Islamic/Middle Eastern
Ink and Gold: Masterpieces of Islamic Calligraphy
144 pages, paperback, 300 x 240 mm, 150 illustrations
PRICE: £25.00
ISBN: 978 0 954901 48 6
Marcus Fraser, Will Kwiatkowski
Given the status of the Qur‘an as the eternal and uncreated word of Allah, the art of the pen became the focus of an extraordinary energy in the Muslim world. Ink and Gold charts the development of Islamic calligraphy – the noblest, most stylized and original of the Islamic arts – over a period of some 1200 years, from its beginnings in the Arabian Peninsula.
Text and illustrations cover all the major centres of Islamic calligraphy, from North Africa to Central Asia, highlighting the achievements of Islamic calligraphers in the ages of the ‘Abbasid (749–1258), Seljuk (1055–1243), Ilkhanid (1256–1357), Safavid (1502–1736) and Mughal Empires (1526–1857). Though pride of place is given to the Qur‘an, the catalogue also includes examples of royal decrees, calligraphic albums and Persian poetry, showing the huge diversity of calligraphic traditions in the Islamic world.
Originally published in 2006 to accompany an exhibition at the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, this popular and beautiful book is now being reprinted.
Marcus Fraser is an independent Islamic art consultant and specialist in Islamic calligraphy.
Will Kwiatkowski, who has degrees in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, is the Islamic art specialist at Sam Fogg Ltd.
The necropolis of Shah-e Zende at Samarkand represents a summit in the art of ceramic wall coverings in the Islamic world. Few studies have focused on the funerary ensemble of the Shah-e Zende and this is the first to describe these monuments in all the details of their decoration and its techniques and motifs, as well as the different types of ceramics used and their composition. Perched on a steep cliff overlooking the ancient city of Samarkand, today the ghost town of Afrasiyab, the necropolis remains largely unknown to art historians and certainly to the public. More
The Islamic manuscripts and manuscript leaves gathered here are often of great antiquity, ranging from the eighth to the sixteenth century; most are in Kufic. There are also pottery, metalwork and woodwork examples bearing calligraphy. An impressive illustration of the many beauties of Islamic script. More
The great Persian poet Firdausi’s epic Shahnama, or ‘Books of Kings’, written at the turn of the eleventh century CE, is a seamless tapestry of historical and legendary material prominently featuring battles and individual struggles with fierce demons and enemy champions. "This book is a vital contribution to the understanding of Asiatic art, its confluences, and its narrative axes ..." (Sixteenth-Century Journal, Fall 2009) More
The Shahnama (‘Book of Kings’), which chronicles the history of Iran from the Creation to the Islamic conquest, was written by the poet Firdawsi at the turn of the 11th century. Its central importance to Iranian culture is reflected in the thousands of copies made since then, many superbly illustrated and produced for royal and other powerful patrons. One of these copies, presented to Queen Victoria in 1839, is one of the finest treasures among the collection of Islamic manuscripts now in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. More
On the far Eastern edge of the Christian world – often isolated or overwhelmed by Christian cultures – the Armenians have produced a distinctive artistic tradition. The collection assembled here opens with the objects from the great medieval periods in Greater Armenia and the Kingdom of Cilicia. Later centuries are represented by paintings and books created in communities dominated by other cultures or far from the homeland, like the series of manuscripts here from Constantinople. More
This book is devoted to a monumental and superbly illuminated very large early fourteenth-century Mamluk Qur’an in muhaqqaq script. It constitutes the final part (Juz’ 30) of a superb two-volume Qur’an of which the first volume is preserved in the National Museum in Damascus while the second volume, from which the present section originates, is widely dispersed. More
The selection consists of Qur’ans, illustrated Islamic manuscripts and scientific and religious manuscripts. All are handsomely illustrated and fully discussed. The manuscripts are from all parts of the Islamic world and represent the finest achievements of the form. More
