Ebook: How to Recognise Islamic Art

Penguin Books, 1980. — 64 p. — ISBN-10: 0140052380 / ISBN-13: 978-0140052381Spread by lightning-swift conquests in the seventh and eighth centuries, Islam enveloped many different cultures from India to Spain. Only gradually did these various cultures come to share a common artistic style — a fusion of influences from a vast social and geographical range. Architecture, metalvvork, ceramics, and carpets became the most brilliant expressions of this style and were usually characterized by "infinite pattern,'' an ornate form of interlaced decoration in which no single element was allowed to dominate the design.