Islamic art developed beginning in the 7th century CE and includes visual art from cultures ruled by Islamic populations. It drew from various influences, including Roman, Byzantine, Sasanian, Central Asian, and Chinese styles. Repeating geometric and floral designs known as arabesques, which symbolize the infinite nature of God, are a common element. While Islamic art has focused on patterns and calligraphy over figures, depictions of people, including the prophet Muhammad, have appeared throughout history. A variety of media are used in Islamic art, such as calligraphy, painting, carpets, ceramics, and metalwork.

1. Islamic Art/Design
Joyce Teoh Mei Kuan | Diploma in Film & TV
Islamic Art/Design
Islamic art includes the visual arts produced from the 7th
century onwards by people who lived
within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations. Islamic art is not
restricted to religious art, but it includes all the art of the rich and varied cultures of Islamic societies
as well.
Islamic art developed from many sources: Roman, Early Christian art, and Byzantine styles were
taken over in early Islamic art and architecture; the influence of the Sassanian art of pre-Islamic
Persia was of paramount significance; Central Asian styles were brought in with varioius nomadic
incursions; and Chinese influences had a formative effect on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles.
There are repeating elements in Islamic art, such as the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs
in a repetition known as the arabesque. The arabesque in Islamic art is often used to symbolized the
transcendent, indivisible and infinite nature of God.
Islamic art has focused on the depiction of patterns and Arabic calligraphy, rather than on figures.
Human potrayals can be found in all eras of Islamic art. There are also many depictions of
Muhammad, Islam’s chief prophet, in historical Islamic art. Small decorative figures of animals and
humans, especially if they are hunting the animals, are found on secular pieces in many media from
many periods, but potraits were slow to develop.
Calligraphy Painting Carpet Ceramics
An illuminated album page
of calligraphy: Surat Al-
Fatiha, by Gholam Reza,
Persia, Qajar, Dated A.H.
1284/A.D. 1867
Camp scene from late in the
classic period, with no
frame. Majnun (at top wearing
orange) spies on his beloved
Layla (standing in tent
doorway)
The Rothschild Small Silk
Medallion Carpet, mid-16th
century, Museum of Islamic
Art, Doha (enlarge image to
see detail)
Plate with dragon.
Persia, 17th century,
inspired by 15th-century
Chinese blue and white
porcelain
Tilling Glass Metalworks Other Applied Arts
Tiled exterior of the Friday
Mosque of Herat,
Afghanistan
"The Luck of Edenhall", a 13th-
century Syrian beaker, in
England since the Middle Ages
Ganja khanate gold jewelery
(Azerbaijan State Museum of
History)
Ottoman marquetry and
tile-top table, about
1560