Figurative Representation

In Islam

The widespread belief in the West and East that Islamic art is aniconic is mistaken and requires a more balanced perspective. In Islam, the worship of images—and not art—is forbidden.

Although there are almost no images in religious edifices[1], there are images in secular art. The remains of Umayyad fortresses (Mshattā, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, and Qusayr Amra) and even Abbasid palaces (the harem in Dar al-Khalifa) have a figurative repertoire inherited from Antiquity. From the middle of the ninth century, animals and human figures—depicted without cast shadows in a style that underlines their inanimateness—were represented next to epigraphic, geometric, and vegetal motifs.

Islamic art primarily focuses on representing the sovereign’s glory. Standing alone on a pedestal, they’re often depicted seated on a low platform or a throne. Representations of princes were idealized until the fifteenth century, before becoming genuine portraits under European influence. Mehmed Fatih (Turkish: Mehmed the Conqueror) is easily recognizable in portraits painted by Ottoman artists[2] and Gentile Bellini.          

Sovereigns are represented in royal occupations, such as war[3] and diplomacy[4]. Hunting, illustrated in the furūsiyya treatises during the Mamluk period, ended with a banquet, music, and dancing. This was illustrated by a single figure[5] or an entire cycle, which included the prince seated on his throne, his officials, a hunting scene, and celebrations. Although musicians are depicted by a single figure, there was often a small orchestra at the reception.

Various types of dancing—including the ‘dance of the veils’, which was widely represented in the twelfth century[6]—is depicted on the walls of Umayyad edifices.

There were other leisure pursuits, such as polo—which reached the Arab world in the ninth century and later Europe, and often appears on Mamluk objects[7]—and chess, illustrated in the Book of Games by Alphonse X, in which a Muslim is playing against a Christian[8].

But Islamic art also widely represented the lower classes and major events in people’s lives, largely focusing on nomadic, city, and rural scenes. The Maqāmāt (‘Assemblies’) by al-Ḥarīrī (editions produced in 1225–1235[9], and 1237[10], Iraq) are some of the most richly illustrated works. Depicted in colour and with humour, the people taken from real life are typically Eastern in appearance (pronounced noses, comical expressions, and exchanges of glance and gesture). In the birth episode, a woman is being supported by two servants while the father is anxiously stroking his beard upstairs. Social life is also depicted in the work: primary schools, caravansaries, slave markets, and taverns.

Nomadic life is a favourite theme, and rural life is illustrated on the bottle in the Furusiyya Foundation[11]. Religious life is also included: mosque life, the Friday khutba (sermon), and the Ka’ba. Christians are also represented: Christ animates a Fatimid ceramic fragment[12]; a series of Ayyubid metal objects bear Christian scenes, including the Washington gourd[13], on which is represented (amongst other scenes) Christ entering Jerusalem, which is also found on a goblet in Baltimore[14].

Figurative representation also played an important role in the illustration of literary works. Love stories inspired painters. Two works from the thirteenth century are particularly noteworthy: the Warqah wa Gulshah manuscript from Seljuk Turkey, and the Bayad wa Riyad manuscript from Morocco or al-Andalus—a unique manuscript of the genre which originated from the western Mediterranean.

The most famous fables are those of Kalila wa Dimna, which were translated into Arabic from the original Sanskrit version in the eighth century. In the beginning of the fourteenth century in France, a Latin translation was offered to Philippe le Bel[15]; and the part that Jean de Lafontaine took from the fables is well known. The oldest surviving manuscript[16] is characteristic of the ‘Arab’ school: the setting is stylized, the figures are rigid, and the scenes are full of humour[17].

The most important work in the mirabilia (wonders and marvels) genre was compiled in the thirteenth century by al-Qazwini (‘The Wonders of Things Created and Marvels of Things Existing’). The work contains illustrations of divine creations, strange things, curiosities, and marine, earthly, and heavenly subjects. Belonging to another literary genre is al-Mubashshir's Mukhtar al-Hikam wa Mahasin al-Kalim (‘Best Maxims and Sayings’)[18]. The work, which is a biography of the Greek philosophers, contains fourteen miniatures and a double frontispiece combining Byzantine influences with Arabic-style dialogue.

Figurative representation was also used in the field of science. Astronomy was studied in Baghdad in the ninth century, and in the oldest surviving manuscript[19] of the Sūwar al-kawākib al-thābitah (‘Book of Constellations’)—based on Ptolemy’s astronomical treatise Almagest—the constellation figures are more one dimensional than their classical models and are depicted in an oriental fashion. Astrology played an important role in people’s official and private lives; treatises determined people’s characters and destinies according to their star sign[20].

Medicine played an important role in the Islamic world. Research conducted by doctors led to the compilation of various works (the treatise on surgery by al-Zahrawi (or Abulcasis), in the beginning of the eleventh century; the magnum opus Canon by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) 980–1037), some of which remained popular in Europe until the eighteenth century[21].

Illustrated pharmacopeia are also found, including the Kitab al-Dyriaq (‘Book of Antidotes’), based on the work of Galen and written in 1199[22], which proposes remedies for snake bites. The work contains Byzantine-style plates and others that are reminiscent of the Warqah wa Gulshah manuscript and Iranian ceramics. Editions of De materia medica by Dioscorides—the oldest surviving treatise on the natural sciences containing painted illustrations of plants—are often illustrated. The illustrations in an eighth-century Greek edition produced in the Egyptian Palestinian area are similar to those found in Arabic editions[23].

Belonging to a different genre, al-Djazari’s Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (beginning of the thirteenth century) describes the construction and mechanics of fifty machines. One of the very colourful illustrations shows a mechanical boat with musicians and people drinking, raising their glasses to the health of the prince seated on his throne in a pavilion[24].

Although it is forbidden to represent God, invisible beings (angels and demons) are represented. Winged angels with kindly faces[25] are the guardians of the divine throne and God’s messengers. In the Qurʾān, an angel announces the birth of Jesus to Mary; the scene appears on an Ayyubid basin[26]. The archangel Isrāfīl will announce the Day of Resurrection: this moment is illustrated in a monumental and dynamic composition on a page from the fourteenth century[27]. Islamic art also represents the prophets that preceded Islam—Mary and even Muhammad. A page from the Jami’ al-Tawarikh (‘Collection of Chronologies’, fourteenth century, Tabriz) shows Jonah being disgorged from the whale. There are several illustrations of Adam and Eve being expulsed from the Garden of Paradise. On a page of the Qisas al-Anbiya’ (‘Stories of the Prophets’) they’re shown being led out of the Garden—they’re in tears, their heads are shaved, and they’re dressed in white—by the peacock and serpent[28]. They’re very often shown wearing fig leaves as they’re expulsed by angels, the peacock, serpent, Iblīs (the devil) and the dragon[29]. The ascension of Jesus to Paradise is illustrated in certain manuscripts[30], as is Muhammad’s nocturnal journey, which is specifically recounted in the Mi’rajnama manuscripts[31].