The Islamic style
is distinguished by the novelty and extraordinary quality of techniques used in
the making of utilitarian objects. These techniques include the application of
lustrous glazes and rich colors in ceramics and glassware; intricate silver
inlays that transform the surfaces of bronze metalwork; lavish molded stucco
and carved wood wall panels; and endlessly varied motifs woven into textiles
and rugs. In nearly all instances the objects decorated—whether ewers, cooking
cauldrons, candlesticks, or pen cases—served fundamentally practical purposes;
their aesthetic effect was aimed above all at making the daily activities or
architectural setting more pleasurable. In the Moslem world a concrete message
is transmitted through its abstract forms. The Moslems tended to reject the
representation of the visible in their art to emphasize that visible reality is
but an illusion and that Allah alone is true. Abstraction thus became a way to
make a very specific theological point.
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