Art History Today

Review of Clark biography.

Nicholas Penny reviews James Stourton’s new biography of Kenneth Clark, in the LRB.A good film of Penny talking about Clark at the NG worth watching too.

Slides) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

Slides.

1) Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, completed 691, built on platform formerly occupied by Solomon’s Temple.

2) Polychrome and mother of pearl mosaic, Dome of the Rock.

3) Great Mosque of Damascus, 706, Damascus, Syria.

4) Mosaics of the Great Mosque of Damascus.

5) Map of Three Empires: Byzantine, Sassanian & Rashidun Caliphate.

6) Qubbat al-Khazna, "Dome of the Treasury, Umayyad Mosque, 8^th century, Damascus, Syria.

7) Two coins of the Umayyad Caliphate, based on Byzantine prototypes. Copper falus, Aleppo, Syria, circa 695.

8) Map of Umayyad Caliphate in 750.

9) Desert Castle at Qusayr 'Amra, East Jordan, 723-743.

10) Drawing of six kings. Fresco, 705–15. West wall, hall, Qusayr 'Amra.

11) Bathing women. Fresco, 705–15. South wall, tepidarium, bathhouse, Qusayr ‘Amra, Jordan.

12) Zodiac painting on dome at Qusayr 'Amra.

13) Qasr-al- Hayr al-Sharqi, c. 728.

14) Wall paintings of musicians and hunters, Qasr-al- Hayr al-Sharqi.

15) Abbasid coins, Baghdad, Iraq, 765.

16) Map of Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest.

17) Aerial view of Samarra, Iraq.

18) Great Mosque and Minaret, Samarra, 848-851.

19) Minaret, Samarra, 171 feet high.

20) Female statuette, Samarra, 6000 BC, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

21) Samarra Bowl, Pergamon Museum, Berlin, reconstructed design.

22) Restored wall painting from the Jausaq-al-Khaquani palace, Samarra.

23) Stucco wall decoration at Samarra, wall panels, 9^th century, Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin.

24) Stucco wall decoration, five-lobed vine lines and tendrils arranged in a classical pattern, Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin.

25) Mihrab from Haghia Sophia.

26) Diagram showing types of minarets: Iraq, Morocco, Turkey, India, Egypt, Asia.

27) Kalan Minaret – the Tower of Death – Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 1127.

28) Cover of collection of Robert Byron’s books.

29) Map of Ghaznavide Empire 975 1187 A.D.

30) View of Herat, taken by Timrud (Tamburlaine) in 1380.

31) The Battle of Badr, Timurid Herat, Afghanistan, about 1425, from the Majma' al-Tawarikh of Hafiz-i Abru, opaque pigments on paper, the verso with 33ll. of neat black naskh, Painting 6½ x 8¾in. (16.4 x 22.3cm.); folio 16 x 11 5/8in. (40.6 x 29.5cm), London Art Market, 2017.

32) Courtyard, Masjid-i- Juma (Friday Mosque), Herat, Afghanistan, foundations laid 1200.

33) Courtyard of Friday Mosque, Isfahan, different view.

34) Mihrab of Jameh Mosque of Isfahan.

35) Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, interior with dome structure.

36) Maidan (square), Isfahan.

37) Masjid-i-Shah with dome, Isfahan,

38) Ali Gapu, Maidan, Isfahan.

39) Ivan with details.

40) Ardeshir Palace, Gor, Iran, 224 A.D.

41) Ivan of Ardeshir Palace.

42) Inner walls of Ardeshir Palace.

43) Diagram showing squinch and pendentives.

44) Squinches supporting a dome in Odzun Basilica, Armenia, early 8th century.

45) Squinch in Palace of Ardashir.

46) Pendentive in Haghia Sophia, Istanbul.

47) Gunbad-i-Kabus, Jurjan, brick tower

48) Tower of Radkan, 13th century, Afghanistan.

49) Tower of Radkan, walls.

50) Towers of Masud III (1099-1115), Ghazni, (near Herat), Afghanistan and details.

51) Kufic inscription on Tower of Masud III.

52) Tower of Masud III with tank.

53) Deeply carved terracotta panel, Herat or Samarkand, 33 x 29 cm, London Art Market, 2017.

54) Kufic writing on medallion, Haghia Sophia, Istanbul.

55) A Gold Kufic Qur'an folio, near East or North Africa, 9^th /10^th century, Arabic manuscript on vellum, each side with 5ll. of tightly controlled gold Kufic with brown outlines, diacritics in red, blue and green, gold rosette verse markers, larger roundel marking 'ashr, slight damages to edges, 5 7/8 x 8 ½in. (14.9 x 21.5cm.), London Art Market, 2017.

56) Kufic Qur'an page on blue vellum, probably Qairouan, Tunisia, 9^th Cent, Arabic manuscript on blue vellum, the folio with 15ll. of elegant red-outlined gold Kufic, silver verse markers, hair side almost completely rubbed, remains of a marginal medallion, Folio 11 3/8 x 14 ¾in. (28.9 x 37.8cm), London Art Market, 2017.

57) A large calligraphic composition, signed Mishkin Qalam, ACRE, Ottoman Palestine, 1301/1883-84 AD, ink on paper, the two lines in large black diwani, signed along the left border, dated in the bottom right corner, 21 ¾ x 31 ½in (55 x 78cm), London Art Market, 2017.

58) Royal Mosque (Imam Mosque), minaret; tiling with interlocking names of Muhammad (محمد) and Ali (علی) in Square Kufic script, Isfahan.

59) Aljazeera name in Kufic script turned into a logo.

60) Minaret of Jam, Afghanistan, 62-metre (203 ft), 1190.

61) Timurid conqueror Babur advances through Jam and the mountains to Kabul.

62) Details of decorative exterior of Minaret of Jam.

63) Qutb Minar, 14.3 metre (47 feet) base diameter, reducing to 2.7 metres (9 feet) at the peak, Delhi, India.

64) Calligraphic script on Qutb Minar.

14) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

The Aesthetics of Islamic Script

Most Islamic buildings incorporate architecture, painting, decoration and calligraphy in a dazzling combination. Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Kufic developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name, and other centres. Initially without diacritics or accents, Kufic gradually incorporated these to help with pronunciation. Kufic script could be described as “angular and attenuated” with about three or four lines of bold calligraphy on each page of the Qu’ran whose development Islamic calligraphy closely follows. [1] There are many subdivisions of Kufic such as that which is found on square tilework on mosques and minarets like the one at Jam (above); or the more decorative type found on terracotta bowls and other objects. The Kufic script is by no means irrelevant to our day and age. For example, the name of the newspaper and television station Al Jazeera is written in Kufic which is used to construct the logo or masthead; conversely the logo can be turned back into its former state.

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[1] Ettingham and Grabar, Art and Architecture of Islam, 353.

13) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

June 14^th- Towers of Masud III (1099-1115), Ghazni, (near Herat), Afghanistan.

One of two towers built by Ghiyath ad-Din Muhammed (1163-1203) of the Ghurid dynasty. May have been inspired by the Qutb Minaret at Delhi. Byron describes and explains the construction and purpose of the Ghazni Towers (“built as minarets, commemorative rather than religious”); tries to clarify confusion over the founders; comments on the difference between the two towers (“difference in breadth”); notes their similarities ( “both built of a rich toffee brick tinged with red, and are adorned with carved terracotta of the same colour”); analyses the decoration and Kufic lettering on the two buildings (on the newer tower Kufic is “taller and more graceful” “standing out from a maze of pattern like soldiers from a crowd”); compares the two structures and finally observes their importance to Persian architecture. The World Monuments Fund reports that today: “While the minarets today are structurally sound, the intricate terracotta decoration and Koranic inscriptions are rapidly deteriorating. Exposure to the rain and snow has accelerated this process. Limited conservation had taken place in the past, such as the installation of sheet metal roofs in the 196Os, but continuous war and civil unrest over the past two centuries have prevented regular maintenance. The towers are also adversely affected by the proximity of a road and are subject to periodic flooding. New copper roofing for the minarets will greatly reduce water infiltration and basic security measures will prevent vandalism. The future of the site, however, will hang in the balance as long as Afghanistan remains politically unstable.”[1]

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[1] World Monument Fund website.

12) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

May 6^th, Tower of Radkan, 13^th century, Afghanistan.

In Byron’s words: “A massive cylindrical grave tower with a conical roof, ninety feet high, and dating from the XIIIth century.The outside wall consist of columns two feet thick, which touch one another. Their brickwork, rusty-red in colour, is arranged in tweed patterns, which give the building a kind of shine, as of a well-groomed horse. Unlike the Gambad-i- Kabus, this tower has a staircase in the thickness of the wall.”[1]

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[1] Road to Oxiana, 239.

11) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

April 24^th- Tower of Kabus, 1006, N. Iran.

Set up as a burial tower for Emir Shamas al Ma’ali Quabus inside which would have been two tiers, a sumptuous coffin in the upper one. The baked-brick-built tower is an enormous decagon building with a conic roof, which forms the golden ratio Phi, that equals 1.618. The interiors contain the earliest examples of Muqarnas decorative styles. The decagon with its 3 meter-thick wall, divided into 10 sides, has a diameter of 17 m. The Tower was built on such a scientific and architectural design that at the front of the Tower, at an external circle, one can hear one's echo. Byron describes the tower (“a tapering cylinder of café-au-lait brick” which is swallowed up by “ a grey-green roof” like “a candle extinguisher”); calculates the height (150 ft); comments on the Kufic text-see below; puts Kabus in his historical context; speculates upon the use of brick after Christ; says the tower “ranks with the great buildings of the world.”[1]

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[1] Road to Oxiana, 230-231.

10) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

February 22^nd- Ardeshir Palace, Gor, Iran, 224 A.D.

Named after King Ardashir of the Sassanian Empire, though its design is thought to be unique: neither comfortably fitting into either Sassanian or Parthian category. Striking feature is three domes which strengthen the idea of it as a palace rather than a military castle. Byron estimates the size of the building (contesting previous measurements); describes its structure (two courts separated by three domed chambers); reports on its current condition (only half the east chamber standing); speculates on how the building was lit (holes in the cupola); comments on the brickwork and mouldings (uncut stones, possible stucco decoration); identifies the architectural styles of the chambers (Romanesque, “Bastard Egyptian” foreshadowing the “LCC in the early 20^th century!” Finally Byron ponders the historical importance of Ardeshir in a much broader context: “two primary architectural styles in the wake of two religions: medieval Persian branching into Mesopotamia, the Levant, and India and the Byzantine Romanesque spreading to confines of northern Europe.”[1]

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[1] Ibid, 169.

9) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

February 11th Imam Mosque of Isfahan, 11^th cent.

One of the oldest mosques still standing in Iran, it may have previously been a house of worship for Zoroastrians. Built in the 11th century, to Byron this mosque pictures “the whole history” of the town of Isfahan.[1] Standing in the maidan (open square in a town) Byron observes: “At the near end, by me, stands the ruin of the Bazaar Gate; at the far, facing it, the blue portal of the Masjid-i-Shah, with dome, ivan, and minarets clumped obliquely behind it in the direction of Mecca; in front of each a pair of marble goal-posts for polo. On the right rises that brick boot-box the Ali Gapu; opposite the flowered saucer dome of the mosque of Sheik Lutfullah, skewed sideways over a blue recess. Symmetry; but not too much. The beauty lies in the contrast between a formal space and a romantic diversity of buildings.”

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[1] Road to Oxiana, 148-149.

8) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

Six of the Best: A Selection of Byron’s Islamic Buildings.

November, Masjid-i- Juma (Friday Mosque), Isfahan, Iran.

Founded in 1200 by Ghiyas-ad-Din, son of Sam, of the Ghorid dynasty. Name means Friday mosque. After placing “this morose old mosque” in its historical period, Byron analyses the composition of the building. He is standing in a flagged court 100 yards long by 65 broad. Four ivans- see above- breaking the four arcaded sides; the main ivan, on the west, attended by two massive towers with blue cupola. Apart from these there is no colour, “only whitewash, bad brick, and broken bits of mosaic.” Byron observes a mullah and his pupils, and concludes that this space provides the peace he wants on this journey.[1] Afterwards Byron has a long passage on the reconstruction of the mosque and its creator who made Herat his capital after the breakup of the Ghaznavide Empire, i.e., a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic mameluke origin at their greatest extent ruling large parts of Iran, Afghanistan, much of Transoxiana, and northwest Indian subcontinent from 977–1186.

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[1] Ibid, 196-197.

7) The Road to Oxiana: In Search of Islamic Art & Architecture

A Note on Robert Byron’s Method.

It is difficult to talk about an objective method in Byron since every situation, every monument, every piece of art suggested a different approach. It might be best to consider Byron’s method as espousing both the numerical calculations of the property surveyor and the descriptive power of the romantic poet; he effortlessly switches from one to other and it out of this that some kind of technique emerges. As a general rule, when Byron encounters a monument or building he will either describe it including giving its dimensions and measurements; this necessitates using language clearly and precisely, e.g. bricks the colour of café au lait which make the building vivid to the spectator. Sometimes Byron will relate the history of a building noting the founders or dynasties who were involved in its construction; he will consider the problem of origins and later modifications over time. Given the importance of some buildings to the history of architecture, e.g. the Palace at Ardeshir (above), Byron would explain how they might be the prototypes for later more famous structures like St Peter’s in Rome or the Taj Mahal in India. Above all Byron possessed a profound knowledge of Western and Eastern architecture. This can be illustrated by his analysis of the provenance of the architectural feature known as the squinch. As Byron says when inspecting the inside of the Palace of Ardashir, the building reveals the squinch “a simple arch across the angle of two walls” which “coincided with the appearance of the pendentives, a kite shape vault supported by an angled pier, in Syria.” From these two features, Byron continues, are derived “two primary architectural styles.”[1]

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[1] Byron, Road to Oxiana, 169.