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Syllabus
*go to the resources page for a collection of all course image pages
and listing of handouts
Week 1
Wednesday, September 5: Introduction to the course. The
origins of Islamic art and architecture (>Images).
Week 2
Monday, September 10 : The first holy house: the
Ka‘ba and the sanctuary at Mecca (>
Images).
*KAC Creswell
and J. Allan, A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture (Cairo,
1989), chap.1 ‘Primitive Islam’, 3-4.
*KAC Creswell, "The Ka‘ba in A.D. 608", Archaeologia
XCIV (1951), 97-102.
*F.E. Peters, The Hajj (Princeton, 1994), chap.1 ‘Origins’,
chap 2. ‘Mecca and the ways thither’.
Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. "Ka‘ba", "Makka".
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Wednesday,
September 12: Madinat al-Nabi:
was the Prophet’s house in Medina the origin of the mosque? Examining
the debate (>Images).
*J.Johns,
"The ‘House of the Prophet’ and the concept of
the mosque", in: Bayt al-Maqdis. Jerusalem and Early Islam.
ed. J. Johns. Oxford Studies in Islamic Art IX, part 2. (Oxford,1999),
59-112.
K.A.C. Creswell and James Allan, "The mosque at Madina",
in A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture (Cairo, 1989),
43-46.
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Week 3
Monday, September 17: The second holy house: Jerusalem
and early iconography and iconoclasm (>Images).
*N. Jamil,
"Caliph and Qutb. Poetry as a source for interpreting the
transformation of the Byzantine cross on the steps on Umayyad
coinage", in: Bayt al-Maqdis. Jerusalem and Early Islam.
ed. J. Johns. Oxford Studies in Islamic Art IX, part 2. (Oxford,1999),
11-58.
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Wednesday,
September 19: Early Islamic Jerusalem. The Haram al-Sharif: the Aqsa mosque
(>Images).
*K.A.C. Creswell
and J. Allan, "The Aqsa mosque", in: A Short Account
of Early Muslim Architecture (Cairo, 1989), 73-82.
R. Hamilton, The Structural History of the Aqsa Mosque (London,
1949).
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Week
4
Monday, September 24: Early Islamic Jerusalem. The Haram
al-Sharif: the Dome of the Rock (>Images).
*K.A.C. Creswell
and J. Allan, A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture (Cairo,
1989), "The Dome of the Rock", 19-42.
*A. Elad, "Why did ‘Abd al-Malik build the Dome of the
Rock? A re-examination of the Muslim sources", in: Bayt al-Maqdis.
‘Abd al-Malik’s Jerusalem. eds. J. Raby and J.Johns.
Oxford Studies in Islamic Art IX, part 1 (Oxford, 1992), 33-58.
*O. Grabar, "The Umayyad Dome of the Rock", Ars Orientalis
III (1959), 33-62.
Grabar, O., The Dome of the Rock (With S. Nuseibeh) (New York,
1996) (good photographs).
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Wednesday,
September 26: Al-Walid’s mosque in Damascus (706-715AD). The problem
of the conversion of churches to mosques (>Images).
*K.A.C. Creswell
and J. Allan, "The great mosque of Damascus", 46-68
in: A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture (Cairo, 1989).
*F.B. Flood, "Introduction" and "Damascus and the
making of an Umayyad visual culture", in: The Great Mosque
of Damascus. Studies in the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture
(Leiden, 2001), 1-14, 184-236.
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Friday, September 28, 3:00 PM: Visit to the American Numismatic
Society (Broadway at 155th Street).
Time permitting, we will also visit the galleries of the Hispanic Society
of America to see the Córdoban ivory pyxis. You can visit the ANS
website for images of Islamic coins at www.amnumsoc.org/collections/images/imlist.html.
Week 5
Monday, October : 1 Ummayad palace architecture (>Images).
*K.A.C. Creswell
and James Allan, "The works of al-Walid (2)", 91-126,
"The works of Hisham", 135-78, "The works of al-Walid
II", 181-216, in: A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture
(Cairo, 1989).
*O. Grabar, "The painting of the six kings at Qusayr Amrah",
Ars Orientalis I (1954), 185-7.
*R. Hillenbrand, "La Dolce Vita in early Islamic Syria: the
evidence of the later Umayyad palaces", Art History V (1982),
1-35.
R.W. Hamilton, Khirbat al-Mafjar (Oxford, 1959).
S.W. Helms, Early Islamic architecture of the desert : a Bedouin
station in eastern Jordan (Edinburgh, 1990).
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Wednesday, October 3: Islamic cities of new foundation: Baghdad (762-6
AD), Al-Mansur’s round city.
*J. Lassner,
The Topography of Baghdad in the Early Middle Ages (Detroit, 1970).
*K.A.C. Creswell and James Allan, "The foundation of Baghdad",
in: A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture (Cairo, 1989),
229-42.
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Week
6
Monday, October 8: Surra man ra’a (Pleased is he who
has seen it): Samarra and the idea of the International Style (>Images).
*K.A.C. Creswell
and James Allan, "Samarra: I", 331-344, and "Samarra:
II’, 359-76, in: A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture
(Cairo, 1989).
*J.M. Rogers, "Samarra: a study in medieval town planning",
in: The Islamic City, eds. A. Hourani and S. Stern (Oxford 1970),
119-56.
*A. Northedge, "Creswell, Herzfeld, and Samarra", Muqarnas
VIII (1991), 74-93.
A Medieval Islamic City Reconsidered, Oxford Studies in Islamic
Art XV (Oxford, 2001).
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Wednesday, October
10: ‘Abbasid Qur’ans: monuments on vellum (>Images).
*E. Whelan,
"Writing the word of God: Some early Qur’an manuscripts
and their milieux", Ars Orientalis XX (1990), 113-48.
*F. Déroche, "The early Abbasid scripts" (pp.
34-47), "The new style", (pp.132-7), The Abbasid tradition
: Qur’ans of the 8th to the 10th centuries (Oxford, 1992).
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Week 7
Monday, October 15: The development of cursive scripts for copying the
Qur’an: Ibn Muqlah and Ibn al-Bawwab.
*D.S. Rice,
The Unique Ibn al-Bawwab Manuscript in the Chester Beatty Library,
Dublin (Dublin, 1955).
*Y. Tabbaa, "The transformation of Arabic writing: part 1,
Qur’anic calligraphy", Ars Orientalis XXI (1991), 119-48.
Wednesday,
October 17: ‘Abbasid Lusterware: Innovations in ceramic technology
I (Images)
*A. Caiger-Smith,
Lustre Pottery: Technique, Tradition, and Innovation in the Islamic
World and the Western World (London, 1985).
G. Marçais, Les Faïences a Reflets Métalliques
de la Grande Mosquée de Kairouan (Paris, 1928) (view plates,
I have the book in my office).
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Week
8
Monday,
October 22 Mid-term examination (>study
questions).
Wednesday,
October 24 The foundation of Cairo and the development of the Fatimid
imperial style (>Images)
D. Behrens-Abouseif,
Islamic Architecture in Cairo (Leiden, 1989).
*J. Bloom, "The origins of Fatimid art", Muqarnas III
(1985), 30-8.
*O. Grabar, "Imperial and urban art in Islam: the subject
matter of Fatimid art", in: Colloque International sur l’histoire
du Caire (March-April 1969) (Cairo, 1972), 173-90.
*I.A. Bierman, Writing Signs, The Fatimid Public Text (Los Angeles,
1998).
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Week
9
Monday, October 29: Tiraz textiles: an eternal tradition
(>Images)
*S. Blair,
"Tiraz", The Dictionary of Art, vol. 31, London and
New York, 1996, 20-23.
*S.D. Goitein, "The main industries of the Mediterranean
area as reflected in the Cairo Geniza", Journal of the Economic
and Social History of the Orient IV (1961), 168-97.
*J.A. Sokoly, "Towards a Model of Early Islamic Textile Institutions
in Egypt", Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle
Probleme = Riggisberger Berichte, V, Bern, 1997, 115-122.
*J.A. Sokoly, "Between Life and Death: The Funerary Context
of Tiraz Textiles", Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters:
Aktuelle Probleme = Riggisberger Berichte, V, Bern, 1997, 71-78.
*I.A. Bierman, Writing Signs, The Fatimid Public Text (Los Angeles,
1998).
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Wednesday,
October 31 Painting in the Fatimid Period (>Images)
*E. Grube,
"Three miniatures from Fustat", Ars Orientalis V (1963),
89-95 & plates.
*R. Ettinghausen, "Painting in the Fatimid period: a reconstruction",
Ars Islamica IX (1942), 112-24.
*J. Bloom, "Paper in Fatimid Egypt", in: L’Egypte
Fatimide, son art et son histoire (Paris, 1999), 395-401.
M. Gelfer-Jorgensen, Medieval Islamic symbolism and the paintings
in the Cefalu Cathedral (Leiden, 1986).
R. Ettinghausen, Arab Painting (1962). Iran
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Week 10
Monday, November 5: The porcelain trade and its imitations: innovations
in ceramic technology II (>Images)
*J. Allan,
"Abu’l Qasim’s treatise on ceramics" Iran
XI (1973), 111-20.
*J. Allan, L.R. Llewellyn and F. Schweizer, "The history
of so-called Egyptian faience in Islamic Persia: investigations
into Abu’l-Qasim’s treatise", Archeometry XV (1973),
165-73.
*Al-Biruni, chapter on glaze from the Kitab al-jamahir fi ma‘rifat
al-jawahir.
A. Caiger-Smith, Lustre Pottery: Technique, Tradition, and Innovation
in the Islamic World and the Western World (London, 1985).
*R. Ettinghausen, "Evidence for the identification of Kashan
pottery", Ars Islamica III (1936), 44-75.
O. Watson, Persian Lustre Ware (London, 1985).
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Wednesday,
November 7: The Great Mosque of Isfahan (>Images)
*O.Grabar,
The Great Mosque of Isfahan (New York, 1990).
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Week 11
Monday, November 12: Inlaid metalwork: innovations in bronze technology
and aesthetics (>Images)
E. Baer, Ayyubid
Metalwork with Christian Images (Leiden, 1989).
*R. Ettinghausen, "The Bobrinsky ‘kettle’, patron
and style of an Islamic bronze", Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
6e sér. XXIV (1943), 193-208.
*R. Ettinghausen, "The ‘Wade cup’ in the Cleveland
Museum of Art, its origin and decorations", Ars Orientalis
II (1957), 327-66.
R. Ettinghausen, "Further comments of the ‘Wade cup’",
Ars Orientalis III (1959), 197-200.
*R. Katzenstein and G. Lowry, "Christian themes in thirteenth-century
Islamic metalwork", Muqarnas I (1983), 53-68.
Wednesday,
November 14: The
Arts of the Book, early painting in Iraq and Iran (>Images)
O. Grabar,
The Illustrations of the Maqamat (Chicago, 1984).
R. Ettinghausen, Arab Painting (1962).
B.W. Robinson, Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book (London,
1976).
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Week
12
Monday, November 19: No Class
Wednesday, November 21 Architecture of the counter-crusades in Bilad al-Sham
(>Images)
*J.M. Rogers,
"A renaissance of classical antiquity in North Syria",
Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes (1971), 347-56.
Terry Allen, A Classical Revival in Islamic Architecture (Wiesbaden,
1986).
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Friday,
November 23: Visit to the Islamic Art Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum
with curator, Stefano Carboni. Meet in the museum
lobby at 2:15.
Week 13
Monday, November 26: Studies in Islamic ornament and aesthetics (>Images)
*G. Necipoglu,
The Topkapi scroll : geometry and ornament in Islamic architecture.
(Santa Monica, 1995).
O. Grabar, The Mediation of Ornament (Princeton, 1992)
E.H. Gombrich, The Sense of Order. A Study in the Psychology of
Decorative Art (Ithaca, 1984).
Wednesday,
November 28 Urbanism in Islamic cities: la ville créée
et la ville spontanée
*H. Kennedy,
"From polis to madina: urban change in late antique and early
Islamic Syria", Past and Present CVI (1985), 3-27.
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Week 14
Monday, December 3: Colonial archaeology: the Germans at Samarra, the
French in North Africa, the British in Palestine and elsewhere.
*N. Erzini,
"Cultural administration in French North Africa and the growth
of Islamic art history", S. Canby, "Islamic archaeology.
By accident or design?", both in: S. Vernoit, ed. Discovering
Islamic Art. Scholars, Collectors and Collections (London, 2000).
*D.M. Reid, "Cultural imperialism and nationalism: the struggle
to define and control the heritage of Arab art in Egypt",
International Journal of Middle East Studies XXIV (1992), 57-76.
S. Vernoit, "The rise of Islamic archaeology", Muqarnas
XIV (1997), 1-10.
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Wednesday, December 5: Museums, collectors and auction
houses. Islamic art as commerce.
*S. Vernoit,
"Islamic art and architecture. An overview of scholarship
and collecting, c.1850-1950" and *R. Ward, "Augustus
Wollaston Franks and the display of Islamic art at the British
Museum", both in: S. Vernoit, ed. Discovering Islamic Art.
Scholars, Collectors and Collections (London, 2000).
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Week 15
Monday, December 10: Review Session
December (14-21) Final Exam
Readings | Syllabus
| Resources
Media Center for Art History, Archaeology, and Historic Preservation | Department of Art History and Arcahaeology | Columbia University
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