Islamic artisans excelled at producing luxury items such as ceramics, textiles, and illuminated manuscripts known as the minor arts. Carpet weaving became a major art form under Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal rule, with hand-woven Persian carpets prized for their intricate patterns and knots. The Ardabil carpet, woven in 1539-1540, was one of two that decorated a shrine in Iran and is renowned for its exquisite detail and large number of knots. Islamic artisans also illuminated manuscripts, sometimes including representational imagery like Bihzad's 1488 depiction of the biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife set in a richly decorated palace.

1. Islamic Minor Arts

2. Textile fragment, 14th century, Spain
Met Museum
Fragmentary Loom Width with wavy vine pattern, 16th c., Turkey
Met Museum
Art historians usually focus on the “major arts” – meaning painting, sculpture, and
architecture – but Islamic artisans excelled in the production of “minor arts” – luxury
items such as ceramics, textiles, and manuscript illumination, which were widely
exported throughout the world during the Middle Ages

3. Under the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties, carpet weaving became a major
art form – and even today, so called “Persian carpets” remain highly prized luxury
items

4. Image source: https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-business-and-markets/71189/what-makes-persian-hand-woven-carpet-so-exraordinary
Woven by hand from silk or wool, these richly decorated carpets were used to decorate
the floors of mosques, shrines and home, and they were also hung on walls for warmth
in colder weather

5. Image source: https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-business-and-markets/71189/what-makes-persian-hand-woven-carpet-so-exraordinary
Priced by the number of knots per square centimeter (the more knots, the more
elaborate the design), these carpets were exported throughout the world during the
Middle Ages

6. The Ardabil carpet is one of the most spectacular and oldest carpets to have been
preserved, and it is renowned for its large number of knots, and exquisitely intricate
detail

7. The Ardabil carpet, Iran, dated
1539-40
Plan of the shrine at Ardabil, showing where the carpets were situated (permission, Victoria and Albert
Museum)
The carpet was one of two that once decorated a shrine in Iran – one is now in the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the other is in the LA County Museum

8. The center of the carpet is dominated by a medallion pattern that resembles muqarnas
dome

9. The medallion is surrounded by oval forms, each filled with intricate patterns

10. At either end are hanging lamps, creating the effect of looking up into a dome, with
lamps hanging from either side

11. The field is a deep rich blue, filled with scrolling vegetal patterns – a common motif in
Islamic ornamentation

12. One end of the carpet includes a short poem, written in calligraphic script, which helps
identify the date of the carpet, and possibly the name of the person who commissioned
it

13. Islamic artisans also excelled in the production of illuminated books -- and here we
often find figurative imagery

14. While figural representation was generally not permitted in religious contexts, it was
common in private art in certain regions

15. Bihzad, Seduction of Yosuf, foli 52
verso of the Bustan of Sultan
Husayn Mayqara, from Heart,
Afghanistan, 1488
This manuscript was produced for a late 14th century sultan in Central Asia

16. It illustrates the biblical tale of Potiphar’s wife

17. Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife, from the Vienna Genesis,6th century
The same story was illustrated in this Early Christian manuscript, dating from the 6th
century

18. Come here,
you hunk! No! I
musn’t!
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife, from the Vienna Genesis,6th century
In this story, Joseph was seduced by Potiphar’s wife, while the rest of the household
carried on, oblivious of the the scandal

19. Bihzad’s version sets the scene in a multi-level palace where Joseph must navigate its
maze-like passages in order to escape Potiphar’s unwanted advances

20. The palace is richly decorated with ceramic tiles and decorative carpets, yet the
perspective makes no sense: the flor is tilted up, and there is no convincing sense of
space

21. The flattened perspective recalls the lack of illusionistic depth in Byzantine art, and
serves the same purpose of observing the taboo against illusionistic representation

22. In spite of the taboo against representations of Muhammad, manuscripts were
produced to illustrate events from his life
‘The angel Gabriel revealing the eighth sura of the Koran to
Muhammad’; illustration from the Siyar-i Nabi (Life of the
Prophet), commissioned by the Ottoman sultan Murad III,
1594–1595
Musée du Louvre

23. The Siyer-I Nebi was an illuminated manuscript that was produced for an
Ottoman ruler in the 13th century, and contains illustrations from the Life of the
Propphet

24. In this scene, we see the Archangel Gabriel revealing the eighth sura of the
Koran to Muhammad

25. Like in Christian art, the angel is identified by wings, and the Prophet is
surrounded by a golden flame-like motif similar to a halo

26. But in observance of the taboo against any representations of the Prophet, his
face is veiled