. The French studied the Middle East and Islam and concluded that Arabs were irrational, tyrannical and barbaric, which contrasted strongly with the French belief that their civilization was characterized by progressivism, rationality and freedom. According to the French, Morocco was a society with a 'past frozen in time, in its civilization, in its customs, in its entire life it is stuck in this immobility'. Morocco could not advance on its own, in this interpretation, and the French thus needed to intervene in order to introduce modernity and progress. Such stereotypes affected more than colonial policy and scholarship. Scholars argue that artistic renderings of the Middle East and North Africa reflected these same themes in order to further justify European domination (Nochlin 1989). At the forefront of Orientalist stereotypes, the notion of a violent, savage noble originated in the twelfth century with increased contact between Europe and Muslim lands, and gained popularity through the twentieth century (Rodinson 2002). Moroccan violence constituted a primary justification for the conquest, which the French highlighted in government reports and the popular press. Images, such as postcards depicting the grave of a Frenchman 'assassinated' by Moroccans, served to reinforce these concepts and evoke patriotic support for a colonial project designed to right the wrongs inflicted upon the murdered Frenchmen. By contrast, as art historian Linda Nochlin has noted, 'the violence visited upon North African people by the West was rarely depicted by Orientalists... it was, in fact, denied... But the violence of Orientals to each other was a favored theme' (Nochlin 1989, 53). While this may be true of Orientalist paintings, it does not apply to colonial photography. Previous studies have favoured photographs of French depictions of Moroccan violence; however, a more thorough examination of colonial postcards demonstrates that they portray French violence as well.

New Isfahan, 1590, Shah Abbas

Isfahan (in Iran) gradually becomes capital of Safavids under Shah Abbas Started with tabriz and Isfahan becomes cultural capital of the empire Nadir al-Zamen (Anu'l Hasan) Janangir and Shah Abbas 1618 (painting) Janangir embracing Shah Abbas Shah Abbas's image is not done by any Iranians, any images of him are done by non Iranians (Europe, India) Shah Abbas used text as official portrait (on much coinage and major buildings and spaces) Shah Abbas very compelling historical figure brilliant solider, skilled hunter, ruthless to his Rivals and enemies, but barely illiterate and surrounded himself with energetic thoughtful people and effectively governed, managed to expanded Irans empire (16th and 17th Ottomans, Irans, Mughals= Islam World and Ming China) He promoted Golden Age, understood the power of the visual, the power of visual to codify a visual message and a unified message Imported artists from all over the world, brought in Chinese ceramics, artists to work and develop that trade in his city, brought in arabian silk weavers, developed all kinds of industries. He thought he needed to capitalized on a growing global market to share and to spread goods to sell. He had calligraphers, painters, book binders, illuminators, carpet weavers, ceramists, to establish an industry and traded with Islamic world and Spain, England, and France Different arts flourished under him Carpets could be found in Mughal India, Ottoman empire, and Iran The carpet industry he promoted was a very productive, fashionable carpet industry Isfahan 3 gun powder empire (of premodern world) = Safavids, Mughals, Ottomans In relations to Arts of Books in Iran (single leaf paintings) and Shah Abbas Shah Abbas (unified the Safavid empire and revolutionized the city) Officent statement, never learned to read/write, standardized, the art flourished under him and understood the importance of the visual (level of decorative arts to architecture there was a consistency between the medium) Safavids in Iran, capital is Isfahan Isfahan (in center of Iran) had been a city that fell into disrepair, was sacked by the Timurds, Shah Abbas decided to move the capital to Isfahan and establish a new city that he could govern from Under Shah Abbas the city functioned as a microcosm of his vision of the world He wanted it to be commercial center, encouraged commercialization through buildings Unlike other cities, the main element was the open square (place where people meet and culture interact) Fiat city of Shah Abbas (Safavid) Ca. 1590 - ca. 1640 A "microcosm" of the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas Main element: The Royal Square Main activities: Commerce, public events (in his vision of the world place for commerce and public events) The old & new Isfahan New Isfahan, Maydan-i Naqshi Jahan (Image of the World square) ca. 1590 by Shah Abbas(51112x159m, 1680x523ft) by foreigner See open square (1590) huge space: grass in the center, water, surrounded by buildings makes a large rectangular space (ring space, water space, flanked by buildings on either side) Along interior walls are double story buildings that were used as shops and invite merchants to invite them to establish buildings City was constructed in 1590 10 years later they decided to build places for merchants Fatamids: ceremonial space in center, they tried to exclude others from interior imperial capital This city: he wanted to open up to commerce, merchants set up shops here and in square, bring money and wealth into city The three gun powder empires were competing, so mercantile center was important to economy He revamped the silk, carpet industry, etc Central square: different buildings, mosque and pavillion building Square is heart and building and the mosque and palacio buildings are connected to the heart, but commerce at the heart not faith 1602 the made wall double story Royal Square & entrance to Royal Mosque (Masjid-i Shah: the image of the world) Royal Mosque Plan of Royal Mosque How does this plan prioritize or accomodate the Royal Square? entrance to mosque is the side: Why? the emphasize is on square and to accommodate for that had to create angled entrance into mosque , the mosque still has to maintain orientation to Mecca but there is a desire to maintain the integrity of the square So interior perfectly arranged, everything else has vertical or horizontal relationship to the perimeter But due to orientation of mosque it is unusual angled entrance (see in Moonlit mosque and mausoleum complex of Sultan hassan) 4 iwan mosque, entrance portal, courtyard, largest iwan is qiblia, the direction of mecca makes the mosque have to accommodate Onion dome (often in Iran, imported to India (see in Taj Mahal) City of Isfahan visually cohesive Tile work reminded of carpets Aradbil carpets and tile work at mosque -(laturns and claligprahy ununsual) -medallions and over abundance of decoration on the carpet mirrored in the tile work -see standard elements like muqarnas Official royal art shop so all art is connected and in dialogue as they are making things Court: keel arches Iwan and pool South iwan= prayer hall -decoration becomes more robust, tile work, mihrab, minbar, maqsura, dome Dome is double drum, onion shape Not fountain in courtyard, prior to the entrance Ali Qapu (Sublime Gate or Gate of Ali, west side of Maydan West side pavilion building would have provided the access points The Shah would site and look over Through the gates and stairs would connect to palacio grounds (The palace is close to the royal mosque (everything is centers on that mosque) and courtyard- shows how they Islamic cities were conceptualized and organized and what they priorities

Bizhad, Yusuf & Zulaykha, from the Bustan of Sa'di, Herat, 1488

Kamal al-Din Bihzad famous artist Lead a heyday of the Timurd school born 1450 and died in Tabriz 1535-6 worked for the Timurds in Herat, was brought to Tibriz and died there Tabriz where he worked for various groups including the Safavids was the leader of but was the leader of a workshop (kitabkhāna), where artists producing work under his stylistic direction The miniatures were kept in an album known as a muraqqa (Herat and Tabriz both cities were major works of cultures were produced) He lead a workshop, people were helping him workers produced work under his stylistic directions He was training them and they were making things His work was wondrous onto itself Think about him as leading a movement While looking at Persian miniatures their general freedom with perspective Changing tastes & modes of the Timurids Emphasis on courtly presentation (elegance & style) Poetic renderings of individual episodes from history & myth Yusuf and Zulaikha, from Bustan of Sa'di, Herat 1488 (Cairo Bustan) Poetic renderings of individuals episode from history and mythology One of the most famous of Bihzad's works: because of the way he experiments with perspective and creates this wonderful world for us to get lost in (1488 also time botticelli is painting large Venus) Story based on Quranic verse about Yusuf (man) and Zulaikha (woman). It is a love story. the woman is wife of a chieftain and is in love with her husbands servant. He is also in love with her and they become intimate. He remembers she is married and God is watching. He tried to end it and she is upset. He tries to escape her and she grabs onto his clothing and rips off a piece and latter accuses him of rape. Yusuf is punished. This story also told in the West (Joseph and the potter's wife) Relationship between text and image: the text is a visual trick that leads into the painting. Before we see the image and text, image is supplemental and explanatory to the text. The text takes us the image... follows you into, through, and out of the image. takes you into a world Perspective, color? more color variety, very bright more geometric patterns (more rigid) (seems to be crossover of medium, the tile work from buildings is replicated in miniature) The space as building: even though action is only taking place in one room the building emphasis shows the wealth and extravagance of the setting The building cut open Perspective: linear: see lines recede and doors small in background form jutout from the building (and page) and Yusf is going in the opposite direction (different perspective from the rest of the building) The walls have inscriptions in the painting (text as explanatory and decoration in the painting) Isn't just flat image, a image were multiple perspectives can linger together and combining in the final scene with Yusf were we see intense effort to pull it out

Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan, 1632-1643

Mughal Taj Mahal Garden-Mausoleum, city of Agra by Shah Jahan 1632-43 Taj Mahal part of developments in garden-mausoleum complexes developed in the Mughal period that evoke imagery of paradise Ruggles: power is manifested in different spaces Taj Mahal is part of developments in garden-Mausoleum complexes developed in Mughals period Was built by Shan, golden age of mughal dynasty, made after his wife Mumtaz Mahal died giving birth to their 13th child, used model established by his grandfather: elements of Humayun's Tomb: 1) Chaharbagh (4 part garden plan): 4 rivers of paradise 2) masoulem plan the hasht behisht: Combination of elements that can be interpreted as paradise or invoking paradise took 17 to complete, 20,000 laborers, materials all over india and asia were used, 1,000 elephants to move materials, The Chaharbagh diverges from Humayun's Tomb in one major way: the placement of the masoeulm 1) Humayun's Tomb it was at center 2) here it farthest end of the garden space and the river behind it, archaeological evidence shows they view the rivers as part of the larger complex which is why the mausoleum was pushed to the back and evidence that the sire could have continued onto the other side (continuing the stream of water and garden under the mausoleum and over the river) Extensive use of gardens, rational planing and symmetry is seen in its layout (rational plan is to the extreme) Gardens are very organized, large complex of gardens, the squares is uniquely suited to an Islamic garden because it can be infinity repeated without destroying the integrity of the original layout The channels of water and gardens are meant to organize the space and organize your approach the approach. Humayun's Tomb had more subtle use of water, small channel that ran through the middle of the complex, here it is a larger fountain (similar to court of the myrtals and court of lions smaller pool) The pool engages and reflects the white marble (shimmery effect) Princess Diana shot- iconic shot Gardens and greens throughout the space, very organized: Avenues of trees like streets provide direction, clarity lead the eye line and lead to the site itself, and plant in linear way that mirror the axiality of the water (organized in cardinal directions) Water is symbolic and functional and central to the gardens design The garden is tied to water, tied to buildings, think as entire form dictating Islamic spaces The garden is not the small, it declined when the British took over and they changed the layout to resemble the layouts of the lawns of London Everything seems to be harmoniously laid out Mausoleum: replicates the plan at Humayun's Tomb hasht behisht: plan of nine units Mausoleum structure & plan (hasht behisht plan of 9 units) a square or rectangle, often with chamfered corners so as to form an irregular octagon, is divided by four intersecting construction lines into nine parts; a central domed chamber, rectangular open halls in the middle of the sides (in the form of a pishtaq or iwan) and double-storied vaulted corner rooms the square as being dividing units of the garden (is subdivided) it is also at the Mausoleum, replication of the garden plan and the use of the hasht behisht hasht behisht: corners been bevealed on the side so we lose the rigidity of the points, we have rounded edges and the space is divided into different (9) units through a series of divisions that bisect the space itself hasht behisht as rational exercise, taking perfect square and dividing it Qur'anic evidence: 4 rivers of paradise and 9 chambers of paradise Connections to religious writing as to why it was designed It has incredible effect making the building (in rounding square, beveled corners) makes the building seem it does not have solid, ridged walls and denies the corners a sense of autonomy (mean by this: in a room there are 4 corners marked with a point, in rounding them off it makes a seamless transition a visual spectacle in how to look at the building, no side ends it just continues and move around the whole buildings.) This makes for a beautiful building, a building that seems to continuously to moves (Ruggles argument: we are a participate and actively moving as we are looking at buildings, this effect is very striking) On raised platform Has 4 minarets (sit at either corner): were designed to appear completely vertically, but they taper slightly out (away from building) Why? if there was a earthquake or damage the minarets would fall away from the mausoleum Symmetry and rationality in every part of the building: On main platform is mausoleum, there is a mosque, there is a echo to create symmetrical balance (called the Jawab) Spaces people spent time at: picnic, guest houses, people visited Exterior: elegant facade more than 30 feet higher than Humayun's Tomb Strength of the monument is its sheer monumentality From 186 feet across- its huge If you ignore the Finial, the height and width (all sides) create a perfect cube, not just the plan is perfect square the building creates a perfect cube: the measurements and everything they were planning represents geometric perfection in architectural design Interior: in the center is the tombs Marble screen and cenotaphs in the crypt note burial is not in the cenotaphs but below ground Tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and later Shah Jahan Marble with inlay The cenotaphs is in closed an screen that tries to replicate the octagonal shape that is manufactured by taking off the corners of the building (replication of the larger space) The screen off space further demarcating that place of privliage for the buried, for the deceased, commemorative space Can apply what Ruggles said about Humayun's Tomb to here (who is in that place of power as it relates to vision and vision advantage) Taj Mahal complex cross axial (cruciform plan) with 4 main divisons (Chahar (4) bagh (garden)) organized by water channels and main structure at the edge facing the river Mughals are Iranian origin (From Iran), Babur couldn't claim throne and came into India and he set up an empire, wanted to fit in so these garden-Mausoleum complexes are islamic in origin and syncretic (fit with community) hasht behisht and Chaharbagh are the two main principles of Mughal mausoleum building in India Axial plan of complex cruciform type with 4 divisions (chaharbagh = 4 gardens) Pavilion type central structure with 8 side units & 1 central unit (hasht behisht) The dome: onion dome (boubous shape, larger at side) 25 meters high and 17 meters wide double dome, false dome underneath to help build a higher dome View of mausoleum corner (2 units, 1 each level) with chhatris on roof (also used at Humayun's Tomb): syncretic style Decoration: vegetal motifs, very symmetrical pietra dura and inscriptions Shan built a lot of buildings, but this one has the most Qur'anic verses There are verses all over the buildings (makes it unique) and are written in black on white marble which makes it exceptional funeral monumental Humayun's Tomb and Taj Mahal both invested in writting as a important part of the building pietra dura: (a specify type of inlay) a type of inlaid work on mausoleum using (precious stone mined all over asia) Cornelius, jade, jasper, turquoise onyx, for floral arabesque patterns They cut the marble and the stones so it can be perfectly fitted into the marble so there is no lines that can be seen and glued in The collects of these semiprecious stone were meant to really demonstrate Shah's power, he could get jade from China, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan (Detail of pietra dura inlay work on mausoleum, using cornelius, jasper and onyx for floral arabesque patterns) We see pietra dura (floral patterns) on walls and cenotaphs Mughals love flowers and use of flowers (floral arrangements and motifs) on surface of the monument and in gardens creates a cohesive space and visual program "A teardrop on the cheek for time" - Rabindranath Tagore Impressive tension between stylization and realism of floral motifs Humayun's Tomb

New Isfahan, 1590, Shah Abbas

Safavid dynasty, Iranian architecture: glazed tile, soaring portals, bulbous domes, and slender minarets epitomize for many the essential qualities of Persian architecture. Isfahan,became the 3rd capital of the dynasty. Part of attractiveness of Safavid architecture is due to its open and easy design, with simple compositions based on addition and symmetry. Safavid architecture shows little, if any, structural or formal innovation, for architects needed to build and decorate vast structures in the shortest time, and so colorful tile revetments often conceal structural banality. Its greatest strength lies in the planning and execution of large urban ensembles, which integrate a variety of commercial, religious, and political functions -in harmonious compositions. Safavid architecture survive from the sixteenth century. Texts and scattered remains confirm the construction and restoration of mosques, shrines, and tombs throughout the country, and inscriptions on buildings state that work on them was carried out during the long reign of Tahmasp I. These fragmentary remains do not allow much assessment of the architectural style of the early Safavid Period, and it is only with the transfer of the capital to Isfahan by 'Abbas I (r. 1588— 1629) in the 1590s that Safavid architecture found its true expression. By the end of the sixteenth century the Safavids, following the death of Tahmasp, their legitimacy and power had been challenged internally and externally. The relocation of the capital from the insecure borderlands to the center of the country was the central act of a deliberate policy to consolidate Safavid political and religious authority, develop state capitalism, and establish Safavid Iran as a world economic and diplomatic power. Urban program carried out by 'Abbas in his new capital was the relocation of the commercial, religious, and political center of the city: A Bazaar (a market) connected the maidan (open space in or near a town, used as a parade ground or for events such as public meetings and polo matches.) near the congregational Mosque to a new one, the royal square called Naqsh-i Jahan ("Design of the World"). An elongated rectangle which covered 8 hectares, the new maidan (1590 and 1595) primarily for state ceremonies and sports. 1602 was redeveloped for commercial purposes, with 2 stories of shops around the perimeter. The long modular façades, originally decorated with polychrome glazed tiles, are broken only by the monumental entrances to 4 buildings. On north lies the dramatic portal to the bazaar which connected the new maidan with the old. On east is the Mosque of Shaykh Lutfallah, and on south is the monumental Shah Mosque (Masjid-i shah), which was designed to replace the old Friday mosque as the locus of public worship. On the west is the entrance to the palace complex, the 'Ali Qapu ("Lofty gate" or ' 'Sublime porte"), and to the west of the palace and its gardens, a long avenue, the Chahar Bagh. The boulevard was flanked by the palaces of the nobles and divided into 2 lanes by a central canal punctuated by fountains and cascades and planted with flowers and trees. Southern end of the Chahar Bagh opens onto the Si-o-se Pul ("Bridge of Thirty-three [Arches]"): 300 meters long, has a passage for beasts of burden flanked by raised lanes for pedestrians. At several points pavilions project from the main structure to allow pedestrians to stop and enjoy the splendid view of the river basin. Interior were decorated with paintings. The bridge crossed the Ziyanda river and linked the city to New Julfa, the economically important quarter of the Armenians, The maidan represents an early example of a multifunctional space. Stone channel ran around the perimeter of the square at a short distance from the arcade and separated the space for Walking from the central area. The covered walkway and the outer arcades served as a bazaar: housed stalls of merchants, craftsmen, barbers, and entertainers, but could be cleared for military parades, drill by the shah's Personal militia, archery contests, polo matches, and festivals. At night fifty thousand earthenware lamps hanging from thin poles in front of the buildings illuminated the square. Portal to the bazaar: high iwan flanked by arched galleries on 2 stories and spandrels of the iwan are revetted with tile mosaics depicting Sagittarius set on a ground of floral arabesques. Interior faces of the iwan: faded frescoes depicting 'Abbas's victories over the Shibanids. The galleries housed the naqqära-khäna (music pavilion). Portal leads to a 2 storied royal bazaar, the qaisariyya, where fine textiles were sold. A domed node (chaharsu) gave access to the royal mint on the east and the royal caravanserai on the west. This was the largest caravanserai in the city: 140 rooms, with space for cloth merchants on the ground floor and workshops and stores for jewelers, goldsmiths, and engravers on the second. A grid of lanes intersecting under domed spaces to the north and east opened onto more caravanserais, baths, and a hospital.

Ottomans

Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566) Most famous of all Ottoman emperor: Sultan Suleyman Quani (the lawgiver) was 10th emperor broke a lot of convention had concubine turn wife Was very ambitious, great in battle, loved poetry, was a great poet Ambitious in terms of architecture, he oversaw new infrastructure of the city (dams, aqueducts, bathhouse, gardens, bridges, theological schools, hotels, numerous mosques). It is his vision that is the vision that you encounter when you are Istanbul (distinctively Islamic city) Have images of him (so manuscript paintings) Had written own autobiography (or had biography written about him that was illuminated) 1520-66 Relief at US House of Representatives Italian portrait (school of Titian) a Tucson painting (venetian) He is not an architect (he is officiating they building projects) He had help from.... Mimar Sinan 1490-1588 He was an architect was born a christian, the ottomans had this massive project of conversion (from the time of Memhed the II the empire had shift from ruling over largely Christian subjects to Muslim by time Süleyman's time. the ottoman had a habit of taking young boys and sending them off to school (theological and government schools) and conditioning them to take up a post in the Ottoman bureaucracy or military) Had a well recognized military career Was gifted in drawing, planing, and architecture Had two lives: at 50 takes a job as an architect and is promoted to the top of Süleyman's core of royal architects. He is in charge of all Süleyman's projects. He dies at 98. He built 131 mosque and 200 other buildings. He could innovative could make conservative and flexible architecture and did mundane planning (aqueducts, etc) and make incredible mosque. He was obsessed with Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia, 537 The dome is ambitious and the structure supports it with smaller domes on the side. it incorporates large text and minarets were added What was it? What was dedicated to? 1) not dedicated to a saint, it is a concept, an idea divine wisdom 2) it is esoteric divine wisdom embodied in the body of Christ 3) Operates on two levels: those two level correspond to the duality of Christ and Christ wisdom There is a horizontal level which the building operates: that experience of walking through the building and approaching this miraculous space and the experience of looking up. the horizontality and verticality of the building both reinforce the idea that Christ was once mortal and that Christ is also immortal. this duality of Christ as was manifested through his body on earth and as he ascended. Long standing tradition of Church be like a body, the body of the religious figure. It is impressive, but The Hagia Sophia works this idea of light and selective use of light in the window so you're walking two parts of the building that are darker and are more shrouded in a sense of Mystery it is supposed to act upon you in that way so when you finally do arrive where windows are you could see the light and it is miraculous. there was so many windows on the drum that it appeared the Dome was floating. the question of how the Dome is built adds to its miraculous. the mystery of how it was even there and how the building was standing was part of the experience. There is a feeling of smallness as you taken this miraculous space. Three buildings of Sinan to surpass, to beat the Hagia Sophia: Principles of Metropolitan Ottoman architecture (urban building) 1. building on heights (visual presence in the city) -Verticality: Making sure you building can be at extreme Heights, show yourself as being very present in the city. 2. centralized planning (centrality of capital in governing system) -Idea of centrality, consolidate power consolidate wealth, these mosques would often had these endowments: they had to do a lot and provide services (They had soup kitchens, they fed the poor, they did many things) they were very highly planned institutional spaces. They had to provide services to the city. The sense of the planning that went into them and the organization of money and wealth. 3. Hierarchy of elements (symbolically expressive of hierarchical bureaucracy with Sultan-caliph at top, masoleum) -A lot of these mosque served as double function of having mausoleums there. putting the sultan or caliph at the top of the hierarchy was very important in these building project especially these mosques. 4. Emphasis on the kulliye (complex) as expression of unification of empire's governance under sultan/caliph - bring together these different elements, having places for school, hospital, etc. The mosque do all these 5. Absence of figural (living beings) representations (gradually disappearing from nonreligious art)

Yeni Valide Mosque Complex of Eminonu, Istanbul (1597-1665)

ZULMIYE VS. ADIJYE The decision to build in Eminönü posed a number of difficulties for both Safiye Sultan and the architects involved in the initial construction. The expropriation of land for the mosque was costly and handled improperly, earning the first Eminönü project a poor reputation in the annals of Ottoman architectural history. Account by Sclaniki of the first campaign and by Silahdar of the second that the confiscation of property.even for an imperial architectural project, was a highly charged event, the execution of which had to be conducted in a just and legal way. First expropriation and the problems with the foundation work during Safiye Sultan's building campaign.The mosque, soup kitchen (imaret), inns (ribat), and other pious foundations which Safive Sultan intended to build were located in the Jewish quarter of Emin iskele (Eminönü). The necessary number of buildings were confiscated and leveled to prepare for the laying of the mosque's foundations. Kara Mehmed Aga was to pay a compensatory sum double the value of the confiscated property to the various landowners, but failed to do so. For the mosque only the foundations up to the base of the first window were completed. Foundation work had presented the architect Davud Aga with a tremendous challenge, had to pump out excess water from the foundations so that he could complete the lower substructure of the walls of the mosque.) Safiye Sultan's project was also troubled by criticism in the palace over the great expense of the enterprise. Members of the Janissaries and other court officials "attribute many disorders to her [Safiyc Sultan], in particular the consumption of money for a superb mosque she is having built." The bailo Agostino Nani reports that Safiye Sultan's poor relations with some of the Janissaries and officials in the Topkapi Palace and the exorbitant expenses incurred while building the mosque threatened her political power and caused a brief hiatus in the construction of the mosque. Mid-17th century Safiye Sultan's mismanaged project was being described by Evliya Celebi as an "act of oppression". By Islamicizing the non-Muslim quarter of Eminönü, Safiye Sultan hoped to seek legitimation for her project, and it appears that the initial expropriation was facilitated by capitalizing on the growing resentment over the prominent role of Jewish customs merchants and tax farmers in the Eminönü quarter. Written for Safiye Sultan's husband Murad Ill, Mustafa Ali had admonished imperial patrons against building charitable endowments using the resources of the treasury rather than booty seized in the campaigns of the faith. (To not build using the public treasury for unnecessary projects and allow the foundation of mosques and medreses that are not needed unless a sultan, after conducting a victorious campaign, decided to spend the booty he has made on pious deeds rather than on his personal pleasures, and engages to prove this by the erection of (public) buildings.) Safiye Sultan's husband had won no major victories over the Christian armies, and thus he appears to have taken Mustafa Ali's advice to heart and refrained from public building, so Her son Mehmed Ill also showed little interest in leaving behind an architectural heritage from his sultanate. Faced with the prospect of her husband and now her son's reign passing with no architectural commemoration, Safiye Sultan herself initiated a building enterprise in the center of the empire. While no recent Ottoman victories could justify this expensive undertaking along the lines suggested by Mustafa Ali the expropriation of property in the capital could have been intended as an example of "proper patronage" because of its Islamicizing purpose. Ultimately Safiye Sultan's attempts to legitimize her campaign failed, but her persistence with the Eminönü project in the face of technological obstacles and so much criticism reveals that Eminönü was a valued location. The memory of the improperly conducted expropriation at Eminönü re-emerged in the rhetoric surrounding the construction of Sultan Ahmed's mosque and the imperial architect of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the author Cafer Efendi recounts the story of the expropriation of property in the Atmeydam (Hippodrome) prior to the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. The allusions to the earlier zulmoe of Safiye Sultan, the ambitious and domineering grandmother of Sultan Ahmed, are evident. According to Cafer Efcndi, Sultan Ahmed was a just ruler who had legitimately expropriated the land for building his complex. The sultan was: Atmeydam were hardly empty structures and the confiscation was an expensive and unpopular move. Cafer Efendi, however, by his reference to Safiye Sultan's project, shows how Sultan Ahmed's expropriation was conducted in a just way and compared favorably to that undertaken by his grandmother. Mehmed IV's mother's, Hatice Turhan, involvement in the repossession of the Eminönü site and the completion of her predecessor's project once again calls into question the accepted view that the harbor site was a mediocre spot allocated to an imperial woman. It is apparent that Hatice Turban, like Safiye Sultan before her, understood and wanted to exploit the commercial advantages of the Eminönü site. The prominent position of the Misir Carsisi (Egyptian Bazaar) in the valide's complex is striking, especially when one considers that the courtyard of the complex is dominated by two large khans, that is, commercial rather than religious structures. Imperial architect Mustafa Aga. By resurrecting Safiye Sultan's project Hatice Turhan saved expensive foundation work and began the re-Islamicintion of the Eminönü district. While there again had been no major Ottoman conquests to justify such a large and costly project. Hatice Turhan would succeed where Safiye Sultan had failed. She was able to legitimize the second expropriation required by her campaign and the expense of her project by manipulating recent events in the capital and tying her act of patronage to an earlier Ottoman and Islamic past. Hatice Turhan benefited from the bad press that had surrounded the first expropriation in Eminönü. The expropriation of the mosque's foundations and the surrounding area in 1660 was perceived this time as a noble, pious act: it would drive out the Jews of the district, who, once the construction of Safive Sultan's project was halted, had again inhabited the quarter. As with the first expropriation, there was again resistance in Eminönü from Jewish property owners. Hatice Turhan's waqfiyya is quite explicit about what was perceived to be the sordid state of the Eminönü area before the second campaign. 1660 fire reduced the Jewish houses surrounding the Yeni Valide mosque foundations to rubble (zir u zeber). The disreputable houses of the Jews were turned into houses of flames as a message from God to end the evil doings of the Jews in Eminönü. Further evidence that Eminönü was selected to Islamicize this lucrative quarter of the city exists in sections of the epigraphic program chosen for the mosque. Of particular interest are the Qur'anic verses from the Exile sura (59:23), which refer to an early Islamic instance of confiscation of property from nonMuslims. The verse is located on the gallery level near the hünkår mahfili (royal prayer loge) (fig. 8). It reads: "He is the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, the Giver or Peace, the Keeper of the Faith; the Guardian. the Mighty One, the All-Powerful, the Most High! Exalted be God above their Idols." The verse makes no specific reference to the Yeni Valide project, but those believers who knew how the passage proceeded would understand that it recounts the prophet Muhammad's expedition against the Banu al-Nadir. a Jewish tribe in Arabia, and the subsequent confiscation of this tribe's land by the Muslims: A later passage from the same sura mentions how the unbelievers had been punished by fire. While continuing through the recitation of the Hashr sura, the reader would have conjured up the memory of the recent fire of 1660 which had destroyed many of the Jewish houses in the Eminönü area and greatly facilitated the construction of the mosque. Finally, Safiye Sultan's earlier expropriation in the Eminönü area may also have been recalled while reciting the final part of the Exile sura. The selection and display of verses from the Exile sura in Hatice Turhan's mosque could have had the underlying purpose of legitimizing the expropriation of property from the Jews and other non-Muslims in the Eminönü area by linking contemporary events in the capital such as the fire and expropriation to a Qur'anic precedent. Vani Efendi, key figure in the revival of the ultra-conservative Kadizadeli movement in the Ottoman Empire, was appointed preacher (väiz), at the Yeni Valide mosque, and had played a role in the religious education of Mehmed IV. Later account registers for the Yeni Cami show that Hatice Turhan's foundation also supported Vani Efendi's convent (tekke). Vani Efendi was preaching about the fires and pestilence of 1660, calling the disasters an omen sent by God to warn the believers of the evils that had been brought to the city by the unbelievers." Appointed by the valide as the vaiz for the Yeni Cami, Vani Efendi and his sermons may have set the stage for the removal of non-Muslim inhabitants from the district. He appears to have assisted his patroness in a well-orchestrated campaign for the expropriation of nonMuslim property surrounding the Yeni Cami foundation and the subsequent Islamicization of the busy commercial quarter. The Eminönü building campaign was construed as a local victory over non-Muslims in the capital and legitimated by tying this victory to an early Islamic incident involving Muhammed's expropriation of property from the Jews. Hatice Turhan's patronage, unlike that of her predecessor, was recorded as a just and pious endeavor. Evliya Celebi, writing of the queen mother's noble efforts to save the ruined quarters, makes a clear distinction between the expropriation undertaken by Hatice Turhan and that of Safiye Sultan during the first building campaign. What had once been an act of oppression (zulmiye) now became an act of justice (adliye).

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

the last Moorish kings of Granada, Wa la ghaliba illa Allah (There is no Victor but God), which a visitor sees in the decoration throughout the Alhambra, is usually written in fine, flowing Thuluth and has become almost an icon; it appears in more or less perfect replica wherever the kings of Granada ruled (see fig. Io). Nasrids In Spain Palace of Alhambra is in southern part of Spain Islamic Medieval Palace The Umayyads is gone, the Nasrids power was limited to the southern part of Spain Andalus "request" of 11-13th century: Al-Andalus Christian reclaim the Iberian Peninsula (shrinking presence of Islams strong hold on Spain) Nasrid kingdom of Granada 13-15th century Political relationship has shifted, by 1232 only a little part of Spain is under Islamic control and the Nasrid king (to maintain political agency of his kingdom) and tells Christian Spain he declares the Christians as the ultimate power in the Iberian Peninsula and I will take a subordinate position but you will let us be independent (city state) and we will pay you tribute and trade. They continue for 250 years and this king has reltionships with North Africa and Egypt. They had mountains, so they were able to keep to themselves. But by the late 15th century (1492) under king ferdinand ii and queen isabella they are conservative and want to whip out Islamic presence. They reclaim this land. (Columbus sent off on his journey from this palace) Alhambra started out small, city there. The state of Granda was where they ruled, it was a city with a citadel. Over time the kings decided to develop it significantly. The sultan found a palace city and enlarge the citadel. Alhambra comes from the color of the bricks used to make the structure. View of Alhambra (Qal'at al-Hamra ("the red fortress')) Alhambra is a fortified Palatine City that sits on a Mountain outcropping and enclosed by a fortress. Within it, it has numerous baths, mosques, gardens, palaces, and industries that serve the larger infrastructure It is the only large scale medieval palace to survive Parts of it has been modified or destroyed by king ferdinand ii and queen isabella (they build Renaissance buildings) Alcazaba- the main entrance "fortress" double walls total enclosed exterior fortress area, built 1st has a few towers on either side and strong perimeter wall Where earliest Nasrid kings lived when they were building everything else Sits on a hill, good vantage point To Aleppo Citadel: strong, high fortified walls arrow slits on a mound (use geography) heavily fortified towers (towers flank along the walls) The towers themselves has sparse decoration Juxtaposition of medieval palace in Granada: sober defensive exterior contrasted with richly opulent interior It had 6 palaces within it but only 2 survive Alhambra is a complex. Has had different functions over many centuries: To cHristians: they used it and new palace was built Abandoned State Prison Occupied by France Comares Palaces (Court of the Myrtles) Palace of the Lions (Court of the Lions) Generalife Gardens: sense as part of the overall design and architecture of the space Why? spiritual, luxury, reflect wealth and resource (irrigation, import plants) Look to garden as a symbols of power and wealth (resource, time to take care of it, cost to pay for it, irrigation) Vision: Have to do with the question of vision -Whose vision is privileged and why? -What does the build do to facilitate that? -Why does this person get that position of visibility? Place of vision: walk in and can be seen and things to look at. Different levels, some levels higher than others and it cascades down (geography) King would use it is a place of leisure, to escape Palace life, wonder around, and they are directional Water and greenery play a particular type of work: a fountain bisects the stairway and the channel runs through This theme water in garden and building is important at Alhambra The palace is on top of massive irrigation system (a statement of power, very sophistical) Water Channels on exterior and in interior Water guides your eyes and vision The garden has spaces designed for viewing Garden is about power, reason of vision and claiming the land Generalife: Generalife Garden and Mirador important and is closer to main palace The layout of the garden has been altered many times It was neglected, then changed layout (by Christians) No interest in the architecture, but there is massive water bed and fountains each side and vegetation on each side The building as vantage to look at garden. The side archway is about maximizing the space of the garden Provide a space of respite and reflection and concern with way water operates Water--> Cleanliness (purification), movement of water and it organizes movement (it positions us for we are not in the water), water interacts with color, its a sign of life, serene in its movement and sound Islamic: some of interpreted the gardens and water as meant to be paradise Qur'an: rivers and gardens of paradise But reading: no, its not paradise. If they were paradise they would tell us it was paradise (inscriptions) The inscriptions: it is a buildings that takes a 1st person narrative to communicate with the visitors Two remaining palaces: at the time of the Nasrids they were not connected but the Christians connected them Cuarto Dorado: Gilded Room -is painted To get to the Court of Myrtles you have to go through a gilded room Enter through doors which takes you to a passage The entrance to both courts is not direct, you go through narrow passage to go to open space Court of Myrtles Palace of the Myrtles Court of Myrtles (36 x 23m) Court of Myrtles: still water pool at center why still water: light reflects off the water and creates cool texture and intricate use of color Why the use of the court? Most of the Court of the Myrtles and lions dates to the mid 14th century and was built by Yusuf I and Muhammad V (father and son) Open courtyard inside a larger palace structure. Open courtyard: the large still pool of water has a large effect as reflective surface and it doubles the building (replicated in the water) Provides a organizational structure: see myrtle trees, casts greenish hue over the building, massive tower behind the pool (the largest tower in the entire structure, the tower buttresses to the backside of the structure) The pool: is 34 meters by 7 meter long, it divides the patio and receives water from two fountains (at end of each side) and water is regularly changed. Water as aesthetics, There is chambers on each side of the patio. Covered spaces (porticoes) Decoration: more aster in courtyard, but inside is incredibly adorned. It almost feels like the people who made it /designed it did not want to leave any surface untouched. The materials used is wood, plaster, stucco, clay, and very little marble. For some time (19th century) people believed the reason the Alhambra building was not made of marble was because the Nasrids were broke. Today we don't think this. The materials used are easier to carve and decorate/make beautiful. The Nasrids (they wanted to cover every surface) so they figured how to do it most effective way to do it. Throughout the palace of Alhambra we see tile work, wood work, use of muqarnas, extensive cycles of poetic describes and all intimately connected with the architecture The front of the tower has a portico with 7 arches, feels like (Screen like) scallops, lace like quality, richly ornamental, almost three dimensional at points (the muqarnas extends to almost look like stalactites hand down), inscriptions in archway On archways there are muqarnas in the carving that go down to slender columns Inscriptions in patio and into the porch are praises to Allah used polychromy, colored tile work was sign of wealth (a lot of luster tile, not seen in other places on this level) zoomorphic tendrils, abstract motifs, was colored Decoration over every surface on inside and was suppose to look wealthy Hall of Ambassador & niche where the kings lived There are 9 openings and one main openings (this is the king's throne) Massive tower, 45 meter tall, houses rooms (everyone similar except the one for the sultan) Golden tile (luster tiles), very important space Geometric patterns, the ceiling had muqarnas that were painted, and plaster work and epigraphic elements. It would have looked- the walls were meant to have the effect/look like a tapestry or a textile (a celebration of Islamic craft art and realized as a part of architecture) We see political and religious in its decoration- the idea of divine power Three examples: 1) eternity attribute of god 2) depart in goodness since it is god who helps 3) highness, glory, eternity, empire, and power only belonging to God The epigraphy is here because the King is the king, but is the king under Allah, Allah is the ultimate The building must reminding the visitor that while they are under the presence of the king never the less Allah is the most exalted, the most important, and power, truth, and love only reside in Allah (the building give this reminder about allah) Poetry in the room were written in first person. The walls seem to speak to you. One of the inscriptions mentions Yusuf I, who made this palace and the poem is about him and runs around the building: 1) "he has made me the throne of his kingdom" The room is speaking to you Idea of calligraphy and a culture in which writing is given this special potential to do something Writing has unique statues in Islam The rooms power in relation to the king's power and how it is a part of power (very special statues) Palace of Lions cruciform plan with fountain in the center and streams of water (water channel) go front he fountain into the interior of the 4 buildings Independent building fountain has 12 stone carved lions that sit in the middle of two intersecting water channels that form a cross in the rectilinear court yard Small, more horizontal feel to it. Arch cover patio that encircles courtyard, stucco carving all over, more slender columns (meant to look like trees, idea to blur inside with the outside which is further emphasized by water because the water channels go inside the buildings (are guiding points)) water and movements: water forces you to go a certain way, guidance and control movement Poetry: describes the palace as a garden Seems to feel more of a naturalist style or style that thinks about imagery from Christian context. the Nasrids were cosmopolitan (open to outside influences) Water comes out of lions' mouth and they hold up a larger basin Place that pleasures the senses South side of courtyard: Hall of Abencerrajes the decoration was redone after the Christians took over Knights were beheaded in this room (supposedly) Suppose to be a rust stain on the fountain (blood?) A dome is star shapes with muqarnas (would have been colored) and is on pendentives There is an inscription "There is no other help than the help that comes from God, the clement and merciful One" Hall of the Kings Chambers here There is incredible decoration in every room These halls had little rooms in rectangular sections and bed chambers at the end of those sections Ceiling paintings: elipse shaped dome In middle painting are the 1st 10 kings of Nasrid dynasty Additional scene which are part of the princely cycle They are very Christian looking in its style and profile of the figures and why they are represented (who painted them? cosmopolitan so people from all over) Court of two sisters (Queen's apartment) Squarish room She lived in them There are incredible decoration Poetry on wall that described the textile like decoration of the walls and another is a first person conversation which states "I am for pleasure for pleasure I am for he who behold me sees joy and delight" -I am a space of pleasure The dome had windows is around the drum, it was painted (red and blue) Gender relations in Islamic world Cross section (Mirador): a viewing platform, in wing of the Queen's bedroom on the 2nd floor What we see in Mirador: low in the ground window and there would have been cushions around the windows (sat there) There was two different points of visibility 1) looking out into the palace of the lions 2) into the gardens and the rest of the palace structure She gets a privilege vantage point (What was her position in this court system and she is secluded) Speaks of vision as she is able to look over this palace and extended her ability to its boundaries. Patio de Lindaraja first half of the 16th century Charles the fifth built a palace within these walls which is the main reason for the destruction of the Nasrid palaces, gardens, and burial grounds. 19th century renewed interest in Alhambra as an Islamic structure. A dream petrified by the wand of a wizard (A. Dumas)

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

THE ANALYSIS OF THE POETICAL INSCRIPTIONS The most germane characteristic of the poetical inscriptions is the identity of the speaker in all of them. The inanimate architectural elements: fountains, niches, and windows describe their qualities and their allegiance to their patron: King Muhammad V. In fact, the epigraphs, by virtue of this pecularity and their preassigned places, anthropomorphize the Palace, and transform its components into soliloquists. Thus, they represent the iconographic dimension of the architecture. By this process the symbolism is made readily discernible to all the literate people who had access to the Palace; the King, the Royal Family, the court members, and the intellectual and political élite. The analysis of the odes (qasa'ed in Arabic) aims at three different ends pertinent to this study's purpose: 1) the depiction of the water's metaphors, 2) the affirmation of the integrity of the Palace and its gardens, discussed earlier, 3) and the corroboration of the villa rustica notion. Thus, the choice and order by which the verses will be discussed is governed by these considerations. The reading will start with the inscriptions in the Hall of the Two Sisters, the Hall of the Coupled Arched Window (Sala de los Ajimes), and the Mirador de Lindaraja ('Ain Dar 'A'isha). These three spaces are the components of the King's private pavilion, and to consider their inscriptions first reflects their major role in the Palace's composition. The reading will then proceed to the epigraphs on the bowls of the Fountain of the Lions and the Fountain of Lindaraja, following the observed architectural balance achieved by placing the King's pavilion between the two gardens. In the Hall of the Two Sisters, a significant qasida (ode) is inscribed in the sttm) work above the dado at the eyelevel of people sitting on cushions. The important verses in it are: 1: I am the garden revealed in new beauty every day Observe my spendor and you will benefit in understanding my status 3: How excellent is your (The King) building, for it Surpasses all other buildings by the decree of the lucky stars 4: How many promenades for the eye are in it, Even the gentlest mind will find, in it, the object of its desire 9: And if they (The Gemini, mentioned earlier in the qasida in the context, of describing the Hall's dome) were to appear in both its courtyards (The Palace) they would vie With one another in serving him (The King) as concubines pleasing him 12: In them (the two courtyards), there is a hall that achieved magnificence And by which the Palace has come to compete in beauty with the vault of heaven 19: We have not seen any palace higher in its appearance And clearer in its horizons, or ampler in its assembly halls 20: And we have not seen any garden, more pleasant in its freshness, more fragrant in its surroundings, or sweeter in its fruits. This qasida establishes the theme of the Palace's composition. It is pivotal in a correct interpretation of the Hall's relationship to the two gardens. Prieto-Moreno's section visually showed, and this qasida literarily proves, that the site of the Palace must have been calculated according to a predetermined angle of vision, for it speaks about clear horizons», and «seeing a garden» from the Hall. Another point that refers to the plants used in the Nasrid Garden, and in the Islamic Garden in general for that matter, can be deduced from the twentieth distich which speaks about fragrant flowers, fresh greenery, and sweet fruit of trees. The visual organization is more appropriately explained in the inscriptions of the Mirador de Lindaraja, since it is the Hall's outlook on the surrounding landscape. One distich from a part a qasida inscribed in a nice to the right of the Mirador's entrance reads: 1: I am not alone, since from here may be seen a garden Splendid, to which the eyes have not seen a comparable thing On a band surrounding the interior of the double arched window of the Mirador, the relevant inscribed verses are: 3: In this garden I am the satisfied eye. Whose pupil is none other than the Lord (Muhammad V) 7: From here, (The King) regards the capital of his kingdom whenever. He sits on the throne of the calipate, which location the vision is clearer. 8: And he casts his sight upon the place where the breezes play. And then returns content and exalted 9: Houses (seen by the described process) that provide promenade for the eye. That profit the vision, or educate the mind. Many metaphors in the rest of this qasida which are unrelated to the paper's topic have been left out. However, these five distiches affirm the prime function of the Mirador. The King could see through it a splendid garden, undoubtedly the extinct Garden of Lindaraja, which afforded a visual point of reference before his eyes wandered over a landscape framed by the window's arches, where everything delights, especially the sight of Granada stretching on the slopes of the opposite Hill of Abaicin. This view must have truly exalted the King and allowed him to visually command his prosperous capital from his private Hall of the throne: another precalculated location for the King's setting. This reading confirms the suggested relationship between the Hall and the two gardens. The next step will be to examine the fountains' inscriptions in order to depict the water's metaphors sought by the designers. The consideration of the Hall of the Two Sisters as the balancing structure between the two gardens, and its two-sided visual dominance over them, give them equal importance. Thus, their fountains' inscriptions will be analyzed concurrently. The qasida inscribed on the outer rim of the Fountain of The Lions reads as follow: 1: Blessed be He who gave the Imam Muhammad Villas That adorned by their beauty all other villas 2: Save this garden which contains wonders. That God forbids that beauty would find an equal to (them) 3: A pearly sculpture of translucent light. That enlightens with the flickering of gems all the surroundings 4: The silver is melting and then it flows between jewels. To become analogous to them in beauty, that is to become pure white 5: The fluid appears to the gazing eye like solid. So we did not Know which of the two is flowing 6: Haven't you seen that the water runs to the rim of the fountain prolonged over it the running channels 7: Like the lover whose tears overflow from his eyelids But who conceals them in fear of a denunciator 8: Is it not (the fountain), after inspection, but a cloud Pouring over the lions streams of water 9: It resembles the hand of the Caliph when it does Shedi abundances, to the lions of Jihad, all sorts of favors. 10: You (the Caliph) who had watched the lions crouching. Prevented by shyene from becoming aggressive 11: And you the heir of the Helpers (ot the Prophet) by merit You have the heritage of greatness that disdains the mountains 12: God's blessings upon you and be immortalized Reiterating celebrations and wearing down your enemies Many notions in this qasida evaded the notice of art historians who commented on it including Grabar and Dickie. They discarded some metaphors in it as be: ing hyperboles, which are typical of Arabic Poetry of the age, this qasida notwithstanding. However, in the Palace's architectural context, these supposed exaggerations include some facts as well. For Bargebuhr the first distich is a major point in his argument about the origin of the fountain as well as the Palace. He makes the case that God has given the King the beautiful Palace of The Alhambra, and nowhere the inscriptions suggest that Muhammad built it. But this can be seen as an act of faith, widely used in Arabic poetry, that attributes all creations, man-made and natural alike, to the will of God. However, this same first distich elucidates the foremost critical concept about the Palace's intended function, that is the notion of Maghani (pl. of Maghna in Arabic,) used twice in it. Maghna is usually translated in Modern Arabic as Villa, but from Classical Arabic Poetry, a maghna is closely identified with the country-villa, a house situated in natural surroundings. This distich is a firm confirmation of the hypothesis that views the Palace as a Nasrid Villa Rustica. Advanced first by Dickie, and supported by the architectural interpretation, this conjecture is now sustained by the epigraphic evidence as well. The Fountain's metaphors occupy the next eight distiches. Grabar noted two of them: water giving the illusion of a solid sculpted matter, and therefore becoming an intended work of art by its own right, and the fountain pouring water over the sculpted lions paralleled with the image of the Caliph distributing favors to the lions of Jihad" The mentioning of Jihad is historically appropriate to Muhammad V's interrupted reign. He started his second term (1362-91) with some successful campaigns launched against his enemies both inside and outside his kingdom, before he finally stabilized his rule. On the other hand all the analogies of water with other images reflect the wealth and the refined sensuousness of the age, also evident in the Palace's building and decoration. Images such as «gems and pearls», «silver and marble», all refer to the richness of materials that must have adorned the Royal Palaces, and of which remains bear testimony to that wealth in the precious marble used in the Palace, and in the intricacy of Ornament. However, the prime metaphor, that of visual confusion between liquid and solid, stresses among other aims, the contemplative function of water: a work of art to be meditated upon for the ultimate beauty it displays in sculpting the water. The combination of water and architecture, and its metaphor, are similarly expressed In the qasida inscribed on the bowl of the Fountain of Lindaraja. It reads: 1: I am surely the ark of the water that appears To the people, visible not concealed 2: A grand sea whose shore is Of the most marvellous and selected marble 3: Its water is like melted pearl that flow in Hail. O what a great wonder 4: The water in me is translucent so that I am Sometimes, not hidden from your gaze 5: So that I and what I contain Of the water spring in the bowl 6: Are like a piece of hail, some of it is melted, and some is not 7: As it the gardens were covered with water, you will think That I am a ship that sprout all shooting stars 8: As it the visible part of me is a shell That extruded the essence of all those gushing hail stones 9: I resemble the palm of the Knowledgeable (craftsman) When it is spreading the gems 10: In the crown of my Lord Ibn-al-Nasr (Muhammad Gems are flowing, or laced in gold 17: I occupy the highest level of beauty My qualities please all men of letter 18: Nobody has seen a grander courtyard (than mine) Neither in the East nor the West 19: Surely not, and nobody has a comparable Lord (to mine) Among the Arabs or the foreigners The image of the ark might have referred to the Ark of Noah, but it can be understood on the more practical level alluded to later on in the qasida as well. That is, the practice of sprinkling the courtyard with water (seen even nowadays in Islamic courtyards), which will reveal the structure of the Fountain in the centre of the garden as the ship in the middle of the sea. Another water image is the concept of contrasting water and hail, seen as the two opposite states of the same element, which is accomplished through the manipulation of the fountain's structure and water outlets. This metaphor enhances the conception of water sculpture. It reemphasizes the perception of pure beauty in all its forms, and asks learned people to see it as such. The focus in those images is on the ephemeral qualities of works of art, enjoyed by the wealthy and sensitive Nasrids, who probably did not see any deeper, or spiritual meaning in the work of art lived in. Here again, the eulogy of the Caliph is expected, since this seems to be the prime role of the inscriptions in the Palace. But this one associates the wealth of the Caliph with the care he bestowed on the building of his private house, of which this Garden belonged to the most secluded part. The interpretation of this allegory can relate to the private quality of the Garden, intended for the Caliph and is family, and not for impressing the visitors. A final deduction, pertinent to establishing the existence of a larger garden prior to the truncated extant Garden of Lindaraja, stems from the seventeenth and eighteenth distiches, where the fountain describes its courtyard (i. e. organized, enclosed garden,) as occupying the highest level of beauty. This analysis proves that the two fountains, and accordingly their settings, pertained to the same concept of creating beauty by incorporating nature, in form of water and plants, with the architecture, They might be different in the degree of accessibility or privacy, but they belonged to the same unit.

nationalism

THE STATUS OF ISLAMIC ART IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY In time empires fell and Western colonial rule followed, leading to a period of artistic lethargy and cultural stagnation. Artists lost the cultured and attentive patrons who had lavished attention and money on the arts. The occupation of Islamic lands mainly by the French and the British undermined not only their economic self-sufficiency and ability to govern, but also their art. Western aesthetics and culture overpowered indigenous artistic traditions. A certain pattern started to emerge to a greater or lesser degree in the development of all modern Islamic countries. First the traditional arts under colonial rule were abandoned through a feeling of embarrassment among artists and other creative talents toward their own heritage, and they began to imitate the traditions of the colonizers. This was particularly true on the Indian Subcontinent where at the beginning of the 19th century, after Western political and cultural influence had taken hold, miniature painting was reduced to the production of curios. In most of the Ottoman Empire, Western colonization did not occur, but the weakening and moral deterioration of the state made it receptive to powerful economic and cultural influences coming from a substantial Western presence. Soon local styles and traditions gave way to imported ones, and the sultans themselves introduced European artistic forms into their court. Turkey; the Latin alphabet replaced the Arabic, result, the Turks of the next generation could only read contemporary literature. In Iran the Qajar rulers: importers of cultural influences to the extent that Qajar painting became three-dimensional and totally Westernized and passed a law that required European dress. Gradually easel painting found its way into countries like Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, most Islamic countries have undergone an intellectual resurgence that has accompanied their political awakening. This has affected their literary and artistic development and generated a cultural revival among their intelligentsia. While Islamic traditional arts continued to suffer, Western-style plastic arts benefited from this revival. This flourishing was said to be a renaissance in modern Islamic painting and sculpture, but in reality it caused a loss of cultural identity and created a schizophrenia among modern Islamic artists: their education and training were totally Western, while their beliefs and convictions remained with their Islamic roots and traditional upbringing. The first art school in the Muslim world was the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul in 1883 and School of Fine Arts in Cairo, established in 1908. Both taught painting and sculpture according to classical Western styles. Learning and creating art according to Western aesthetics caused an irreparable rupture between the fine arts and the crafts: new attitude distinguished between art for art's sake and utilitarian art, leading to the debasement and vulgarization of conventional arts in Islam. Europe had already gone through its Industrial Revolution when the Islamic East stated its race to catch up with the West. In their efforts to gain time, Muslim countries pushed aside all that was thought to hinder the replacement of human beings with machines, including indigenous crafts. Institutions that trained apprentice artisans in traditional Islamic arts such as the nakkayhane in Istanbul totally disappeared; patronage by the state, the ruling classes, and the gentry ceased. Western materialistic values replaced Eastern spiritual virtues, pushing the younger generations to work in factories where the pay was better instead of apprenticing in the ateliers of their elders; quantity took over from quality; producing communities grew into consumer societies; imitation and repetition replaced innovation and creativity, along with careless workmanship, kitch and bad taste. In the plastic arts, the actual form superseded the essential form, and aesthetics became confined to the surface of the work of art. Calligraphy was the only art form that to a certain extent avoided this decline. Because it had always been connected with the copying of the Qur'an, it was able to retain its original dignity. The classical concept that a piece of art should serve as a purpose in life was soon replaced by art- for-art's-sake attitudes. The one art that remained unaffected was music. Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu music has kept its original characteristics up to the present day. After the end of the Second World War, one by the one the Islamic nations regained their independence, gradually recovered their self-confidence, and once again started to realize the significance of, and take pride in their rich heritage. They were able to shed the notion that all that was foreign was first class. Through their search for an authentic national identity, they began sporadically to revive the traditional arts here and there.

Yeni Valide Mosque Complex of Eminonu, Istanbul (1597-1665)

The Yeni Valide Mosque complex in Eminönü, Istanbul, was a major Ottoman architectural project whose construction spanned both the 16th and 17th centuries. Built by the mothers of Mehmed Ill and Mehmed IV, and designed by 3 or possibly 4 royal architects, the mosque complex was among the largest built in Istanbul in the post-classical era. Construction of the foundations began in 1597 under the auspices of Safiye Sultan, the mother of Mehmed Ill, but was abandoned shortly after the sultan's death in 1603. When she died the Yeni Valide project was abandoned, and what had been built of the mosque's foundations was left untouched for 57 years. The building site, which had been expropriated at great cost from a largely non-Muslim community, was repopulated by minorities involved in the commercial area adjacent to the customs depots of Eminönü. After a conflagration in 1660 devastated the section of the city from Unkapant to Eminönü the imperial family once more became interested in the Yeni Cami project. At the suggestion of the head imperial architect, Mustafa Aka, the mother of Mehmed IV, Valide Hatice Turhan, decided to re-expropriate the property and resume construction. Under her patronage, the mosque was completed in 1663 and inaugurated in 1665 along with its dependencies: a royal pavilion (hünkär kasn), a tomb (türbe) for herself, a building for water distribution (sebilhane). a primary school (sibyan mektebi), and a market (carsi). Recent research on patronage by women of the imperial family in the Ottoman Empire has shown that by the later years of Süleyman's reign the court had become more sedentary as Ottoman princes and their mothers remained in the Topkapi Palace rather than move to the provincial territories of the empire as they had done in earlier times. Until the mid-sixteenth century, the major architectural endeavors of imperial women had been realized outside the capital as the mothers of potential heirs to the sultanate, serving as the protectors and advisers to their sons, held court with them in the provinces. In the royal household of the provinces it was the mother of the prince, as the eldest member of the court, who took over the role of patron of public construction. As the locus of princely residences shifted increasingly to the center of the empire, however, imperial women responded by building pious works in Istanbul rather than in the provinces. Both valide patronesses of the Yeni Cami complex, by choosing to build a major public work in the capital of the empire, continued a pattern of patronage by imperial women that had been initiated in the 16th century by Süleyman's wife, Haseki Hürrem. By locating her foundation in the political center of the empire and announcing her patronage in the foundation inscription of the Eminönü mosque, Hatice Turhan linked herself to earlier Ottoman women patrons who had sponsored pious monuments in the Ottoman capital and in a very concrete way took up the legacy left by her valide predecessor. For imperial women of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, then, building in the capital had high priority. Where in the city they built was also a concern as some sites, due to their elevation and/or proximity to the administrative center and ceremonial axes of the city, were more highly valued than others. Hatice Turhan's waqfiyya, contemporary Ottoman and European chroniclers, and the epigraphic program of the mosque show clearly that the accepted explanation that the siting of the Yeni Cami project in Eminönü was the result of discrimination against imperial women building in the capital is incorrect. 1) First, in both phases, the commercial advantage of the waterfront site was an important factor in the decision to locate the mosque in that quarter of the city. Particularly in the second phase of the campaign, the L-shaped market buildings are concrete evidence of an intended commercial enterprise. 2) Second as Eminönü was a largely non-Muslim section of the city, it was an attractive area in which to initiate a building campaign which could Islamicize this densely populated commercial district. The selection of Eminönü as a site for the architectural campaigns of the valides was intentional and a central factor in shaping the building agenda of both patronesses. EMINÖNÜ AS A COMMERCIAL CENTER To point the way to a reassessment of the position of dynastic women regarding site selection in the capital, it is important to consider the commercial attraction of Eminönü as a major factor in the choice of location for imperial munificence. Eminönü was a busy commercial center and served as the location of several of the city's customs houses. As early as the 10th century, was the city gate which attests to the presence of a community of Jews there. Many non-Muslims moved to Istanbul and settled in the Eminönü quarter and along the banks of the Golden Horn. It is clear that the area surrounding the present location of the Yeni Cami mosque and the Egyptian market was a particularly densely populated Jewish quarter, and that there were very few Muslim establishments in this area before 1598. Expropriations for Safiye Sultan's project were on a hitherto unprecedented scale. Eminönü was a major port on the Golden Horn. and it was the place where business was transacted between foreign and Ottoman merchants, Muslim and non-Muslim tax farmers. As early as the 15th century archival sources attest to a growing dissatisfaction among Muslim merchants over the increasingly influential role played by Jewish tax farmers in the Ottoman Empire. And in mid-sixteenth century by Venetian merchants who resented Jewish monopolies over certain markets Tension over the prominent role of Jewish merchants and tax farmers in the capital culminated in 1582 when a group of ship's captains and merchants filed a petition with the central government complaining that the collectors of the customs taxes were all Jewish and the latter had not exercised acceptable behavior towards Muslims paying the tax. The Muslim merchants requested that henceforth such servants of tax farmers should not be Jewish. A document published by Refik informs us that this request was granted. The growing discontent voiced by Muslims and Venetian merchants over the Jewish tax farmers and merchants in the capital must have facilitated Safiye Sultan's efforts to expropriate the valuable property from the Jews that was required for the first building campaign of the Yeni Cami. In the second phase of building undertaken by Hatice Turhan, the rhetoric surrounding the process of expropriation, as evidenced in the waqfiyya and parts of the mosque's epigraphic program. reveals that a well-orchestrated campaign was organized to affirm the authority of the valide's central role in the Ottoman State and to legitimize an architectural enterprise which completed the transformation of the Erninönü quarter from a largely nonMuslim merchant quarter to one whose central focus became the Yeni Mosque and its dependencies.

Shahnama

The ________ 50,000 rhyming couplets, the Shahnama, or "Book of Kings," is one of the most voluminous epics of world literature. The poem narrates the history of the ancient kings of Iran from the mythical beginnings to the Arab conquest in 651 A.D. completed around 1010 A.D. by Abu'l Qasim Firdausi and was dedicated to the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni The history of Iran recounted in the Shahnama unfolds in 50 kingdoms, which are divided into 2 successive dynasties: 1) the Pishdadiyan —the early legendary shahs, who established civilization and fought against the forces of evil 2) the Kayanids—the principal protagonists of the enmity with Turan, the first and foremost antagonist of Iran; 3) and the Sasanians—the last glorious dynasty to rule a unified Iran before the advent of Islam. The last section of the poem is considered to be the more historical one, and was occasionally referred to by medieval Islamic historiographers. Poem also revives pre-Islamic traditions, folklore, and oral literature. Kings and heroes are engaged in battles against foreign monstrous enemies and supernatural creatures that threaten their lives and the survival of their reigns. Poem meditates on more profound human experiences and narrates the moral struggles, romantic interludes, and deaths of its many protagonists With its interplay of lore and history, the Shahnama offers models of conduct and rulership that inspired numerous generations of rulers. The poem can also be considered a successful example of "mirror for princes," a popular genre in the medieval and early modern Islamic world intended for the education and edification of rulers. The teachings and moral exempla offered by the virtuous kings and paladins of the Shahnama are among the aspects that explain its great success throughout history. All kings who ruled Iran continued to commission the production of new copies of the epic, which were often lavishly illustrated and illuminated. By appropriating this cultural treasure and assimilating its ideas and values, many foreign rulers also used it as an ideological tool, one that allowed them to establish their legitimate succession to the kings of the past. Prestigious manuscripts: Great Mongol Shahnama, the Baisunghur Mirza Shahnama, the Shah Tahmasp Shahnama —sponsored by the Ilkhanid, Timurid, and Safavid dynasties—survive as evidence of this practice, and as testaments to the cultural and artistic importance of this literary masterpiece through the centuries. The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp also known as the Shahnama-yi Shahi, is arguably the most luxuriously illustrated copy of Firdausi's epic ever produced in the history of Persian painting. 1) pages made of fine paper enriched with large gold-sprinkled borders and lavish illuminations. 2) 759 folios of text, written in nasta'liq script, 3) 258 paintings of exquisite quality and artistic originality. This project was realized in Tabriz, the first capital of the Safavid dynasty, and involved 2 generations of the most renowned artists of the time. Begun around the early 1520s, probably under Shah Isma'il and carried out under Shah Tahmasp Considered one of the highest achievements in the arts of the book for its superb calligraphy, painting, and illumination. From a pictorial point of view, it also marks the synthesis of the two most important phases of the Persian tradition— 1) the Turkmen style, which developed in Tabriz and Shiraz, 2) the Timurid style, associated with Herat. These two strains were absorbed into the new artistic idiom of the early Safavids. Thus, the lively treatment and bright colors of landscape and surfaces inspired by the Turkmen school, coexist with the more sober palette and balanced compositional layout of the Herat school, whose impact is particularly evident in some of the later paintings. Sent as a gift on the occasion of the accession of the Ottoman sultan Selim II.

Safavid Royal Shahnameh (King's Book of Kings) for Shah Tahmasp, 1525-35, "Court of Gayumars"

Safavids Main characteristics & points of contrast between Tabriz & Herat painting as they become apparent in later Timurid & Safavid painting: 1. Disposition of image on page 2. Relationship between image & text 3. Size of figures in relation to the frame/image (background/foreground) 4. Color range (palette) 5. Emotional expression 6. Movement (dynamic or 'static'; loud or quiet composition) 7. Focus of image (emphasis on main action or equality among details) Hushang Slays the Black Div (attributed to Abd al-Samad) & Bahram Gur Kills the Dragon (Ilkhamids) Different in layout: Timurid: text more equal stance to image, unusual shape and spans off into the margins, feels like environment is a stageSafavid: the text is secondary to the image, the figures are small enough detail I need to approach the text, figures interact more within the environmentThe mongol one takes over the page, here these ones have a boarder which centralizes similar color palettesIt is not linear perspective, but see scene's action, not centralized action but feels more movemented in comparison to the Timurid (there are some empty spaces)Environment comes to play a big role in Safavid (a magical feel, spiritualism is important to them and focus on spirality and a tendency to focus on the environments and luxury and beauty) first leader of Safavids is Shah Ismail When he was 12 he commanded an army into war and conquered various regions and assumed the tile of Shah (under Mongols= emperors, different tiles same position of power) Was able to expand the territory of Safavid empire quiet extensively Most of present day of Iran fall under his control by 1515 He set up his capital in Tibriz Was a fairly effective ruler Safavids have own style, but can find connects with earlier examples Court of Gayumars, 1525-35, Tabriz from the 'Houghton Shahahnameh' created by court artists of Shah Ismail for crown prince Tahmasp Gayumars: is thought of as this first king of Persia, this person who has lead ancient Persian civilization to civilization under him ancient Persians flourished He is holding court in nature, They believed these were pre-agricultural, still hunter and gatherers (he is wearing leopard skins and seems to float above the mountain top) Vertical layout, Gayumar sits on central axis and organized the composition so the rest of the cluster of figures are organized around himBoarder: still well established and there are areas were the image creeps out of the boarderRich variety of colors, juxtaposed in beautiful way dense colors and detail gives sense and testimony in how this epic tale has inspired so much creative production bits of calligprahy but the shape the writting reflect the figures in painting (real sensitivity to marry to the two forms together to create harmony and unity)There are animals Clouds like in Chinese paints

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

THE PALACE INSCRIPTIONS AND THEIR ICONOGRAPHY Inscriptions played as major a role in Medieval Islamic Architecture as did images and statues in Western Architecture. Traditionally, Western scholars of Islamic Art tended to overlook the content of inscriptions, except those historical ones which indicate the patrons and dates of buildings. A recent movement is reversing this trend and examining inscriptions in search of their iconographical role. The epigraphy of the Palace of the Lions, is a case in point for the comprehension of Islamic iconography. In it, three types of inscriptions are found. 1) The first ones are the ornamental epigraphs interwoven with the surface decorations, and consisting of the repetitive emblems: «Wa la Ghalib Illa Allah», (No Conqueror But God), and «lzz Li Maulana Abi 'Abd Allah», (Glory To Our Lord Abi 'Abd Allah, i. e. Muhammad V). In addition to their decorative role, they mark the power of the King, his dynastic pride, and his faith (since «Wa la Ghalib Illa Allah» is a Qor'anic verse). 2) The second epigraphic type consist of Qor'anic and moral inscriptions set within cartouches, distributed in different locations around the Palace. In a way the symbolic aim of the two first types is identical, namely specifying, and insisting by repetition and by direct messages. on the faith and power of the rulers. 3) The third type of inscriptions is the most pertinent to the understanding of the Palace's iconography. Therefore, it will be discussed at length. It consists of poetical epigraphs, composed specifically for the Palace, and engraved in pre-calculated localisations where they can be easily seen, and where they communicate a precise intended meaning. The reading of significant verses, in terms of meaning and location, from among the numerous poetical inscriptions will help in comprehending the Palace's iconography as intended by its builders, and in corroborating the hypothesis of the Palace of the Lions as the Nasrid Villa Rustica par excellence.

The Buddha Offers Fruit to the Devil from Rashid al-Din's Universal History, 1315, Tabriz

Because of their foreignness and come from Asia the IlRashidal al-Din, Universal History (Jam'i al Tawarikh) Written in the city of Tabriz (western Iran) and copied 1315 Includes the history of Mongols and Great Ilkhamids (Yuan China) as well as histories of great cultures leading to the Ilkhamids in Iran and religious histories leading to Islam under Ilkhamids The book is 3 volumes: talked about major cultural events from China to Europe, Mongol history (Mongols were fascinated with knowledge and wanted to know all about the major religions (histories from Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc) It is the world's first history book The Buddha Offers Fruit to the Devil from Rashid al-Din's Universal History (Jam'i al-Tawarikh) Copy of ca. 1315, Tabriz (western Iran) part of the Universal history talking about the history of the Buddha episode of the life of Buddha About the image? the text was taken into consideration first and left space for the image, The image is not over lapping and is confined to a box (These would have been artists working in a workshop and had to labor to complete, so along a artist group to make 2 a year (they are huge) and all illuminated by hand) 1) they first laid out the text (the space of the text is clearly understood) 2) there is a box is created for the space of image (the box has to accommodate for the figures) 2 human figures, Space, body, perspective? The Buddha is the large figure, one is slightly squished into the box and has to bow down to give the fruit The shape of the trees follow the figures, there is no foreground, middle ground or background and there is not overlapping. There is a kind of symmetry in the lay the shading and color scheme has worked there on the tree in compassion to the people Color palette? reds, greens, blue, The plate is much brighter than the clothes (there is white like highlight), rich colors In comparison with portrait of Emperor Suan Ti (Liang Dynasty) (Detail & painting of Emperor Suan Ti (Liang dynasty)) (in understanding why looks this way) very curvy lines, wash, expressive in the body language but not in face (movement in body) The way clothes is shown is stylized (not talking about a naturalism, but stylization of the garment fabric and the texture) Comparison: we see a direct relationship in the facial types, see clear Chinese influence which suggest early artists were using models they knew from China and adapting them to the project of writting history. They were trained and were recasting some of the features and costumes in a way of uniting or thinking about this as a Ilkhamid project and all the characters look ethnographically like the Mongols. They end up casting themselves in all these major roles and major world events. Brings that more Mongol/China example into Iran and infuses this project of world history with the Mongol visual look to it. Painting in book manuscripts as opposed to scrolls (new); import of Chinese histories & painting idioms (Yuan Painting 1271-1368 China) Even thought the painting has a deep connection with China, there was something revolutionary about the idea of a book In China painting occurred in different kinds of medium, often on scrolls that were often vertical and bound up The idea of book as the lotus were all this painting exist was different than what see in China, a Mongol or Ilkhamid intervention Taking the aesthetics of Chinese painting and applying them to book art The boxes: they images start out in a specific shape and we see periods of Iranian painting and we see a gradual transformation in keeping the image in a bound form to the illumination becoming the page or colonization the page such that it enviably takes over the page What is the function if illustration? And how? reinforces the meaning of the text: helps pull out particular meanings and help emphasize particular actions in the story Mongols: for the past 300 past years there is this epic that was written down and people care about books a great deal. The circumstance were right to turn them into a luxury object. Closer ties to Europe were similar manuscript projects were going on. Old testament stories, the Buddha Biblical history: Noah and the Arc, Abraham and the 3 strangers the figures look Mongolians Noah is cast as a person who looks ethnically Mongolian, it is a creative expression in terms of thinking out and enacting history through the visual object

Shirin Neshat, Rebellious Silence and Speechless from Women of Allah, 1994

In individual nations forming national identify Modern: suggest idea of progressive French colonize Algeria, 1960s independence. Orientalist painters coming into Algeria and trying to represent the African landscape and people. This arrival of Algerian painters their response is to react against Western tradition. The western traditions as part of the colonial state and opposing. Contemporary Islamic Art Indonesia to Atlantic coast of Africa, very diverse Artist today living in places like London Is there value in understanding this work through Islamic because the artists are so diverse Islamic art is the invention of the Occident (came together in the west in 19th century, the idea of these disciplines Renaissance art medieval art, forged in the apex of colonialism, when taking about Islamic art its not without seriousness) A lot of these artist don't live in predominately Islamic areas, produce art for American and European audience in museums Contemporary art: after the fall of the Berlin wall, post 1989 (1989 represents time when other global events of great significance, wall more globalized and technology, era of the internet, a lot of diversity along artists but all in common era and age of globalization and technological development) Modern art: ends around 1960-70, 80s post-modernism Calligraphy: associated with Qur'an has a privilege position within Islam, It is on the dome of the rock has both religious and secular importance, very diverse in visual language: orient, geometric, simple, etc As visual marker in the Islamic world Circular art piece: text indecipherable and even if audience can't read arabic, similarly the book is indecipherable, a display of be writing and even in legible the two objects can operate together, the text is illegible and beautiful as the object (creating a texture and pattern) Calligraphy Shirin Neshat, Rebellious Silence and Speechless from Women of Allah, 1994 Iranian women who immigrated from Iran, works in los angeles Did this series in the early 90s, image of women after she return from Iran, they are different by they share between each other are 4 symbols she believes have come to be associated with the Muslim world: 1) the veil 2) the gaze: the western world on the Islamic body 3) guns 4) calligraphy Are put together in different capacities and while these symbols of taken on particular charge since 9/11. When she made them she was responding to the radical changes that happen in Iran after 1979 (was a revolution, shift away from the West, Iran had been developing closer along the lines of a western nation in 40s, 50s, and 60s and in 1979 there was a revolution which changed society, and it also forced women back into the veil) She is trying to reconcile her own conflicting feelings because the veil is a symbol of pride and faith for others its not (the west looks at and conjectures a binary (a powering balance, women are veiled and men have the power) In this series she is playing with the veil as both freedom and oppression, exploring the duality of the image Reactions: are these empowered or ambiguous Make it as ambiguous as possible to make a statement about how we interpret the Islamic world and to complicate our reading. The way she frames the gun, etc where do we read ambiguity: Not sure if she is holding the gun or not The fun functions as a earring in one photo (who is holding it and where is it coming from). Other photo "Who is holding it?" she could be but we don't know, its placement bisects her entire body, Shadows emphasize The writting: assumptions: it is written in Arabic, its in Persian. Plays with ambiguity we assume believe it to be Arabic and perhaps from the Qur'an. Has different poetry What is to be done O Moslems? For I do not recognize myself I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea I am not of Nature's mint, nor of the circling heavens ... I am not of lndia, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsin I am not of the kingdom of lraqain, nor of the country of Khurasan ... My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless 'Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are ·one One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call -Jalal al-Din Muhammad, 13th Century She is doing the writting on the photo Category and assumption, we are all human that these categories don't matter. She hides it that most readers want be able to read it and only through translation would you be able to access that. Its message goes beyond the 4 symbols that are problematic associated with the Islamic world and particular with the Islamic body. All those dualities and ambiguity come forth and even in thinking about the gaze in how the Islamic world is known through a gender body (representation of Islamic women). The gaze is somewhat confrontational but not (using photography to, the camera and gun and verbs to describe both, shooting and capture, a lot of duality that she explore to force us to confront some of our own assumptions and to move away from this one dimensional Islamic type that we often attribute with out engagement with the Islamic world. The notion of gender looms quite large in Islamic identify. We are often talking about the veil and yet in the West the veil means one thing and in the Islamic world means many things. There is a spectrum of meaning of the veil.

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

Palacio de los Leones Unlike the Comares palace, the Palacio de los Leones did not conclude a parade but was entered through a gateway opening inconspicuously off a street, since it was never intended for ceremonial purposes. It dates from the second reign of Muhammad V. The Leones complex cannot be dated with the same precision as Comares, but work on it would not have started until the main palace was finished in 1370, and 1380 has been plausibly advanced as the date for its completion. The architect chose for it a ground plan resting on organizational criteria altogether different from those of the Comares palace. Here the main architectonic elements are grouped around a courtyard based on two intersecting axes. The arcaded court represents a fusion of the Ancient peristyle and the Persian chär-bägh. This court includes such amenities as pavilions, water channels, and a fountain, the supports of which have provided the name by which the complex has become known to the world, the Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions). The fountain recovered its original appearance in June 1965 with the removal from the haunches of the lions of the dwarf columns that had been added by Diego de Arcos in 1708. Torres Balbås had already removed the upper basin. The plan of the palace, whereby one enters a peristyle directly, is that recommended by Vitruvius for a villa. Although furnished with sleeping facilities in the usual form of alcoves, apart from a small, self-contained house on the upper floor totally invisible from without, this palace was not intended for anything like permanent occupation. It was a villa rustica transposed to an urban setting so that the inmates of the official palace (Comares) alongside could relax away from the constraints of protocol. Thus only the essence of villa living survives, shorn of the economic apparatus that normally makes such a life-style feasible; consequently, the ground plan and overall arrangements reflect the informality of country life. A villa in the heart of a city cannot have a serious purpose, and the Leones palace is a simple pleasure dome with four reception halls, all for entertainment purposes, one doubling as a residential unit. These four halls—the Sala de los Reyes (Hall of the Kings), the Sala de las Dos Hermanas (Hall of the Two Sisters), the Sala de los Mocårabes (Hall of the Muqarnas), and the Sala de los Abencerrajes— compose a balanced arrangement determined by the axiality underlying the design of the courtyard. The grid plan imposes a formal unity on the varied functions and forms, linking up elements such as the terminal pavilions with the three tabernacular cupolas on the east as well as with the main masses to the south and north. The Sala de los Mocårabes and the Sala de los Reyes (Fig. 6), on the west and east sides respectively, were intended for parties or feasting; both were summer rooms. Most likely, the Sala de los Abencerrajes and the Sala de las Dos Hermanas, on the south and north sides respectively, were for musical soirées. This would account for the acoustic ceilings (Figs. 7, 8), although such ceilings are a feature of the whole courtyard. Both halls have doors, which the two other daytime reception rooms lack; but the Abencerrajes is for winter, the Dos Hermanas for summer, use. No one actually lived in the Leones palace except the people occupying the house over the gateway. Even the sultan would only camp there overnight when in the mood for pleasure or when he wanted to relax with poets and commensals. In short, the function of the Palacio de los Leones was therapeutic. Epigraphic evidence is important for dating Islamic architecture anywhere, but in Muslim Spain it takes on added significance, since part of the job of being a court poet was to compose occasional poems appropriate to the positions on the buildings that they were intended to occupy. Therefore, poems will sometimes allude, in a metaphorical or hyperbolic way, to extant or vanished features; in such cases, poetry becomes an interpretive tool. Crucial to the correct interpretation of the Leones complex is the famous qasida (ode) that Ibn Zamrak composed to adorn the walls of the palace's principal apartment, the Sala de las Dos Hermanas (Fig. 9). This ode helps to explain not only the structure but also the underlying aesthetic of the room. The third of twenty-four verses inscribed on the walls of this chamber reads: And if they [the Gemini] were to appear in its [the hall's] two courtyards, they would vie with each other in serving him [the sultan] as concubines in such a way as to leave him gratified with them. This audacious hyperbole plays on the duality of the constellation referred to: The heavenly twins correspond to two courtyards, even though only one is visible today. The plan of the Leones palace is a Greek cross; all four arms are of equal length. The two main halls— the Sala de los Abencerrajes and the Sala de las Dos Hermanas—are defined by domes crowning the ends of a transverse, north-south axis, which extend it so that it is equal to the east-west axis. Nondomical, rectangular halls lie beyond the point at which the main, east-west, axis ends in small fountains. To compensate for the bulk of the two principal halls, pavilions emphasize the east-west axis; the tabernacular cupolas of these pavilions complement the cupolas of these two principal halls (see Fig. 1). On the upper floor these halls have miradors that overlook the courtyard. These miradors perform the same function for the Leones courtyard that the balcony on the south side of the Comares palace does for that courtyard. As a hall reserved for winter use, the Sala de los Abencerrajes is less open than the Sala de las Dos Hermanas. The Dos Hermanas hall retains its original doors, from which all others elsewhere in the Alhambra have been copied. The passage behind the doors communicates with a privy on the left and stairs leading to an upper floor on the right. This arrangement, which also obtains elsewhere (Abencerrajes and Barca halls), allows service personnel to pass without having to enter the hall and risk disturbing the occupants. The drum of the Abencerrajes cupola is a rotated square, producing a star-shaped interior profile. The contrast between this dome and the one in the Dos Hermanas is particularly striking when the two are viewed from outside the palace on the south. Both halls have upper floors, that of the Dos Hermanas equipped with mashrabiyyas (lattices of turned wood), one of which, that on the south, was original until it was removed to the Alhambra museum, where its fine craftsmanship can more easily be admired. The Dos Hermanas retains its original tilework intact, in sharp contrast to the Abencerrajes, where the dado has been replaced with Sevillian tilework of the seventeenth century. In the courtyard, not even a vestige of the original faience survives. Originally the Palacio de los Leones occupied two terraces, an upper and a lower, with the principal apartment, the Sala de las Dos Hermanas, projecting into the lower terrace, where its basement formed a cool cryptoporticus in the now-vanished garden. From a mirador entered on the upper level, the sultan could relax and absorb the beauties of the scene, with the Albaicin and Sacromonte for backdrop. This arrangement would explain how the Palacio de Comares and the Palacio de los Leones came to be built on different axes. Although an urban villa by virtue of its location, yet embowered amid gardens, the Leones unit partook somewhat of the nature of a real, that is, rustic villa. The Palacio de Ios Leones took up all the space between a still-extant street and the curtain wall. The street separated the living space of the quick from the dwelling space of the dead. Such proximity should not startle: In Islamic palaces the dead and the living form a symbiosis. The Rauda (royal necropolis) was a garden in actuality as well as in metaphor, but a myrtle, not a water, garden. The term rauda (garden) was used in allusion not only to the Prophet's rawda (necropolis) at Medina, but also, since paradise is a garden, to sanguine anticipation of the deceased's posthumous condition. To the poetic imagination of the Arabs, the sight of dewdrops adhering to plant stems and leaves meant that the heavens were weeping for the one buried beneath. Inside, marble recumbent slabs were used in conjunction with headstones of the same material, but in the ancillary burial space outside, each grave plot was enclosed with curbs so as to form a miniature garden liberally bedewed overnight, a privilege denied the more consequential burials under cover, which could thus only envy the sympathy nature bestowed on their lesser brethren outside. The epitaph of Yüsuf Ill, preserved in the Alhambra museum, hesitates between the advantages of outdoor and indoor burial: May the clouds' downpour refresh his sepulcher and revive it; and may the garden carry to him its sweet-smelling fragrance. Outdated guidebooks and maps have created confusion by referring to a domed structure of uncertain purpose in the southeast corner of the Leones quadrangle as the Rauda. The confusion dates back to 1807, when Argote de Molina published a book in which he identified this structure with the ancient pantheon of the Nasrid sultans, presumably because four royal gravestones were discovered there in 1574, after 1807 the error assumed a life of its own. There should never have been any doubt, for in 1600 Luis del Marmol had clearly stated that the Rauda lay behind the Palacio de los Leones to the south. Finally, at a date prior to 1898, Contreras demolished a house that adhered to some Nayrid ruins on the other side of the street that ran behind the palace, and he found four burial loculi. The site was explored in 1925—26 by Torres Balbås, who found seventy additional crowded graves inside and outside the mausoleum in three parallel rows facing the qibla. All but one were empty, for Muhammad XII, the last sultan of Granada, had received permission to transport the bodies of his ancestors to Mondujar, the site of which awaits excavation. In the Middle Ages the sultan most likely would be found ensconced in the Mirador de Lindaraja (Fig. 10), a protrusion from the Sala de los Ajimeces (Hall of the Geminated Windows) overlooking the patio of the same name. Here an inscription acclaims him its central adornment: the pupil of an eye that regards the landscape. This perfumed bower represents the sensuous climax of the Alhambra; the Nairid craftsmen who fashioned it reserved it for their most intricate patterns, whether of faience or stucco. Washington Irving professed to believe that Lindaraja was a Moorish beauty. Lindaraja, however, is a corruption of the Arabic 'ayn där 'Ä 'isha, " the eye of the house of 'A'isha," and, to function as an eye, needed mashrabiyyas, which, thrown open, would disclose the landscape beyond. An opulent decor mirrors the sultan's presence; doubtless this was his favorite retreat, whence cares of state were banished, and joy reigned unconfined in the adjacent rooms or somewhat more decorously in the hall, as dancers took the floor to the sound of bittersweet muwashshahät (ballads in classical Arabic) sung by skilled performers. "A'isha was doubtless some favorite after whom the palace was named in the same way that 'Abd al-Rahman Ill immortalized one of his concubines by calling the palatine city he founded Madinat al-Zahra' after her. Should this hypothesis be correct, it means that the original name of the Leones palace must have been Där 'A'isha, the House of 'A'isha, just as the original name of the Comares palace would have been Där Qumärish, rendered into Spanish as the Cuarto de Comares, while the Leones palace metamorphosed into the Cuarto de los Leones. The "Daraxa" (or Daraja) is how the Sala de las Dos Hermanas and adjoining rooms are referred to in the documents in the Alhambra archives. The visual climax of the Leones complex is the muqarnas dome in the Dos Hermanas, where the exuberant qualities of Granadine art achieve a positive effervescence. Upward of five thousand cells cascading downward produce in their disciplined descent domes within a dome, the most complex ceiling in the Muslim world and the apogee of Islamic art on the peninsula.

Şehzade Mehmed Complex, Istanbul, Sinan (1543-49)

Ottomans Şehzade Mehmed Complex, Istanbul, by Sinan (1543- 49)) Madrasa, Guest rooms, caravansary with stables, hospice, elementary school, Sehzade Mehmed's mausoleum It was common practice to set up off on battle to say to the court or royal architects to lay the foundation stone. In laying the foundation stone it is a promise you will come back victorious and build. It was Siana first major project as chief of royal architect. Suleyman's son dies in battle, and so when they come back they reconceptualize it a little bit. It is a complex, but also a tomb mausoleum dedicated to his son. The mausoleum is facing Mecca was entire wall complex What do all these buildings have in common: domes They are all together but as separate buildings 1) From street we see: the minaret are skinny and point to the sky (sharp spirals, very thin), very vertical, but small enough they don't get in the way of visual of the building, they flank the building/frame it, don't interpret view of main dome building Delicate, slight relief on the minaret 2) Move through gate into courtyard: The portal has muqarnas, is slightly subdued two story entrance and gate 3) open courtyard the view you are meet with: a fountain, see a perfect image of architectural symmetrical (main dome see clearly, the domes that descend from it are balance and harmony) Dome of the ablution fountain is same structure and style, but the shape is slightly different, but it draws you up and organizes your vision Is a Centralized (dome) mosque 4) entry portal into prayer hall is a lot more decorative with gilded and calligprahy (holy inscriptions), the muqarnas is more exaggerated 5) Inside the prayer hall: bright tile, white and bright colors, red and white stripes on arches (Ablaq), use pendentives to hold up dome, massive dome and lamps hanging down (carrying that dome down through the act of light), stain glass windows (tons of windows, stain glass has very specific relationships with light which creates colors, patterns, and changes throughout the day) Dome: remind us of carpets, not a lot of vegetal but geometric (incredible patterns) Script in large black circle (after Hagia Sophia) Minhrab: has muqarnas Minbar 3 major historical mosque types: hypostyle, cruciform (4- iwan) & centralized (domed) hypostyle: courtyard with fountain, qiblia with mihrab and minbar make up the maqsura maqsura the sacred space of the mosque. (was screen off for prophet and imam) Came to know the maqsura through the domes 1) so we are in a city that has the most famous domed building (Hagia Sophia) in the world 2) Precedent in Islamic architecture where Sacred space is cover with a dome So it is a natural transition into the third mosque type: centralize Where the entire mosque space is conceptualized as one large maqsura. So the dome is the maqsura We can see in this complex its not just one dome, its several (take Hagia Sophia and Islamifying it) Still have mihrab and minbar, but taking the dome and extending it to the entire enclosure. All buildings is directly related to power and to directly challenge the Hagia Sophia Dome: How is it held up? 1) arches and small and half dome: takes weight away from the central dome and carrying it down, there for structural reason because they carry weight down -some buttressing on the outside 2) 4 posts (Piers): reach all the way to ground 2 massive piers Uses a system of a square with 4 piers support the central dome along with little half domes to distribute weight down to the earth Later he finds another system: more open, light, and vertical This is considered his first masterpiece, rationally planned and beautiful decoration

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

Palacio de Comares and the Palacio de los Leones These two palaces, which were combined in the sixteenth century, represent distinct types of HispanoArab domestic architecture, the town house and the urban villa. The Comares palace follows a standard plan that is very rigid: a rectangular courtyard with porticoed ends and the side walls plain. The Leones palace follows a villa plan but shorn of its dependencies. As a formal composition, the Leones complex lacks the coherence and symmetry of Comares, but the arcaded courtyard articulates a screen that binds and unites the disparate elements behind it. The principal elements are disposed along two intersecting axes, as opposed to the single axis of the standard plan. The Palacio de los Leones is unique only in terms of its survival. We can but guess how many of this type of palace may once have existed, but in the Vega of Murcia there was a palace similar in plan, the Castillejo, close to Monteagudo. The two structures form a study in contrasts: Comares is official, ceremonial, pompous; the Leones is intimate, nuanced, conducive to relaxation. Comares, linear and monoaxial, stands at the opposite remove from the Leones, with its daring asymmetries and multiple axes. The conflation of the two to meet the needs of a different society has completely distorted their respective functions and given rise to numerous misinterpretations. The standard explanation is that the two palaces formed two different parts of a single palace and that one courtyard represented the public part and the other the private portion of one and the same palace. Nothing could be further from the truth: the so-called courts served separate palaces standing back to back with a party wall between them. The palaces were built at different times and on different axes and had independent entrances. It would be interesting to know precisely when and how the confusion arose; it ought all the time to have been clear from Marmol, who wrote unequivocally in 1600: "Estos alcazares o palacios reales son dos, tan juntos uno de otro, que solo una pared los divide" (These alcazars, or royal palaces, are two [and are] so close to each other that only a wall separates them). During Arab times the two palaces were separated on the north by a street, which provided access to the furnace of the bath complex. Flanked by blank walls on either side, the street was designed in such a way as to prevent the menials who used it from catching even so much as a glimpse of the inmates, whether en déshabillé in the baths or relaxing in the garden. Once again, today's visitor has to use his imagination, for, when the two palaces were combined, the street became a vaulted undercroft supporting a vital link in the new circulation system. On the subterranean level it became a loggia by the simple expedient of having openings cut in its east wall so that it communicated with the newly formed Patio de Lindaraja.

Shazia Sikander, Pleasure Pillars, 2001

Shazia Sikander, Pleasure Pillars, 2001 Book arts: small paintings Artists who turned to miniature painting as trying to find a home for it in contemporary art miniature painting seems traditional, art of the past so how do you put art from the past in the contemporary Pakistan born, studied in Lahore in Pakistan, famous art school there that was founded under British colonialism by John Lockwood Kipling and they were taught Western painting and traditions By the time she goes to school they are not doing miniature painting, they are exploring modernism, abstract, progressive art making What to study miniature paintings, and techniques and be someone who is a master of techniques and take those techniques imbue the creative potential of the contemporary artist with that technique driven practice She wants to take those precision (very small, preciously done, tiny details) and take that precision and energies it through the len of contemporary art She is a muslim in Pakistan (muslim minority) but is engaged deeply with south Asia and South Asia identity. Pakistan shares a boarder with India so she is interested in studying both sides of Hinduism and Islam. She will take images from both which is as she said "this juxtaposing and mixing of Hindu and Muslim iconography is a parallel to the entanglement of the histories of India and Pakistan" She made murals, institutions, videos , used different kinds of materials, She has done performances where she wears a veil and sometimes not trying to subvert different types of kinds of stereotypes Look at her work "perilous order"- look like it straight out of pages for Mughal book art (the framing, profile of subject, and the decorative background) but surrounds the image with these bizarre figures from Hindu mythology. Mughal prince with Hindu like figures. The dots associated with minimalism and places them all over the image creating a bizarre kind of painting that feels familiar in a traditional sense but breaks with the past 24:13 "Pleasure Pillars" At the center tradition of Mughal miniatures with dancing girls on either side, there is a self portrait at center with ram horns, images of war (modern fighter planes) with images from Greco-Roman traditions Body of Venus figure little animal like figures born form Safavid tradition A mix of objects and images dots of differing sizes It is a work that is beautiful in a sense, a painting in a sense, and takes from from this page (Mughal book) and explores it in different ways Some of the images reminding of Shanameh Presented individually digital animation: taking a miniature Took imagery from East India Company inspired by an Islamic visual culture, wanted to learn miniature, revive it as a form of art and bring it into the realm of contemporary art When look at the traces of the Islamic world become kind of ephemeral, her work is install in a lot of gallery all over the world, her work is globalized work so difficult in terms in where it fits and what we read from it when we look at it. She is a Muslim women

Humayun 's tomb

built in Delhi and finished in 1571, is the first example of a tomb set within a cross-axial garden in India. It is an enormous white-marble and red-sandstone, double-domed tomb on a plinth placed in the center of a garden in which the organization of space is marked by paved walkways and water channels, punctuated by pools and small pavilions. The original garden was a quadripartite, cross-axial garden. The tomb was built by Hnmayun's son Akbar. Glenn Lowry has proposed that the plan and dome of the mausoleum served Akbar's need for legitimacy by linking him with the architecture of his prestigious Timurid forebears, and that the red and white materials of construction linked Akbar with the regional architecture of India where his future lay. Past and present are thus united in a single building that is at once Timurid and Mughal, and thus Humayun is positioned as both descendant of Timur and progenitor of Akbar. In the sixteenth century the garden was probably entered on the south side or from the river. Todays the visitor's vision is blocked from the exterior by an enclosure wall; as one passes into the precinct, the building is unveiled. It is first seen at a distance; then looms larger and taller as one makes the approach. The intervening space that creates distance between the viewer and the tomb is necessary to the visual drama, and that space is a garden. The idea of enclosing the mausoleum in a precinct is not original to Humayun'S tomb. But Humayun's tomb may be the earliest extant example in India, and perhaps Islam, of a tomb placed in the most formal of settings, the four-part garden commonly called a chaharbagh (however, given the controversy surrounding debates arising from this problematic term, "quadripartite" or "cross-axial" will be used here) The tomb stands at the intersection of axial walkways, a position occupied by a pavilion in many earliest gardens. Those pavilions could be single chambers open on one or more sides; or they could be larger structures (like Tarabkhana pavilion). Although the Tarabkhana pavilion does not exist today, it probably resembled the Hasht Bihisht pavilion in 17th-century Isfahan: a cruciform arrangement of nine units, a minimum of architectural mass, and open on four sides. Humayun's mausoleum also follows the hasht bihisht plan and occupies a prominent place in the garden. It is an example of the interchangeability of funerary and "residential" architecture, and indeed the tomb is the house wherein the body eternally resides. The synthesis of garden and mausoleum at Humayun's tomb established a new dynastic tomb type that was repeated in the Taj Mahal. The mausoleum follow the nine-unit, hasht bihisht plan and are in quadripartite gardens. The Taj sits at one end of its garden, but this is a common position for a garden pavilion. The Taj was accompanied by an elaborate epigraphic (inscription) program that at least one scholar has interpreted as eschatological, evoking the Day of Judgment. Such epigraphy was intended (and continues) to steer viewers toward an interpretation of the monument and garden as paradisiac and religious, and guides us towards its "meaning." But there is an aspect of meaning that is not evident in the hasht bihisht form or inscriptions (which in any case are lacking in Humayun's tomb). The relationship of tomb to garden that appears simple and geometrically ordered on the plan is not the same as the relationship of a pavilion to its garden. While typologically the forms of pavilion and tomb are interchangeable, there is a profound difference in the optical ordering of site and architecture that escapes two-dimensional representation and profoundly affects meaning. Two-dimensional representations assume that the viewer is external to the system, and that the system consists of the patron, his agenda, and the stylistic genealogy of the building. But when the optical perception of the viewer is considered part of the garden system, the relationships between architecture and garden, and between center and surroundings, take on new importance as expressions of sovereignty and dominance. Several questions arise from this. 1) The first is the typological question of when and why the tomb and cross-axial garden were first combined; this cannot be answered definitively. 2) does the introduction of a tomb change the meaning and iconography of the quadripartite garden? To answer this we must turn to the scopic structuring of the space within the garden.

al-khatt al-mansub

Geometric system of script for the construction of proportional characters. Orinigated by Ibn Muqla and perfected by Ibn al-Bawwab. The Abbasid Empire: Empire = Bureaucracy & "paper-pushers" Ibn Muqlah's writing system: al-khatt almansub a.k.a."proportioned writing" geometrically proportioned Reed pen & Ink, Paper, Geometric proportions geometrically Proportioned writing al-khatt almansub writing reform of Abbasid minister Ibn Muqlah (pre-940 or 1st half 10th C.) Ibn-Muqlah' system changing how writting operate, significant ramifications Understand calligraphy is a diverse art form (in a lot of media) and the way politics of writting have significant implications in how they are deployed Al Aqmar Fatimid Cairo 1125 writting is similar to c11 Qur'an Ibn Al-Bawwab c1000-1 hidden Imams surrounded by an aura of sacrality and mystery writting in medallion and on walls Thicker letters Who can read it? select few Why? philosophy of rule, controlling access to knowledge, who owns the faith: the educated/wealthy could read it The Fatimid were in opposition to the abbasids so why would they want to use their writting system in decoration of the mosque that would give them a sense of superiority They want to control access to the knowledge of the faith and don't want to give the abbasids visual program any kind of credence it doesn't deserve They used a older model writing system writing is about beauty, politics, access, and control Fatimid: daughter of Prophet Muhammad Fatimid were under the abbasids (Sunni) and they were shi'ite They believed they could trace their lineage back to Fatimid, therefore rightful heirs of Islam and they did not want to be under the abbasids left Iraq and went to Cairo and ruled independently had closed off imperial city Mustansiriya, madrasah Baghdad, Iraq 1232 abbasid, sunni muslims Common people can read the inscriptions (anyone who was literate because it is standardized) (has diacritics, pronunciation marks) Ibn Muqla, who was, according to his admirers, "like a prophet in the field of calligraphy," was followed by Ibn Hilal Ibn al-Bawwab (d. Io2o), who added a softer touch to the calligraphic rules and whose writing is therefore more elegant than that of his predecessor.

Yeni Valide Mosque Complex of Eminonu, Istanbul (1597-1665)

Kösem SultanSlave from bochniaGiven this name that meant she has a moonlike faceHer husband gives her this name meaning sheep leading the herd (translated to shepards)In the years that follow Sulemen we can think of the regin of these women where women where in these positions of power as mothers or favored concubines. They dictated behind the scene issues.Work on this projectYeni Valide Mosque Complex of Eminonu, Istanbul (1597-1665)multiple woman had their hands on itAnd they were able to make a unusual space that tells about their position in society and negotiate the power they had to the best of their advantageBuild by several different woman:It is exceptional: covered space, courtyard, mosqueIt has a asymmetrical layoutOften used as evidence of the Ottoman's declined that Sulyman and Sinan were making the highest and more perfect forms of mosques. This mosque has a unusual layout probably means they weren't doing so wellThe read: this layout not because they had bad architects but rather this asymmetrical layout speak volumes about its patrons. Speaks for its patrons who were all women and they designed it in this careful wayHunkar Kasri at the Yeni Valide Mosque Complex of Eminonu, Istanbul (1597-1665)Royal pavilionBuilt over the grand arch entrance way into the mosquelovely tile work, windows, rich robust space, bed chamber and toiletAuthor makes argument based on what was going on and what the room could have offered its patrons.Women in the royal empire were not walking around, they were very protected and trafficked in special space. This royal pavilion would have been a space where they resided. They would have had their own separate entrance into the mosque from there.With in this space and thinking about the architecture and how it was used they had a privilege visibility. They can see all around them (water, people coming to mosque), their vision is extended but no one can see them. There is a kind of power in that.How they negotiated power by using space and making a form that is unusual in that regard(like palace of Alhambra the mirador is closed off from rest of palace life but through vision they have ultimate control over the space of the palace)Yeni Valide Mosque Complex of Eminonu, Istanbul (1597-1665) Charter: gives a lot of information about these mosques.They were these endowment charters that tell you where the money is coming form

Ibn Muqlah

The Abbasid Empire: Empire = Bureaucracy & "paper-pushers" Ibn-Muqlah's writing system: al-khatt almansub a.k.a."proportioned writing" geometrically proportioned Reed pen & Ink, Paper, Geometric proportions geometrically Proportioned writing al-khatt almansub writing reform of Abbasid minister Ibn-Muqlah (pre-940 or 1st half 10th C.) Ibn-Muqlah's system changing how writting operate, significant ramifications Understand calligraphy is a diverse art form (in a lot of media) and the way politics of writting have significant implications in how they are deployed Al Aqmar Fatimid Cairo 1125 writting is similar to c11 Qur'an Ibn Al-Bawwab c1000-1 hidden Imams surrounded by an aura of sacrality and mystery writting in medallion and on walls Thicker letters Who can read it? select few Why? philosophy of rule, controlling access to knowledge, who owns the faith: the educated/wealthy could read it The Fatimid were in opposition to the abbasids so why would they want to use their writting system in decoration of the mosque that would give them a sense of superiority They want to control access to the knowledge of the faith and don't want to give the abbasids visual program any kind of credence it doesn't deserve They used a older model writing system writing is about beauty, politics, access, and control Fatimid: daughter of Prophet Muhammad Fatimid were under the abbasids (Sunni) and they were shi'ite They believed they could trace their lineage back to Fatimid, therefore rightful heirs of Islam and they did not want to be under the abbasids left Iraq and went to Cairo and ruled independently had closed off imperial city Mustansiriya, madrasah Baghdad, Iraq 1232 abbasid, sunni muslims Common people can read the inscriptions (anyone who was literate because it is standardized) (has diacritics, pronunciation marks) All cursive writing was first standardized by Ibn Muqla (d. 940), the vizier of the Abbasid court. He invented a system still used in teaching calligraphy, that is, the measuring of the proportions of letters by differing numbers of rhomboid dots and triangles. He also established firm rules about the exact relationships between the letters of the Arabic alphabet. The first letter, alif, which is basically a straight vertical line (fig. 17), served as the yardstick for all the other letters, and the height of the alif-five, seven, or nine dots established the style of writing. Ibn Muqla, who was, according to his admirers, "like a prophet in the field of calligraphy," was followed by Ibn Hilal Ibn al-Bawwab

Pietra Dura

pietra dura: (a specify type of inlay) a type of inlaid work on mausoleum using (precious stone mined all over asia) Cornelius, jade, jasper, turquoise onyx, for floral arabesque patterns They cut the marble and the stones so it can be perfectly fitted into the marble so there is no lines that can be seen and glued in The collects of these semiprecious stone were meant to really demonstrate Shah's power, he could get jade from China, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan (Detail of pietra dura inlay work on mausoleum, using cornelius, jasper and onyx for floral arabesque patterns) We see pietra dura (floral patterns) on walls and cenotaphs of Taj Mahal inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones to create images

Mona Hatoum, Prayer Mat, 1995 and Keffiyeh 1993-9

A women born to Palestine exiles who were exiled in Lebanon but when she went to England in 1975 for a visit and unable to return home excuse Lebanon fell into a war of ethnicity and religion that last until early 90s. She was exiled or homeless in a way. Her work without explicit reference to ethnicity or nationality is very concerned with issues with exile. She is a Christian so makes her work unusual. Compass at center, it is a large scale object that lays on the ground, the carpet is made from sharp pins. A bed of nails or pins, this is prayer mat of pin. She is not muslim but she grew up in Lebanon and is familiar with the Muslim visual culture. She makes with prayer mat: What is prayer mat for: to pray and they face towards Mecca (a home they are not necessarily present with) the compass directs, dictates, governs. But it is a prayer mat that is so painful knee on like laying a mat made of pins. This kind of painful longing for home, for place, that is the condition of exile (the human condition of exile). Very non politcal in that sense, she is not "No one has put the Palestinian experience in visual terms so austerely and yet so play-fully, so compellingly and at the same moment so allusively" -something about her work that is recognized because of the ways she has engaged with home, but doing it through a prayer mat which is distinctly Islamic object" She is also indented to the tradition of found objects in the ways she is taking objects that are not used (the pins is not a beautiful think but is turning it into a beautiful thing). Her work is a like a child that has a grudge against her minimalist parents, she acknowledges the value of minimalist but is very depersonalize and she is trying to personalize what is fundamentally a minimalist project Identity in Question Mona Hatoum Keffiyeh 1993-9 Keffiyeh is head attire traditionally worn by Arab men, but she makes with from strains of women hair. So she describes it as the interweaving of two genders in one fabric, a kind of protest in away against men and attempt to give women visibility through the material and technique and seeing it as a symbol as a resistance One of her few works that has a ethnic reference, most of her work is very conceptual, very diverse from specificity and geographic locale but she is very interested in thinking about these relationships to home, these nontraditional objects, or trying to connect our attention to topics that of vital importance to those that have been exiled. She is very prolific.

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

THE TOPOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF THE PALACE The Qal'at al Hamra (Red Fort, in Arabic), simplified by the Spaniards to Alhambra, reveals in plan and in sections a rational hierarchy of all the necessary components of the city. James Dickie proved that Alhambra is an urban complex, designed progressively and by intervals, to house a complexity of functions, which justifies the appellation of the whole as Madinat al Hamra (The Red City). He showed that the complex can be divided in plan to four parts aligned on the main north-south and east-west axes. The northern part is the royal/bureaucratic area, or what Oleg Grabar refers to as the Royal Palace, following the name Casa Real used by the Spanish scholars. The palatial complex has two describable entities remaining today: the Court of the Myrtles, or Patio de Arrayanes and its dependencies and the Court of the Lions, or Patio de Los Leones and its dependencies. The long-held convention was that the two courts, among other elements, constitute a single palace evolving over two centuries in increments added to one palatial whole to accommodate new functions. Thus, they were viewed as the equivalents of the public quarters and the private ones. This conception, or rather misconception, evolved through 140 years of Western scholarship. The false reading of the architectural complex is largely due to the inaccurate representation of the physical remains of Alhambra, after the successive alterations, and even transformations, imposed on the whole complex in the five centuries since the Spanish Reconquista in 1492. Dickie demonstrated the fallacy of these interpretations by reconstructing the original state of the last Arab phase of the complex's progressive construction4, and by drawing evidence from similar palaces and houses, altered or excavated. in Alhambra and Granada at large. He singled out six palaces, in the Islamic Granadine sense of the word palaces, of which only the two aforementioned courts remain. The Palace of the Lions, built or rebuilt to its complete Arab Stage by Muhammad V (1354-9, 1362-91), can be paralleled with the Renaissance Villa Rustica: it was set amid the functional and formal palaces of the Alhambra in order to create a nearby escape for the occupants from the rigid exigencies of court life, and to emulate the conditions of the picturesque rural environment, thus providing an informal haven in the palatial complex. The best way to understand the differenCe between the Palace of the Lions and the rest of Alhambra is by comparing it, as Dickie did, to the difference between Versaille and Le Petit Trianon. The Court of The Lions, with its fountain and its four axes-channels, forms the nucleus of the Palace of the Lions. Every scholar who dealt with the Islamic Palatial and Residential Architecture recognized the tendency to organize the living spaces in an inward orientation around the court. This typical Islamic inclination was greatly emphasized in the Palace, partly because of its grander royal scale, and partly because of its intimate quality as the inner, most secluded habitation of the Royal Family. The main living units gravitate around the court, sometimes on two levels, and turn their backs to the outside, while getting their view, sun, and light from the courtyard-garden. The sole exception is the northern pavilion. The Hall of the Two Sisters, which by virtue of its peripheral location enjoys a double exposure: to the south it overlooks the Court of The Lions, and to the north it commands two views framed by its windows and mirador. The closer view consists of the Patio de Lindaraja, which is the lower level garden; the further unrestricted view is of the planted northern slopes of the Sabika Hill, and the city of Granada stretching down the slopes of Albaicin Hill (from the Arabic original name Rabadh al Bayyazin: the Hill of the Falconer) at a distance. This delicate visual arrangement was blocked later, in 1527, by the insensitive implementation of the apartments of Charles V. The disposition of the Hall of The Two Sisters is pertinent to the hypothesis that integrates the Garden of Lindaraja into the Palace's scheme. By virtue of its location, the Hall balances the two gardens of the Lions and Lindaraja, situated on different levels, around its structure, transforming the concept of this peripheral north wing into a central structure in the configuration of the wider gardens attached to the Palace. This visual balance, shown in Prieto-Moreno's section, would be later consolidated by the sequential and correct reading of the inscriptions of the Foundation of Lindaraja. A primary analysis of the Palace shows the planar and spatial logical order that underlines the disposition of the design patterns in it. This quality, typical of Medieval Islamic Art in general, reaches a highly sophisticated level in the Palace of The Lions, where all the multiple forms seem to be deduced one from another by rationalizing reflection, especially in the subtle details of ornamentation and the multi-symmetrical arrangements of the elements. To understand this Granadine Islamic aesthetic, one point that will place the building in its regional and stylistic tradition within the historical framework should be established. This Palace represents the culmination of architectural manifestations for a people whose aesthetic taste reached a high degree of sensibility due to the considerable economic prosperity, and the long evolution of Hispano-Islamic art from earlier periods, centred in Granada after the displacement of Muslim artists and craftsmen from other regions that had already fallen to the Christians. Before moving to the reading and interpretation of the Palace's inscriptions, an analysis of the disposition of the water elements is indispensable.

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

THE WATER ARCHITECTURE IN THE PALACE OF THE LIONS Water was the Alhambra's life-giver. From the River Darro, at the foot of the Sabika Hill, water was brought to the site by means of a complicated canalisation system and aqueducts to the Generalife (Jianan al-Arif, The Paradise-Garden of the Overseer, in Arabic) and the Alhambra. The founder of the Nasrid Dynasty, Muhammad Ibn al-Ahmar (1238 - 1273), is apparently the initiatior of this water-supply system, despite the archaeological evidence of the existence of some fortification and possibly a palace on the Sabika Hill dating from the earlier Zirid Period (eleventh Century), whose water supply must have been provided by means of underground cisterns. The Nasrid system of water supply through the Royal Canal (Acequia Real), with its tripartite division before the Generalife, its water wheels, and its cisterns, made the development of Alhambra gardens possible. The Palace of the Lions has always been praised for the balanced composition of architecture, vegetation, and water. Grabar describes the use of water in the Palace's fountains and water-courses as dynamic. He relates its design, rightly, to the Iong-evolving tradition of ornamental and palatian water usage in the Mediterranean and in Persia, both in the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. Dickie points to the effect of water in imparting mobility to the structure. To Prieto-Moreno, fountains invoke nature's images inside the the geometric enclosures. The hierarchical order and the symmetrical patterns that govern the organisation of the structure and the spaces in the Palace seem to have applied to the uses of fountains and channels as well, creating an integrated architectonic ensemble of water and built elements. The centre of the water arrangements. like that of the Palace itself, is the Fountain of the Lions. The water spurts out from fountains or gushes from the sides of small, sunken bowls, located either inside the two halls on the north-south axis, or under the portico's projecting pavilions on the perpendicular axis. Then it runs to the central fountain in channels carved out in the stone pavement, after streaming down the steps of the hall's entrances, and forms miniature cascades, carved also in the steps, to spill in the dodecagonal basin at the base of the twelve lions. This pattern provides the physical continuity of the axes in form of the unbroken channels. In addition, the inward orientation toward the centre is apparent, and is actually emphasized by the direction of the centripetal water flow. In the Fountain of the Lions itself, the flow direction is reversed. The lower cylindrical structure in the bowl's centre is pierced around its perimeter by two rounds of holes. Water spills out of the smaller outlets, eight in sum, onto the surface of the bowl to be recaptured by the larger ones. This configuration creates a continuous back and forth movement on the water's surface, broken by the jet spurting from the centre of the fountain. The last water form perceived in this fountain is the twelve liquid arches sprayed from the lions' mouths to fall on the ground basin at their feet. The effect achieved by the manipulation of water was certainly intended and designed by the Palace's builders. The symmetrical balance formed by the fountain's disposition must have been also intentional, since it conforms with the general symmetrical order around which the whole Palace's architecture must have been conceived. The north-south channel-axis ends inside the two halls with two fountains, while the longer east-west axis stops short of penetrating the interiors, thus creating an equal-sides cross. A subsystem of balance is established in these two sides by the placement of two identical sunken-fountains at the ends of the eastern and western porticos. A linear arrangement of the successive spaces' central fountains can be depicted in the obvious alignment of the Fountain of Lindaraja, that of the Hall of The two Sisters, the Fountain of the Lions, and the Fountain of the Hall of Abencerrajes. This pattern forms an additional planning link between the Garden of Lindraja and the rest of the Palace. This interpretation will be demonstrated and corroborated by the sequential reading of the inscriptions. The essential role of that reading, however, is to decipher the iconographic meaning of the water usage in the Palace.

New Isfahan, 1590, Shah Abbas

West side of the maidan opposite the Lutfallah mosque is the 'Ali Qapu. Begun by 'Abbas as a modest atrium for the royal gardens, it was repeatedly modified and extended upwards as it evolved from its simple origins to an audience hall to an official tribune from which to review the troops and games held in the maidan. The final building consists of a block preceded by an entrance complex itself surmounted by a columned porch (talar). This extension at the front brought the building into alignment with the arcades added around the maidan by 1602, and the porch provided an elevated reviewing stand for royalty and guests. The ingenuity and playfulness of the court architects can be seen in the way they transformed the talar, a traditional Persian form found already in the Achaemenid apadana at Persepolis, from an earth-bound verandah into one towering 2 stories above the ground. The main block of the is subdivided into 5 main and 1 intermediate stories which differ markedly in plan. Many of the supporting elements lack structural continuity from floor to floor, revealing the additive nature of the design, and the main supports, which are massive on the lower floors, become lighter and thinner at the top. From the 3rd floor they turn into hollow pilasters and on the 5th floor they are a network of thin arches from which is suspended the fantastic plaster revetment over the "music room". The revetment (supporting or protecting a rampart, wall) consists of muqarnas niches which have been pierced in the shapes of the glasswares and ceramics; the shell, which has also been painted with geometric and arabesque designs, played an acoustic as well as a decorative role. The functions of some rooms in the building, such as the reception hall with water tank and fountain on the level of the talar, can be easily determined, but the function of many small rooms is uncertain. They were once richly decorated with wall paintings, most only faintly visible, with scenes of a mildly erotic nature, such as the languid youths popularized in small paintings and drawings by Riza. In design and decoration the 'Ali Qapu exemplifies the palatial architecture of the reign of 'Abbas. In addition to these single projects, 'Abbas systematically extended the road system that linked Isfahan with the cities of the realm and its major ports. To further facilitate trade, caravanserais were erected along these routes at intervals of thirty to forty kilometers, representing a day's journey. Caravanserais had long been a feature of Iranian architecture, but the number, size, and uniformity of examples erected during the Safavid period indicate that they must have been designed in a central government bureau. Indeed, so many were built during the reign of 'Abbas that virtually all examples built from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth are known as caravanserais of Shah 'Abbas.

Central Mosque Plan

central mosque plan (one large maqsura space) In the 15th and 16th centuries the sultans of the Ottoman dynasty sponsored a series of immense domed congregational mosques, in which the motifs of completely covered space, the large dome before the mihrab (most apparent in Persian and Central Asian mosques) and the open arcaded forecourt are combined in buildings that were the centerpieces of large religious and charitable foundations. The earliest examples (e. g. the Serefeli Mosque in EDIRNE) are essentially vast domes with low subsidiary spaces, but the best-known examples are creative responses to Byzantine architecture, above all the great church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, founded by Constantine and rebuilt in the 6th century by the emperor Justinian. Immediately after the conquest of Constantinople in 1463 by the Ottoman emperor Mehmed Il, it was converted into the city's first congregational mosque by the addition of a mihrab, minbar and minarets. The Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul (1550—57), a masterpiece of Ottoman architecture by the great architect SINAN employs an immense central dome buttressed by semi-domes and opened up by many windows to create a strongly centralized space, in contrast to the strongly directional one of the prototype. On the exterior the mosque appears as a cascade of domes and buttresses punctuated by slender minarets and enveloped in the domes of the adjacent religious and charitable foundations, which include the tomb of the founder. Similar though simpler mosques (and complexes) were built in the capital cities of the Ottoman Empire, sometimes incorporating local architectural motifs, such as the striped masonry used in Ottoman constructions in Damascus. This Ottoman mosque type has been adapted throughout the Islamic world in the 19th and 20th centuries and is the most popular basis for the design of new mosques. Arranged around a center rather than an axial plan Features a large dome covered interior space with structural elements that radiate from a central point. hypostyle: courtyard with fountain, qiblia with mihrab and minbar make up the maqsura maqsura the sacred space of the mosque. (was screen off for prophet and imam) Came to know the maqsura through the domes 1) so we are in a city that has the most famous domed building (Hagia Sophia) in the world 2) Precedent in Islamic architecture where Sacred space is cover with a dome So it is a natural transition into the third mosque type: centralize Where the entire mosque space is conceptualized as one large maqsura. So the dome is the maqsura We can see in this complex its not just one dome, its several (take Hagia Sophia and Islamifying it) Still have mihrab and minbar, but taking the dome and extending it to the entire enclosure. All buildings is directly related to power and to directly challenge the Hagia Sophia

Nationalism

Colonial era ends after WWII in terms of geographic holdings Some nations become independent prier to ww2 The withdraw of colonial powers was peaceful and in some cases violence India independent in 1947, What occurs is a massive split in geography between India and Pakistan results in conflict (Muslims trying to claim Pakistan and Hindu trying to claim India). By mid 1970s most Muslim territories from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia had gain independence and were constituted as Independent Islamic States. They has economies and political societies that were modeled on the nation state. We can look at map and see places that have Muslim population majorities and recognize the world as the world we see today, a world made up of nations. Shift in the Islamic world from world of empires and dynasties to nation-states and the ratifications in terms of reading the art and architecture from those places and how the nationstate sit in conversation with our notions of Islam or the Islam world Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, (1983) "In an anthropological spirit, then, I propose the following definition of the nation: it is an imagined political community." "It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion.... In fact, all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined. Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined." You don't know them, but you have something in common with them making a community. We are never going to meet them, but have a commonality. What is the commonality: Difficult to identify, but there is something communical. Similar beliefs and values, cultural things we do that differ from other countries, shared history. Belief in a value system. "The nation is imagined as limited because even the largest of them encompassing perhaps a billion living human beings, has finite, if elastic boundaries, beyond which lie other nations. No nation imagines itself coterminous with mankind. The most messianic nationalists do not dream of a day when all the members of the human race will join their nation in the way that it was possible, in certain epochs, for, say, Christians to dream of a wholly Christian planet. This community is limited: If you go anywhere else you are associated with that nation and it reflects on you weather good or bad or what you do reflects on your country. You traffic through the world with these identifies, they mediate our engagements. Personal construct, one person has different views of American when compared to others. Migration: if this community is limited, in the example of Christianity where conversion is a fundamental part of the experience of expansion (Ottoman empire was concerned with converting those who came under them to Islam, so people of Christians believe in missionary is important), but the nation doesn't want everyone. Its goal is not turn everyone into an American, but have limits: Who, how many, what are out limits of this nation we are protecting, what our borders and edges. This nation is finite. There are some specific things that differentiate it from how politcal system operator (like faith based politcal systems in the past: like missionary projects, colonial endeavors informed by religion, imperialism informed by while nation state wants to be self containing) Nationalism today: wants to restrict who can be in the nation. By restricting makes it an entity asserts that is separate from other things. Nation inspires feeling in separation or notion of preservation, notion of protection "It is imagined as sovereign because the concept was born in an age in which Enlightenment and Revolution were destroying the legitimacy of the divinely-ordained, hierarchical dynastic realm. Coming to maturity at a stage of human history when even the most devout adherents of any universal religion were inescapably confronted with the living pluralism of such religions, and the allomorphism between each faith's ontological claims and territorial stretch, nations dream of being free, and, if under God, directly so. The gage and emblem of this freedom is the sovereign state." "Finally, it is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship. Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings." "These deaths bring us abruptly face to face with the central problem posed by nationalism: what makes the shrunken imaginings of recent history (scarcely more than two centuries) generate such colossal sacrifices? I believe that the beginnings of an answer lie in the cultural roots of nationalism." What is he asking us: He is asking us to consider that your identities is not better than other and to not try and force it onto others. These national feeling of fraternity that has lead to deaths and sacrifice. Is being an American citizenship something your willing to give up? What is the alternative. Go anywhere else. Problem as a nation we are told were number one, so your expected to conform, but what if you don't conform with the cultural values of your country do you go somewhere else. The poem is war is kind. Feeding into the machine of patriotism and don't realize what effects their actions have. There are problems everywhere. As a citizenship you want it to get better for your country. It is easy to go off, but there is a sense of security that there is a passport that says American on it. Hard to give up the sense of comfort (it is where your family is, where you are born). There are horrific problems which relate back to what He says there is some horrific things a nation can have in imagining it. One does still find this kind of connection (historical). Nation is something that exists as an imagination community. Meet people and always have a instinct connection even though there is no connection. Because of the significance and history of what nationalist movements represent they tie very closely to what these modern art projects represent. Nationalism was weaponized. It develops as a western construct and gets weaponized in the project of decolonization. Late 19ths and early 20th c, non-western places (part of Muslim world) develop their own nationalism in resistance to colonial powers and dominations. Today the Muslim world is a collection of nation states which troubles the perspective in thinking about the world as Islamic. Looking at these countries and boarders, they are now distinct national boarder that have been further amplified through different ideas, different approaches, Example: Iran, has long history Iran although majority Muslim sees itself very differently from Iraq. They think of themselves in terms of the nation. Iran nation first, the relation to Islamic world 2nd. Different languages spoken, national borders have troubled how we approach the topic of Islam. Is Islam even helpful when thinking about he artwork produced in the early part of 20th c as some kind of connection. The border of nation system are not a permutable as the historic empires (there was some king of longevity to these empires). We saw shifting boarders of Ottoman empire, the nation state tries to establish itself with fixed lines and really determines its identify.

Shahnameh

Explosion in painting in 13th-Century Iraq and Iran Painting as illustration, Narrative painting Requirements: Paper legible (standardized) scripts & systems of writing (connected with literacy) Writing, Painting & Knowledge Writing as carrier of knowledge & ideas; writing as subject of or accompaniment to figurative painting Folio from Rasa'il Ikhwan alSafa wa Khillan al-Wafa (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity), copied in Iraq, 13th century (Esoteric teachings of a secret 'brotherhood' founded in Iraq in the 10th century) Writing History Shahnameh (book of kings) history in verse with mythologies of Iran, composed by the poet Firdowsi, ca. 1000. Recounts history of Iranian kingship These compositions & compilations for new ruling classes create intensified demand for painting in the form of illustrated manuscripts Epic poet written down about 1000. Recounts a semi historical quasi mythological history of Iranian kings Kings before Islamic conquest of Persia Work of world literature It is the world's longest epic poem written by a single poet written in 2 line verses Work of art and national identify (living Iran today you have been read part of this) Isn't illustrated until much later These composition and complications for a ruling classes created intensified demand for painting in form of illustrated manuscript Late Medieval Islamic world an obsession with history as atopic that can be written and documented and how one situate themselves in relation to history. Writting of history as the project of empire. Why painting contributes to the larger project of historical narrative. Narrative painting Iran: Beaker early 1200 (Seljuks) with episodes from Freer beaker: 1st illustrated version of the Shahnameh we have small beaker around the whole object is 1 of the stories Why important? We see in early 1200 we see a desire and will to put representation with theses stories to take these epics to turn them into something visual. manuscript painting is going to explode in the late medieval Narrative painting in Iran: Beaker, early 1200s (Seljuq) with episodes from the Shahnameh (History of Kings) The Shahnameh as painted narrative: based on oral accounts until ca. 1000 when it was codified by the poet Firdawsi The Shahnameh ("Book of the Kings"), the Iranian national epic, composed by the poet Ferdowsi from 975 to 1010, records the country's history from its legendary beginnings to the fall of the Sasanian dynasty at the hands of Arab invaders in the 7th century. Manuscripts of the Shah-nameh were continually illustrated, at least from the early 14th century on. The national epic of the Persian-speaking world single, written by Ferdowsi, the book is similar to Homer's Iliad in that it incorporates history and mythology. Many present-day Iranian names come from this book. This epic is considered a treasure of Iranian literature, preserving traditional Iranian language and only using 60 Arabic-based words. (Literally translated, it means the "book of kings" because one king had requested Ferdowsi to write the epic and promised him a lavish reward. After 30 years, Ferdowsi completed the epic only to be paid in silver rather than gold. Ferdowsi refused the underpayment, and when the king.

executive, judicial, administrative

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada Palacio de Comares Original mode of entry into the Mexuar (Arabic mishwär: council [chamber]), the first room the visitor enters, cannot now be determined with accuracy. Begun by Isma'il I, continued by Yüsuf I, and completed by his son Muhammad V in 1370 (A. H. 772), the Palacio de Comares was the official seat of the sovereign. As the main palace, Comares's primary function was to house the ______ power, which was closely linked to the ______ and ______ functions. Both of these functions were accommodated in the ancillary courtyards arranged as an enfilade forming grades of ascent toward the royal gate on the south side of the Patio del Cuarto Dorado (Court of the Golden Room). The purpose of this latter court was to separate the regnal and the administrative functions. Main courtyard of the palace, the Patio de Comares (Patio de los Arrayanes (Court of the Myrtles)), was the nucleus of a series of courtyards accommodating specific functions with their corresponding bureaucracies. Taken in sequence, these courtyards made up a parade, marking stages in a progressive disclosure culminating in the sultan's presence. The Presence manifested itself in two ways: 1) publicly in one of the courtyards, the Patio del Cuarto Dorado (Court of the Golden Room) (really a courthouse) (Fig. 4); 2) privately in an audience hall, the Sa1an de los Embajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors) (Fig. 5), attached to the sultan's private apartment in the palace, which opened off the main courtyard. Thus the Patio del Cuarto Dorado forms a transition between public dependencies and a private place of residence, so that the palace proper begins only after this point and is entered through an example of the crooked gateway that is characteristic of Nasrid military planning. This gateway opens in a facade intended as a dramatic backdrop for the sultan's occasional presence, when he was within sight and reach of his subjects while hearing a legal case in person. Routine litigation was left to the qadi (judge) of the Alhambra, whose apartment lay adjacent to the Cuarto Dorado, with stairs leading up to it from where the porter's lodge now stands. The qadi's jurisdiction was limited to the royal city; the city of Granada enjoyed a separate jurisdiction, except for the Alcaiceria (textiles market), which, as a royal (industrial) estate, was administered by a sub-qädi appointed by the qadi of the Alhambra. the Palacio de Comares has an internal one facade on the south side of the Patio del Cuarto Dorado, is the most highly decorated wall in the entire Alhambra. The three remaining walls are plain so as to focus attention on the facade and the importance of the person seated in front of it. The twin doors in this facade were designed to confuse an assailant. Originally, the right door led nowhere, while the left one led to the sultan's private quarters. A feature of Hispano-Arab architecture, the bifurcated entrance, rather than a bifurcation of the entrance, is a bifurcation of the route. Equidistant between the two doors and canopied by the widest eave in the Alhambra stood a temporary throne, probably a scissors-type chair of the style preserved in the Museo Nacional de Arte Hispanomusulman in the Alhambra. The axiality of the sultan's position repeats the axiality of more formal occasions in the Salon de los Embajadores, where the throne, as confirmed by an inscription, occupied the central embrasure in the north side. In the east a canopy is an attribute of divinity or of royalty The depth of the canopy in this case corresponds to the lowermost of three steps that suppliants would approach to present a petition or address the sultan, whose throne was thus elevated above the level of the courtyard. The wide eave functions practically as well as symbolically, to shade the sultan and to protect the plane surface of the facade that supplied the dramatic backdrop to his presence. Beside him would stand the hijab, or chamberlain (the court dignitary in charge of the hijab, a screen, physical or metaphysical, that interposed between a ruler and his subjects). Petitioners or litigants stood in the Cuarto Dorado, which had the function of a waiting room. Designed to overawe the petitioner, visually impressing him with the power of royal authority, the facade also operates symbolically: It is a royal porch, the entrance to the seat of power, overwhelming a suppliant in the same way that the Puerta de la Justicia, or Puerta de la Explanada (Gate of the Esplanade)l—the entrance to the Alhambra city from the countryside—overwhelmed the stranger because it straddles the route taken by foreign embassies. The Salon de los Embajadores is contained within the Torre de Comares (Comares Tower). It was reserved for state occasions, such as the reception of envoys or other persons of rank. The hall is based on the conventional 3 x 3 module; it is, in fact, simply a dilated mirador. Paved in blue and white tiles garnished with gilt, the floor originally gleamed like porcelain, matching the brilliant polychromy of the walls and dado. No floor tiles remain in situ, but some surviving specimens are in the Alhambra museum and still gleam like porcelain when immersed in water; a few even retain a delicate gold arabesque. Unique to the Muslim world were floor tiles in the Alhambra inscribed with the name of God. They bore the dynasty's motto, There is no conqueror but God, which is reiterated in faience or plasterwork all over the Alhambra. These tiles, on which no one would ever stand, occupied the center of the floor, directly under the apex of the ceiling. Dario Cabanelas Rodriguez's researches have established that the ceiling of the Salon de los Embajadores is a schematic representation of the seven superimposed heavens of the Muslim cosmos (Qur'an 67: 3), above which stands the throne of God. When the earthly sovereign sat on the throne occupying the central bay on the north side of the hall, he was covered and protected by this canopy. A proper Muslim ruler never styled himself "king," which would be an encroachment on God's sovereignty, but only "sultan". He recognized that his power derived from the Shari'a, the divinely revealed Law; indeed it was the application of this law that legitimized his rule. There extended, therefore, an axis from floor to ceiling, the vertical axis of the spirit (as opposed to the horizontal axis of the phenomenal world), making this huge interior a microcosmic reflection within which the ruler had his place. The Salon de los Embajadores was intended as a setting for monarchy. The symbolic allusion in the design of the ceiling to the sixty-seventh chapter of the Qur'an, the sura al-Mulk, "The Kingdom," is the Nasrid equivalent of the Umayyad dynasty's use of the word mulk on the walls of Madinat al-Zahra' outside Cordoba. The main court contained 5 houses, or self-contained dwellings, in addition to a service block and throne hall. The sultan's private apartments were on the north side of the patio and comprised summer quarters on the ground floor and winter quarters in the tower above, with a window on the main axis. The name of the ground-floor apartment, the Sala de la Barca (Hall of the Blessing), derives from the repetition of the word baraka (blessing) on the walls. Folding doors, now restored, closed off the room and ensured privacy. At either end of this room is an alcove (al-qubba), or bed recess. Originally the alcoves had flat roofs; the present arrangement, which includes the two turrets whose windows light the alcoves through pierced ceilings, dates only from the restoration by Rafael Contreras after the fire of 1890. The alcove on the west was equipped with a privy, whose long disuse has been the secret of its preservation, for the walls retain their original painted dadoes. The corresponding alcove (jawab) on the east had its function disguised by the later insertion of a door giving access to another courtyard, the Patio de la Reja (Court of the Screen), and to the baths. Restoration in another doorway in the east side of the wall separating the Sala de la Barca from the Sa1on de los Embajadores. This doorway was, in fact, the mihrab (prayer niche) of the sultan's private oratory (musalla). Opposite this oratory a stairway leads to the sultan's winter quarters upstairs. The tower on the perimeter wall of the palace that houses the Salon de los Embajadores also functioned as the mirador of the sultan's suite. The name of this tower, and the palace, comes from the Arabic place-name Qumårish (Comares). In a work published in 1608, Francisco Bermüdez de Pedraza claimed that the artisans who worked on the tower may have come from the fortress town of that name; the same story was repeated by Hurtado de Mendoza in 1627. Externally, the tower operates, like the Puerta de la Justicia, as yet another symbol of royal authority, while internally, its bulk is aestheticized by being reflected in the large pool in the Patio de Comares (Fig. 3). This vast expanse of water served to cool the important apartments bordering the courtyard, while the garden kept the atmosphere fresh. Only the myrtle bushes (replanted by Contreras) remain, but there were citrus trees as well, exactly as in the courtyard of the Palacio de los Leones. The facilities most in use by the sultan—an oratory for his devotions, a washroom for his personal hygiene, a bathhouse for his relaxation, a separate courtyard (the Patio del Cuarto Dorado) for his adjudication, and a hall for his audiences (the Salon de los Embajadores)—all lay adjacent to his private apartment. The courtyard of tribunals is small because the number of litigants was restricted, whereas the throne hall had to be large to accommodate an entire court as well as, on occasion, an ambassador and his suite. The arrangement is a curious and not entirely satisfactory one, considering that the hall is only accessible from the sultan's private quarters, which would have to be traversed by anyone attending an audience. One would like to know more, but too little of the palace architecture of Muslim Spain survives to enable us to trace antecedents or make comparisons. Symmetrically disposed on the east and west sides of the Patio de Comares were apartments for the sultan's four wives (the maximum number permitted by Islamic law). The south side was reserved for service and concubinage. Like the sultan's apartment, each of the wives' apartments comprised 2 floors, one summer and the other winter quarters. Each room terminated in lateral alcoves, and each apartment had three doors: a large one in the center and two smaller ones off to one side, one admitting to the stairs, the other to a privy concealed in the hollow of the staircase. In the harem quarters on the south side, the doors have been replaced, but in the four lateral chambers not even the sockets in which the doors turned survive to show that these were private apartments although the apartment in the southeast corner still has the wooden sockets on the wall. To the northeast of the Patio de Comares, in an extensive underground annex, are the baths. Although their chronology is confused, they probably go back to the time of Isma'il I. The epigraphic evidence is inconclusive. A misleading reference to Muhammad V in the Sala de las Camas (Hall of Repose) proves on examination to date from the nineteenth century, when a restorer substituted a calque of a contemporary inscription for an original Qur'anic one. The gaudy polychromy was added in 1866. This hall probably dates from the time of Yusuf I, whose name appears on a marble plaque framing a niche in the east wall of the caldarium. The hall is attributed to Yusuf on stylistic grounds but assigns the vaulted portions of the complex to Isma'il on the basis of the style of the capitals. While it seems reasonable to credit Isma'il with the baths, their proper relationship to the remainder of that monarch's palace cannot now be determined, for they communicate with the Patio de Comares through an addition (the Sala de las Camas) dating from the time of Yusuf. The junction between baths and courtyard is so adroitly handled as to leave little doubt that the latter is also the work of Yusuf, albeit modified by his son, for the upper level of the part of the baths added by Yusuf corresponds to the ground level of the courtyard. Islamic baths were modeled after Roman baths, but they lacked a frigidarium; because of the immodesty involved, swimming never became a Muslim sport. The Sala de las Camas forms an apodyterium, which is followed by a tepidarium and two caldaria, the second with hypocaust beneath. The last compartment, separated from the others by a flimsy partition, is the furnace room, where a great copper boiler sat atop a stove. The partition kept out the smoke, and the boiler supplied the tanks. Both hypocaust and hot-water system were wood fired. The baths were Turkish, that is, vapor, baths but with tanks that were converted to immersion usage after the conquest. A small doorway set inconspicuously into the northeast corner of the Patio de Comares, matching the doorway of a sultana's apartment directly opposite, admitted to the bath attendant's humble abode; a somewhat larger one a few paces south served persons of rank. This entrance fell into desuetude after the conquest, when a new one from the Patio de la Reja (Court of the Screen) was inserted on the subterranean level in the time of Charles V. Since a bath is one of the amenities missing from Charles V 's palace, it may be that the Muslim baths were a factor in that monarch's decision to retain the conjoined palaces as an annex.

Humayan's Tomb, Akbar or Mirak Mizra Ghiyas, 1570, Delhi

Mughal Garden Design & Visual Order: The Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal: India is part of Asia (sort of), subcontinent, The people who made it invaded India, they came from the Islamic lands, (Islamic monument, India monument) India: buttress up to Asia forming the Himalayan mountains, Northern part of India is where Mughals ruled from The Mughal Empire 1526-1707 Mughals-Muslim Dynasty that originated in central Asia and ruled the Indian subcontinent from the 16th-18th century Mughals is derivation of the word Mongol (invaded westward) Came from areas like Iran and Afghanistan and came to India and conquered it Very powerful Height of power 1526-1707 The British colonization in the 18th century ended their rule Portrait of Babur: was a descended from powerful (in area of Iran and a Afghanistan) Islamics families, he could not claim the throne and he was upset and so he decided to go south to India and take over (which at the time was being ruled by the delhi sultanate) Known as the Tiger, was a learned intellectual person with big ambitions New Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra= area first explore, the golden triangular Defeats the delhi sultanate and wrote his own biography called the Barburnama (Author of Memoirs founder of Mughal empire) and his descents found the Mughal empire. Are they Islamic or Indian? We are Islamic people who brought traditions to India and find best way to situate those traditions and we want to govern India. How do we acknowledge India in our governance and policies. They wereMuslim they ruled benevolent and they let people keep their traditions. They had hindus at court but kept Persian as the court language. Employed Hindu architects, they were a syncretic Empire. The Mughal Emperors 1526-1707 Babur 1483 - 1526 - 1530 Humayun 1508 - 1530 - 1540- 1556 Akbar 1542 - 1556 - 1605 Jahangir 1569 - 1605 - 1627 Shah Jahan 1592 - 1627 -1658 - 1666 Aurangzeb 1618 - 1658 -1707 The Mughals were ambitious builders. Architect is a way to solidify power and legacy and they use architecture to reconcile foreign rule with a local environment. How to express power, dynasty, and reconcile foreign government in local environment? They were great historical writers- biographers, thinking and reflections on what they were doing and what is going on. The Role of Architecture in History "A good name for kings is [achieved by means] of lofty buildings...that is to say, the standard of the measure of men is assessed by the worth of [their] building and from their highmindedness is estimated the state of their house." -Qandahari (Akbar's historian) Buildings reflect the wealth and power of the king's name. Who we are is in your buildings. If you are important person the building will demonstrate that because they show wealth, express your potential and commitment to power "It is evident that an increase in such things [i.e. buildings and external show] creates esteem for the rulers in the eyes [of the people] and augments respect [for the rulers] and [their own] dignity in the [people's] hearts. In this way the execution of divine injunctions and prohibitions and the enforcement of divine decrees and laws which are the ultimate aim of rulership and kingship are carried out more effectively." -Kanbo (Shah Jahan's historian) Why kings need buildings? Show people what they are doing and how much power they have (what they can do for them), in order to get people in line and demonstrate your dominance as the authority you need buildings. Buildings as way of expressing the power of the king, speaking of the fame of the king, and passion as a necessity of rule recalls a lot of the monumental architecture we have seen A lot of types of buildings, but most famous for their mausoleum and tomb complexes Islam states you must be buried when you die (a necessity of the faith). There is a history Babur and descendants brought with them: Gur-e Amir, Tomb of Timur early 15th century, Samarkand One of Babur's descendants was Great Islamic leader This is tomb was very close to where Babur was living when he was denied the throne (grown up seeing and knowing) (I need to be making a tomb to be part of showing my power and solidify my family line and legacy) precursor and model for later great Mughal architecture tombs, including Humayun's Tomb The Mughals will do the same thing in India These complex do many things: 1) contain remains for deceased 2) space that did not sit in isolations 3) people visited, state business took place here, mosques (worship happened here) Those things they did was important, Idea of tomb not just singular building it contains, the idea that the complex embodies numerous facets Have large garden systems: highly organized geometry and expansive gardens are fundamental part of these space Restricted to people of power (reserved for people of the upper class) commemorate the person who is gone, gesture to belief of the afterlife/ paradise, signs of power and authority They took over Delhi was were previous rulers ruled, saw it was the city of power Babur tomb is in Afghanistan Tomb of Emperor Humayun, Delhi, 1570 Humayun (dies 1556) helped his father, Babur, conquers India Lost India for 16years and got it back, 6 months later he died falling down the libraries stairs His widow and son has to rush and build the tomb (it was customary to build the tomb while you are alive) Hire an architect who thought deeply about this tomb was a way of the Mughals looking at their own ancestral roots, but trying to make a building that will become a means of legitimization for their rules It is a 360 view (different optics) It is a first time a garden (combination of mausoleum and garden plan, was imported) put with a tomb in India Commissioned by his senior widow Haji Begam, architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas first tomb in India Gardens: India: Delhi (in Northern part India) is a place close to mountains but on flatter level (low lying area where there is a great deal of humidity and vacillate between dry and humid. monsoons hit) Difficult climate to work with it. Very cold in the mountains but in some areas it is very hot. The act of bring garden to Delhi was a big deal because it is a massive desire to construct in this place. The Mughals internized the gardens as a subject: Babur Supervising the Layout of the Garden of Fidelity, 1590 Someone made in commemorating Babur's autobiography about a garden he made in kabul of Babur making a garden. Babur though it was a worthy thing to put in his biography (garden as monumental form of power) It encapsulated the things we see: the garden as a enclosed space, their are fruits, trees, flowers, and at center there is 4 section (divided garden into four sections) The division of the four sections: regularized plan, irrigated and channels of water (divide people who want to get in the garden and the paradise of the garden) We see (Babar) sultan and the architect Gardens as a narrative of conquest Were highly organized and harmonious logic that went into them: trying to take the logic of the square (it is a perfect form: endlessly divided and keep the form) harmonizing along perfect and balance To manage of landscape: symbol of order over choas Invoking triumph over choas, invoking paradise in a hot, dry, sometimes monsooning climate), a gesture of power, and idea that if you build a garden it connections you to father and grandfather Iran and Persian writing lovely poets flourish in talking about the vegetal is imported in The Mughals were cosmopolitan intellectuals, they loved all things like European paintings, worldly people Chaharbagh design Chahar = 4 bagh = garden It is a four part garden Plan: the tomb sits at the middle and is surrounded by gardens and water meant to look like it runs up and under the buildings and connects the whole site. Four rivers of paradise and the unit of four have symbolic meaning Quadripartite plan sometimes interpreted as paradise due to the 4 rivers Whole site is a perfect square which is divided further into smaller units and which are in turn divide into additional channels The whole thing echoes the location in the manuscript Channels are highly geometric and force you to move in a certain way (You don't walk central, you walk to the side) Charbagh design Walled-in Garden divided into several compartments; subdivided into four quarters by paved walkways (khiyaban) and canals (nahr) 1) Humayun's tomb in the garden divided by 4 channels of water 2) Barber's tomb 3) Tomb of Isa Khan 4) Main entrance This building sets the precedence for this type of building in India, the Taj Mahal makes its own spin based on this building Different functions: Guest houses, mosques, places to get food Optical order: Why put water channel there: guides you to and form Orients your vision to the monument as a object but you are also moving around the building (you occupy the space, your a participate in the structure) and interrupt your movement (you cannot walk to the center, you are forced to the side, the sultan is died but his power continues to fill the space due to the way you are forced to walk from place to place) Presence and absence: He is not here, he is died yet you do not get the privilege to walk in center, you walk to and from the monument to the side, you are not there that was his space, you are reinforcing the power the structure and by proxy legitimizing his descendants.) A building is never just a frontal experience, it is something you walk around (it is 3D), You can never be that, you are always pushed to the side The plinth is a large structure, 21 feet high, and up to the dome is 140 feet plinth is a long building, looks symmetrical and balance on either side (radial symmetrical), sits on this plinth which below it and inside contains additional cells more than 100 grave stones in this tomb complex (a necropolis of sorts, a city of dead), average person is not buried here and those related to the court could be buried Very richly decorated The plinth is impressive main tomb building= we have really rich surface see in entry portal a Massive iwan (vaulted space) and muqarnas treatment in dome The use of the screen is both India and Islamic in its conception Mausoleum structure & plan (hasht behisht plan of 9 units) Is unusual plan and designed to be perfect from outside looks like a square, but its not Plan of 9 units A rationalist exercise in construction taken a rectangle or square and cut part away (chamfered corners) you get a irregular shape quasi octagonal shape that you divide inside (use bisecting lines to connect them and through these bisecting lines you make 9 individual units within the "square") Why 9 units? 9 palaces in paradise (so the 4 rivers of paradise that define the chaharbagh) Idea of construction something and internalize it so it does make these connections. This plan was imported into India (The garden and maseloum is foreign being grafted onto India) At the center is the largest domed space this is were Humayun's body is placed (hasht behisht plan of 9 units) -a square or rectangle, often with chamfered corners so as to form an irregular octagon, is divided by four intersecting construction lines into nine parts; a central domed chamber, rectangular open halls in the middle of the sides (in the form of a pishtaq or iwan) and double-storied vaulted corner rooms Humayun's cenotaph At the center a mihrab like form being cut out that orients the person inside to Mecca The tomb is laid out south axis, but while buried the head was made to face Mecca So the body is north, south and the head was turned in burial practice We can revisit these points of reference in how this building operates and how we think about power and optics of vision more deeply. How else is power playing out in these spaces? Function, Who is accessing the buildings? How are we are reinforcing Humayun's when we are occupying the building? The mausoleums orientation to the rest of the site is important in thinking about. Is this mausoleum also a palace of sorts? Less about the death of the king and more about the memory of his power being passed down. It is very subdued, not a space people will go in very often, but the site of the as a whole is a memory of power (the commemorative aspect is minimal when juxtaposed with the memory of the power, power throughout the dynasty (power from before and after- My father was the ruler, I was the ruler, my son of ruler- representation of legacy) Narrative of establishing legacy Why put names on buildings: leave legacy Buildings have important they transact social relationships in ways we don't always think about It is also a mughal stamp (it is the first one) How to tell India we are here and we want to be here? We are not just foreign rulers. Do this through the materials. Local read sandstone. See in the tomb a strategic chose to use red sandstone to make the building (local materials). We also see white marble which was usually used in Hindu shrines. They blend these materials together to make the building fit aesthetically within urban layout that already exist. It also used chhatris Taj Mahal plan of complex cross-axial (cruciform plan) with 4 main divisions (chahar (four) bagh (garden) organized by water channels main structure at edge facing river Front view & dome with chhatris Chhatri- canopy like structure seen at the tops of buildings (means umbrella or canopy in Hindi) were common around india were rajasthani form of architecture in the Princely state of Rajasthan. They start making and added them to building to Indianize the building. The connect the building to buildings that already around India. Gur-e Amir, Tomb of Timur: the model, there is vault, iwan, minarets, dome, but not chhatris and different materials It is a statement: We know this is a foreign building, foreign building type, and foreign garden but we are willing and committed to doing it in this building. Keeping aesthetic pleasing and admiring and acknowledging the local and bring it into this building type. Side view & dome with chhatris Inlaid tile work on entrance: not star of David, the star is there because Humayun's interest in alchemy

9/10th Century Quran v. Quran of Ibn al-Bawwab 11th Century

Qur'an c 9/10 on vellum (early, pre Ibn-Muqlah qur'an were on vellum) and written with paint brush and paint Angular script only 5 lines of text and he page format is horizontal (because of this the qur'an would be 30 or 60 volumes, lower accessibility) Hard to read (because of lack of standardization) c11 Qur'an Ibn Al-Bawwab c1000-1 paper and reed pen and ink (different media) More lines of text per page (more text per page = smaller books, this makes it more accessible, condenses the Qur'an into a more manageable text and improve accessibility) The page format is vertical The text is more readable (diacritics, decorative elements, pronunciation marks) this means people who read Arabic today can read it we see more illuminations and greater detail Al-Bawwab was a master calligprahy used Ibn-Muqlah's reformed writting system and applied it to the qur'an was a poor person, son of a doorman, risen up the ranks Knew the Qur'an by heart, wrote 64 Qur'ans by heart Took Arabic and writting system and applied to Qur'an, was a radical move educated in law

Ottomans

Ottoman empire: they are the most long lasting of the three gun powder empires In relation to the west manufacturing the image of the Islamic world Still traces of Ottoman empire until 1922 (last for nearly 600 years) they were the ones who had significant leaders under their control and they think of themselves as the guardians of Islam and their history (why? They had Jerusalem, Damascus, Mecca, Medina: control major cities of Islamic history and faith) The Ottomans were Sunni muslims (Safavids were Shi'a Islam and sufi) (Abbasids were Sunni, so Ottomans saw themselves as inheritors of the Abbasid empire) They had started as nomadic Turkish tribes in Anatolia and they defeat the last vestiges of western power. They were very militarized state (effective at military campaigns and open to technological advancements). The three gun powder empires through their connection with China and military technology they grew in strength (Ottomans, Mughals, Iran) Very wealthy people who did have close connection to the west. Parts of Athens and Greece are under their control which is important their identify and conception of power which corresponds to their building projects. The ottomans were the islamic empire the west saw as the this canonical image of the Islamic infidel. This land as pomp and ceremony and kind a great fascination by western travelers with the Ottomans. They have dialogue with west. Visual language: most famous for is the massive building project when they conquered Constantinople. Constantinople: Constantine was an Roman emperor and converts to Christianity and found the city The Roman empire falls and we have Western Holy Roman Empire and Eastern Byzantine empire (Constantinople: crowning city) . The Hagia Sophia: famous church One of the most famous building for thousands of years Once the Ottoman empire gains traction, Sultan Mehmed II sacks Constantinople and establishes this city as the new Ottoman empire (1453) and changes its name to Istanbul (translate: the city of Islam). Have problem with the Hagia Sophia which was the largest church on the planet (largest dome). Sultan Mehmed II: gets to Istanbul and he repairs the city and he is thinking about his position in the world. He sees his project as unified the two Romes, he wanted to take Rome back (according his biography) The ottomans make plan to take back this part of the globe. They saw themselves as the inheritors of the Roman empire. They have this land and taking parts of Egypt and Africa, if you look at geography it was part of the Roman empire so it makes sense they thought of themselves that way. Sultan Mehmed II had grand designs to become a great conquered. He wanted to conquer the world and spread Islam. He did think about this project of conversion as a holy war. Felt it was a religious obligation to spread Islam and some one who invited Greek and Italian Humanists to his court and his palace was painted by Venetian painters. Was interested in the world and asserted his place in the world. He had a mosque, bigger than Hagia Sophia, but it feel down.

Mahmoud Mukhtar Egypt Awakened, (Nahdat Misr), 1928

Problems of Modern Islamic Art Modern: progressive Muslim: canote some kind of traditional, historical Art: anything 1922: fall of Ottoman empire, throughout 20th century this moment of modern art rises. There are politcal awakening (Turkey, algeria, Egypt, etc) that begins and a focus on (a sense that England and Europe has modernized, industrial revolution has already happened, all of these parts of the world are behind and need to catch up and industrialize). See in visual arts, there are a shift away from carpets, ceramics, book arts, the artists in Muslim majority no longer want to make things associated with traditional Islamic visual culture. Instead there is a shift towards modes of visual productions one might associate with Western tradition. They are now paintings. Western painting become the thing muslims start specializing in, so we have modern Islamic states whose artist who are focusing their expertise in painting (although calligraphy sits outside this narrative) Modern Egypt: 1st muslim majority country were Western art was formal embraced in the form in the of a school in Cairo founded in 1908. The School of Fine arts, first institution in the arab world that planned to teach Western art. Egypt has been exposed (Napoleon, British etc) there has been a long standing connection between West and Egypt. Even though was once under Ottoman control. Ot is a place of great interest. Lete 19th and early 20th c the Egyptians want everyone out and want to be own nation state. This feeling of Nationalism predate before the forming state. Egypt is its own state, Egypt has its own identity, an Egyptian Nationalist movement Art education becomes very important to that Egyptian Nationalist movement. That education became cultural expression that expression of National entity. Pioneering modern artists try to lay down what modern art looks like and that modern art supports that national movement Modern Egyptian Artists Mahmoud Mukhtar- Egypt Awakened (Nahdat Misr) 1928 Mahmoud Mukhtar came from humble beginnings, he was the first student to enroll in the Egyptian school of Final arts in 1908. He travels to Paris and studies there. Meet a National movement leader in 1919 and make this art in 2928. Egyptians achieved independence in 1923. It was very attractive to 20th century Egyptian Nationalist The figures are looking to the future (very optimistic) It is recalling the past through the Spinex Recalls the past of the pharaohs. The gradient is also recalling the ancient Egyptian past. It is strange: Where is the presence of Islam that has been in Egypt for hundreds of years This women is interpreted to be a reference to a women's movement that was part of the resistance against the British. Name: Huda Shaarawi, decided to go unveil in 1922, organized anti-british protests. In act of veiling, complicates your reading. She is suppose to be Muslim, but when you look at any trace of Islamic world is virtually absence. Should it be called Modern Islamic art or in terms of Egyptian Modern art, should we invoke the nation. Or should it be though in terms of global modern art. 1922"Bride of the Nile" Clear engagements of western naturalism Nude, no Islamicification rather in ancient Egyptian Why choose that? It was the height of Egypt''s power when it was the conquerors not the conquered. There is a romanization ancient Egyptian history especially in late 19th and early 20th century an egypt as dominate. Also British obsession, height of egyptomania It is a identify making, the cultural construction of national identify here through this kind of art work and latching onto histories (latch onto a moments in the past) Use of figures was very rarely used in islamic art, with the exceptions of the book arts Less than the west: The Indian Picasso Secular art evolving, as time has gone on people got away from religion and a space with Western influence and explore art that isn't connected to faith. Ask should we not call it modern Islamic art. Modern art is suppose to be universal. -one of the pioneering egyptian artists, laying down the concept of what modern egyptian art looks like at a time that Egypt was becoming heavily nationalist -cultural expression of national identity -neo-pharaonic art -work recalls the past of the pharaohs while simultaneously looking forward into the future -romanticizing ancient Egypt during the height of their power

Hasht Behisht

octagonal hasht bihisht form, divided into nine units Mausoleum structure & plan (hasht behisht plan of 9 units) -a square or rectangle, often with chamfered corners so as to form an irregular octagon, is divided by four intersecting construction lines into nine parts; a central domed chamber, rectangular open halls in the middle of the sides (in the form of a pishtaq or iwan) and double-storied vaulted corner rooms Why 9 units? 9 palaces in paradise (so the 4 rivers of paradise that define the chaharbagh) Hasht Behist Mausoleum structure + plan o Hasht behisht plan of 9 units o The corners have all been beveled on the sides o We lose the rigidity of the points of a regular square/rectangular shape o Rounded edges o In the square, the space gets divided into different units o 9 units throughout the entire structure o in rounding the square/beveling the corners, it makes the building seem as if it doesn't have solid or rigid walls. o Mausoleum has 4 minarets o Minarets have been designed so that to the naked eye, they appear completely vertical o The minarets taper slightly out (not perceptible to the naked eye) o They taper out at the top o The strength of the monument is also its sheer monumentality o 186 feet across o if we ignore the element on top (finiel)

New Isfahan, 1590, Shah Abbas

South side of the maidan lies the Shah Mosque: whose entrance portal mirrors that of the bazaar on the north. Begun spring of 1611, construction of this monumental mosque was not finished until ca. 1630 under 'Abbas's successor Safi (r. 1629—42), and its marble dadoes were installed only by 1638. Inscriptions and texts indicate that 3 individuals were involved in its design and construction: Bado' al-Zaman Tuni prepared the site and building plans; 'Ali Akbar al-Isfahani was the engineer in charge, and Muhibb 'Ali Beg was the general contractor. The building was endowed with agricultural and commercial properties in and around the city, and both the building and its generous endowment were another aspect of 'Abbas's plan to shift the city's commercial and religious center away from the area near the Friday mosque. Entrance vestibule is aligned with the maidan; the remainder of the building is turned 45 degrees to face Mecca. The mosque follows the typical Iranian plan of a central court surrounded by arcades, with an iwan in the middle of each of the 4 sides and a domed sanctuary beyond the iwan on the qibla side; but the plan is noteworthy in several ways. 1) The lateral iwans also lead to domed chambers. 2) The domed sanctuary is flanked by rectangular chambers, which are covered by 8 domes and serve as winter prayer halls. These halls in turn lead to rectangular courts surrounded by arcades, which as madrasas. Paired minarets soar from both entrance portal and sanctuary iwan. Another arcaded court containing latrines opens off the vestiule via a domed quincunx. The whole plan is marked by an extraordinary concern for symmetry, made possible by the unusual availability of virtually unlimited space. Above the continuous marble dado, all vertical surfaces, both exterior and interior, are clad in polychrome glazed tile. The tile revetment is predominantly blue, except in the covered halls, which were later revetted in tiles Of cooler, yellowy-green shades. The exterior of the sanctuary dome is covered with a spiraling beige arabesque on a light blue ground. The enormous domeis raised on a 16-sided zone of transition and a tall drum. It has a double shell, for the bulbous exterior dome rises some fourteen meters above the interior hemisphere, an arrangement also derived from Timurid prototypes. Despite its large size, it seems to float above the other domed roofs of the mosque, which are left plain. The entrance portal [238] is the tour-de-force of the mosque's tile decoration and is entirely executed in tile mosaic in a full palette of colors. The outer edge of the iwan is framed by a wide inscription band with religious texts written in white thuluth script on a dark blue ground. The arch is framed by a triple cable molded in light blue tile and ascending from marble vases. The semidome is filled with glittering tiers of muqarnas which spring from a horizontal band across the back and sides of the iwan. The band is inscribed with the foundation text; like the framing band, it is executed in white letters on a dark blue ground, but the patron's name in the center, directly above the doorway, is highlighted in light blue letters. The inscription ends with the name of the master calligrapher who designed it, "Ali Riza, and the date 1025 (1616). Panels in the balcony over the doorway are decorated with confronted peacocks, and other panels in the semidome are decorated with stars and vine scrolls issuing from vases. Magnificent panels laid out like prayer carpets flank the doorway, which is revetted with marble panels. The rest of the mosque is decorated with tiles of poorer quality, probably because money was short and the spaces to be covered vast. Most of it is done in multicolored glazed tiles, which can give a dazzling effect in strong sunlight but which are less effective in such dark interior spaces as the domed sanctuary and the winter prayer halls.

Court/Palace of the Myrtles & Court/Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada

The Alhambra was a palatine city (Madinat al-Hamra) that embraced a diversity of functions, only one of which was residential. It was the royal city, as distinct from the bourgeois city (Madinat Gharnäta) on the plain beneath, and represents the world of power as much as the world of beauty: the plastic arts, poetry, and music. Viewed in terms of function, the Alhambra becomes a text that demands interpretation. The enclosure contained no fewer than six palaces, in addition to two circuit towers adapted to domestic use. Of these palaces, five occupied by the Nairid dynasty were grouped in the northeast quadrant, forming a royal quarter. All five had a northern aspect and were either perched on the edge of the escarpment to avail the view or crowned rises in the terrain where the circumvallation (a line of fortifications, built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards an enemy fort) dipped to reveal a view. Four of the six palaces were virtually demolished between 1492 and 1812, while the two that substantially remain, the Palacio de Comares and the Palacio de los Leones (Palace of the Lions), survived as an annex (the Casa Real Vieja [Old Royal Palace)) to a Renaissance palace that was never completed, the Palacio de Carlos V. With the exception of a few open spaces within or adjacent to the palaces, the entire area was congested, like Granada itself, with narrow, twisting streets and labyrinthine alleyways; indeed, the Alhambra was even more densely urbanized than any part of Granada save the medina because it lacked suburbs into which to expand. These streets and lanes communicated with the palaces, which were seldom visible from without since they focused on an internal courtyard, or system of courtyards, depending on the complexity of function.

Tomb of

The most compelling contribution of poststructuralist visual theory to architecture, however, is the license to study the position of the viewer in relation to it According to structuralist theory, the position or value of one element within a system is completely determined by its relation to the other elements. Structuralism presupposes a closed system with an external agent or catalyst that calls it into being Deconstruction, however, dispenses with the notion of the external and proposes that nothing stands outside a relationship of dependencies since systems are enveloped by or intersect with other systems. Signification, therefore, extends indefinitely. he implication for the visual arts is enormous because it allows us to include the viewer in the picture The viewer is no longer an inactive. bystander but an important participant in the visual system. Derrida's model of the signature or Barthes's author can be extrapolated so that we can say that viewers constitute an institution that precedes the act of the signature or the making of a work of art because the making of art is dependent upon the recognition of the viewers. If we accept this dependency or at least the notion that a relationship of mutuality exists between viewer and object — it follows that an art historian's visual analysis must address the institution of vision, that is, perception, reception and the gaze. Architecture is perceived from many points of view by a spectator who moves. While there can be a single iconic view of a palace or cathedral seen from afar, it becomes in that case like a flat representation, removed from perceptible and experiential architectural space In this sense architecture is like traditional theater: the players are real, but their characters are not; the stage space is real, but time is not, since with each rehearsal the clock is turned back to the beginning. In both architecture and theater, the is a complex blending of reality and representation. Indeed, architecture merges with theater when it becomes the stage for the performance of public ceremonies For example, in a royal palace the central player (king) is both a real person and a character, and when the court convenes on the occasion of his ascendance to the throne, they swear allegiance to him personally and to him in his role as the leader of the institution of monarchy. the examination of the optical system of an enclosed space such as Humayun 's tomb complements the inquiry into architectural typology and permits far-reaching conclusions about the relationship of vision to social control.

Chhatris

Chhatri- canopy like structure seen at the tops of buildings (means umbrella or canopy in Hindi) were common around india were rajasthani form of architecture in the Princely state of Rajasthan. They start making and added them to building to Indianize the building. The connect the building to buildings that already around India. On Humayan's Tomb and Taj Mahal a decorative kiosk with a dome raised on slender columns, used mostly in northern India for sheltering statues

Orientalism

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, La Grande Odalisque, 1814 was Neoclassical painters: academy paper, oil, hyper realistic General idea of the Orient What we see? The silk curtains have vegetal motifs peacock fan Trinkets: facedown bejeweled mirror on the bed, hookah and pipe, Nude woman laying on a divan covered in fabrics (is hyper-sexualized) turban with ruby and pearl encrusted broach in her hair and a gold bracelet on her right wrist. Proportions is not accurate The body of a women who looks at the viewer, beckoning the viewer, but is not a everyday nude. But here in 1814, a image of a women with details that were meant to register with a 19th century viewer as somehow from the east, the jewels, the peacock feathers, the turban, the hookah) something of the exotic Eastern world. Present for the viewer the image of the orient, a far away land where women lay on beds beckoning to the viewer, to those looking in on a world of delight, a world where we can take pleasure in the naked body. Use this painting as a starting point into Orientalism. is the fantasization, romanticization, and the fiction people create around a culture particularly Islam, Asia, etc. Create this world they can part take in. Art: was a way to show the conquers power and show women as sexual objects, men as lazy, show power structure Orientalism creates gender representation, interest in power (representing power, using art to convey that) Practice of image making not grounded in truth but fantasy, representation, etc Western ideal fantasy of a far away land they can't quiet understand and don't want to understand because they are trying to find ways to validate their own power. Think about colonization: the west cared about economics, money drives everything. When Britain colonized the world they were looking for new markets, needed people to buy the products they were manufacturing. Economics and politcal power are there, but they don't just happen, there is some kind of philosophy and structure informing your sense of superiority and decisions. Orientalism as a mode of understanding what is happening in the world. Art and literature Colonism is the act (establishing of the territories), imperialism is the idea behind it (you should do, self righteousness), and orienalism is something needs to thought about in context of art and culture. What is Orientalism? Edward Saidi 1935-2003 1979 wrote "Orientalism"- critique of representation of "the Orient" in western scholarship (??? British and English) The impact of representation goes far beyond the academy: the network of its associations provide rationale for the Western Europe and Anglo-American colonists domination?????? What he is doing: been schooled in Western canon of literature, what makes these books so great and why English literature is the ultimate. He turned to the representation of the "orient". It was a blanket term to refer to everyone who was not the west and western powers. What he does in writting about this idea the "orient" gets configured in representation and in literature he wanted to show how the idea of the West (the Occident) was absolutely fundamentally predicated on the Orient. Without the idea the idea of Orient there could be no sense of western superiority. Argument the canon of English literature is predicated on the backs of creating a binary relationship of them and us. It is the ultimate narrative of creating difference and separation between people and groups. Edward Saidi represents a turning point in that he gives these ideas: "The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other. In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience. Yet none of this Orient is merely imaginative. The Orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture." "Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orientdealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient." He is establish a way of reading representation in literature and validating the position of culture. In order to understand global relationships we have to look at art and culture in order to understand how difference was being forged and configured. Things that have Orient associations Negative: sexual decadence, hollow faith, falsehood, eroticism, dangerous alluring, moral corruption, despotism, material extravagance, homosexuality , feminine, fatalism, passivity, stasis homosexuality used a polarization, a binary (the West as heterosexual and East as homosexuality in representation and writings) stasis: stalled, a civilization that cannot advance, they can't evolve without the West (john stuart mill: philosopher, writes about how colonial places need leading strings, that they are stalled civilization that cannot advance without the hand of western government, (how pervasive these ideas were and spread to all levels of thought and life, the Orient is a non-civilization to a certain degree) Although the sense of superiority is embedded in Orientalism as an approach there was some interest and desire to engage with this. In these Orientalists representations a kind of uncomfortable appreciation for the erotic, a sense of celebration what gets to be perceived to be anti-industrial (a sense the craftsmen are romantic because they have not been corrupted by capitalism) Orientalism very complicated layered way of Western engagements negative and positive in representation of East Positive: colorful, sensual beauty (exotic), contemplation, mysticism, spirituality, faith, "family values," anti-industrial, "spicy" How to think about the Orientalism?Orientalism is is it identity making practice, it is a sense of how artists and people made sense of their place in the world and looking at works of art and reading by forging these identifies and these connections "neither the term Orient nor the concept of the West has any ontological stability; each is made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identification of the Other." -Edward Said

The Lovers

With changing tastes, in the 17th century single paintings, often expressly made for albums, outdistanced in popularity the more costly and time-consuming book illustrations. Only one of these three miniatures is from a manuscript. Reza-ye Abbasi, working in the royal studio in Isfahan in the early decades of the 17th century (the latter part of his name indicates his employment by Shah Abbas [1588-1629]), was one of the great masters of Persian painting. The influence of Reza on artists of both his own and later periods was as great as Behzad's was before him. The painting of two lovers, signed and dated 1039 A. H. ( 1630), summarizes the stylistic trend set by this artist. The calligraphic line, varying in thickness with the flow of its own rhythms while defining form and texture, has been brought to its full potential. The interaction of bodies and of drapery to aesthetic and sensuous effect is one of Reza's prime accomplishments. The somber palette and a setting composed of decorative patterns of gold foliage and clouds with one or two objects, often a wine flask and cup, as here, are typical of Reza's paintings and were widely imitated. The illustration from a Shah-nameh dated 1074 and 1079 A. H. (1663 and 1669), was painted, according to an inscription, by Muhammad Zaman in 1696. This artist seems to have been unusually receptive to European art as source material, and some of his paintings strongly suggest a sojourn in India—not uncommon for Persian artists of the period. Here, the trees with their abundant foliage, the avenue of receding poplars, the hills in purplish shades, and the bell pull hanging in the pavilion, all European in derivation, are characteristic of Muhammad Zaman's work. Mughal Indian painting has left its imprint on other parts of the picture—the terrace and openwork railing, the river and its bank beyond, as well as the poses and placement of the figures. Effects of Muhammad Zaman's innovations can be seen in the 18th-century portrait of the woman seated on a terrace. The landscape is of European origin, as are the distant vistas sprinkled with towns and castles. The woman, dressed in a splendidly patterned tight-fitting costume, has an idealized beauty quite in keeping with the tradition of Persian art. From the 17th century on dates and signatures on paintings became much more frequent, indicating the artist's awareness of his own worth. The Raising of Lazarus, at the left, is from a late 16th. century Fal-nameh ("Book of Omens"). In Islamic belief Jesus is regarded as the last true prophet before Muhammad, who is considered the last. A desire to present the life of Muhammad in a historical context gave rise to an interest in the earlier prophets. In this painting Jesus brings Lazarus to life in a ruined mausoleum within an enclosure decorated with a combination of glazed tile and patterned brick that is typical of Persian grave sites. By the 16th century it had become customary in paintings to cover the face of a prophet with a cloth, as the face of Jesus is covered here. The picture depicting youths on a hawking party in the mountains is half of a double-page composition that has been attributed to Mirza Ali, one of the leading younger artists of the Tahmasp Shahnameh. The painting is in the court style associated with the new capital, Qazvin. Here, the lyricism underlying so much of Persian painting is at its height. In the idealized landscape, slim, elegant aristocrats take their ease in graceful, languid poses. There is a sensuality in the curves and countercurves of their forms that would barely escape a suggestion of decadence were it not so in keeping with the overall gentle poetic mood. Figures with long necks and small round heads are typical of the Qazvin school. Borders like this one, in delicate gold washes, with beasts real and imagined among foliage, were popular at this time.

Chaharbagh

Chaharbagh design Chahar = 4 bagh = garden Walled-in Garden divided into several compartments; subdivided into four quarters by paved walkways (khiyaban) and canals (nahr) It is a four part garden Plan: the tomb sits at the middle and is surrounded by gardens and water meant to look like it runs up and under the buildings and connects the whole site. Four rivers of paradise and the unit of four have symbolic meaning Quadripartite plan sometimes interpreted as paradise due to the 4 rivers The idea of enclosing the mausoleum in a precinct is not original to Humayun'S tomb. But Humayun's tomb may be the earliest extant example in India, and perhaps Islam, of a tomb placed in the most formal of settings, the four-part garden commonly called a chaharbagh (however, given the controversy surrounding debates arising from this problematic term, "quadripartite" or "cross-axial" will be used here)

The Ilkhanid painted manuscript of the Shahnameh, Tabriz ca. 1335 "Rustam's Revenge against Shaghad"

Ilkhanid/ Mongols Where the Mongols or Ilkhamids decided to put their emphasis on in terms of producing objects and creating works of art was turning to the shahnameh. This epic was and is still very important in terms of Iranian national identity. They chose it as a kind of almost official dynastic history that they wanted to insert themselves in, the identified with the Iranian kings of the past and wanted to by producing this object they wanted to prove their right to be there and the right to govern Iran. So the most elaborate and luxurious manuscript of this period is a 14th century copy known as the Great Mongol shahnameh known as "Demotte shahnameh" after its last owner Created in trabriz 1330-15 shahnameh: official dynastic history in 20th century a Paris art dealer cut up the book into individual pages and sold them off. Some of the folio with their original text, he also glued the wrong text onto the work illustrations Original about 190 illustrations, today their are 57 lose illustrations in public and private collections In these big books, because they were private objects the frontispiece piece (first piece int he book) had the providence of the object (who made it, who owned it, when was it made/date) was lost, but believe it was owned by Rashid-al-Dīn son (probably made for him) Rustam's revenge against shaghad (folio)Rustam (main hero in the story) is a much beloved prince, he is written about as being a great hunter, leading, etcHe has a half brother, Shaghad, who us evil and jealous of his accomplishments. Shaghad conspires against his brother with another person and they set a trap. They dig a well and fill it with poison and spikes and put it directly in the line of Rustam and his horse, Rakhsh. They are riding out to help someone and the horse falls into the hole.They are above the well and the horse is contorted into the circular form of the well. Blood, spikes, sandel, and main is seen. Rustam will die and will fall onto the poison spikes. We see brother off to side hiding behind a tree and Rustam shots an arrow and kills him as he is falling. See multiple vantage points with Rustam in the center. It is horizontal-largely, dramatic moment, see arrow flying, the tree: all work to heighten the drama and they have illustrations that draw the viewer in representing figures as ethnically Mongolian

Selimiye Mosque, Edirne, by Sinan (1558-74)

Ottomans Selimiye Mosque, Edirne, by Sinan (1558-74); 130 miles away Süleymaniye dies and his son inherits the throne Sinan is still alive, so Selimiye has Sinan continue as royal architect. Selimiye wants to build his own mosque, his own complex but not in Istanbul. He chooses the city Edirne, the city sat on the edge of the empire on the West. So many one from the west traveling to Istanbul or traveling further east had to pass through this city. Was gateway city into the Ottoman empire Iznik tile panel. There were not a ton of mosques in the city, so he wanted to put his stamp on the city and show the west what Ottomans were all about. Süleymaniye was the a peak of the empire and a very slow decline. Selimiye was not as military and bureaucratically successful has his father, however Sinan final gets to bet the Hagia Sophia in terms of height and diameter of the dome building Smaller than the Süleymaniye complex, but the size of two football fields Selimiye Mosque v.s Süleymaniye complex and Şehzade Mehmed Complex Selimiye has less domes (some half domes, domes of courtyard and arches) Sinan found way for less domes, we see buttresses on the outside Plan: a little pared down in terms of subsidiary buildings Two madrasa (flanking, symmetrical) Entrance, courtyard and cover space, ablution fountain We can tell from the plan Sinan did something different from with the foot print of the building Piers: there is 8 small pillars (instead of 4 pillars that make a cube) making something of a octagonal shape in the center. These supports are used to establish the base of the dome and the buttresses connect to those piers. Effect on inside from octagon not a square: more rounded out, more open, more cohesive, the absolute and perfect articulation of a centralize plan mosque (taking masqura and making it the mosque has reached full maturity) Inside: 1) There is a platform directly under the middle of the dome. Space for person leading prayer (the muezzin), leading chant for congregation. Described similar to church alter. Argued that Sinan is interested in church architecture and thinking about it, it is geometric and created a connection between the dome and the ground. 2) see piers (massive) create an octangol 3) There are 8 muqarnas corbelled squinches that support 8 large piers 4) hierarchy in the architecture: as the bottom is a simplified, neutral decorative program. As you move upwards we have more windows, some calligraphy, arches, medallions, muqarnas. The dome is blue and gold and has an overall effect of connecting the earth and heavens (the heavens is suspended over you) 1st Muslim dome whose diameter equal the Hagia sophia and the reason why Sinan claimed that he built a taller dome in the Hagia Sophia (in this mosque I have erected a dome 6 cubits higher and 4 cubic wider than the dome of the Hagia Sophia) It is Sinan's masterpiece Throughout this mosque and other ones are the presence of Iznik tile We can assume it is Ottoman Has a lot of blue in it vegetal Specifics: dagger like leaves and floral arragnments There is a connection between China and Chinese imagaery in how the floral motifs are arranged glaze had tin in it (gives it a shine), but we don't know how hot it was fired at Was used to create huge panels Very little figural presentations Was so standardized and the Sultan ran the royal workshop Green was added (sage like color to olive like color)

Riza Abbasi, Lovers, 1630

Riza Abbasi, Lovers, 1630In 17th century in Iran there is shift focus of paintersThey become expert book artists, shifting tasteIsfahan is a cosmopolitan city (lots of different people)There seen to be a preference to change painting to a single leaf paintings (single piece of paper, easier to produce and more effective), Merchants could but single lead paintingsRiza Abbasi: on of the more famous of these earlier painters in the 17-18th century, he formulates the genre: single figures with minimal background, the painting expressed with single washes, little bit of the remnant of the book art in how land is renders but is very starkOften of lovely young peopleUnheroic, middle class subjects that you could celebrate, collect and appreciateAll kinds of subjects: nude (from West) with simple plain background ( would be prized possession, something you would appreciated, but made the idea of painting/made objects much more accessibleThe Lovers: his Most famousTwo young lovers whose forms is inspired largely by calligraphy a kind of beauty to the forms in how the bodies seem to replicate a letter, intimacyPerfect shapes created between two figuresCould be done quickly and make many of them, a whole new genre for artists working in Isfahan to sell their paintingsWhole range of subjects: different kind of relationship represented, some taboo, themes of love, sexual pleasure, and enjoyment pervade in these single leaf paintings.Looking back on these as historical objects and it reflects the cosmopolitan diverse society that was interested in art and art as a vehicle for expressing experiences and life in 17th century life in IshfanThese paintings appear on walls and architecture and the way that architecture and painting seem to align together in beautiful ways