Arabic / Islamic geometry 0. A background to two- dimensional design – geometry and pattern. Geometry is one of the main characteristics that distinguish Islamic artistic designs. It creates an immediately recognisable identity, one that is founded in an all- embracing philosophical and cosmological approach to the creation of designed and constructed works, contrasting multiplicity and unity. It honours nature in an abstract decorative art, and benefits through its lack of restriction by the constraints of a numerical system. A brief introduction to the history of Arabic or Islamic geometry is set out on the next page together with methods by which those geometries can be readily constructed using the traditional means of a straight edge and a pair of compasses. These first four illustrations are of Islamic geometric patterns that have been executed on different materials, respectively silver, stone, leather and glazed mosaic, and are commonly considered representative of Islamic design.

While not demonstrating the wide variety of geometric treatments to be found in Islamic or Arab geometries, they are here to introduce something of the design character and materials that were used in decoration. But having said that, I believe it would be useful to begin this page with a note on the understanding we in the West have of Arabic or, perhaps more accurately, Islamic geometrical design as it is a wide field of study and there are many misconceptions about its origins, interpretation and character. The patterns with which we are familiar are to be found within a variety of Islamic cultures, but are often considered to be common to areas of Arab conquest. At its simplest, Arab scholarship enlarged our comprehension of underlying geometries, and Muslim craftsmen, not all of them Arabs, relied on this body of knowledge in producing their characteristic fields of tiles, mosaic, plaster and wooden patterns that were applied to elements of their buildings. Generally they are seen as two- dimensional surface treatments, though there are examples of three- dimensional work in many areas of the Islamic world, particularly with the muqarnas.

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To take the argument a little further, the distinction might suggest that the work is considered Islamic when employed in the service of religious buildings. However, with Islam governing all aspects of Muslim life, the argument would suggest that geometric designs, with their inherent character supporting introversion and reflection, should all be considered Islamic. The first point to bear in mind is that there are three types of patterning common to the designs found in Islamic cultures: Arabesque or cursive,calligraphic, andgeometric or polygonal,the latter of which contains the largest number of examples we are likely to come across, and is the area most commonly examined from the perspective of their mathematical bases. Let’s look at some patterns. The first example, above, typifies the kind of design that comes to mind when thinking of Arabic geometric designs. However, the example is not from Arabia but was made in France and is one of a pair of silver door panels, shown above on its side.

Incidentally, the other panel of the pair, although having the same basic geometric construction, has different detailing as is illustrated here. In a very similar manner, this photograph also illustrates the centre of a door panel. Driver Parallel Lines Saves Pca more. Based this time on twelve- point geometry rather than the eight- point shown above, there is an evident family feel to the design of the two panels, one that is familiar to many people as characterising their recognition of Arabic or Islamic design. Again the pattern is formed by the use of geometrically arranged ribs set on the same plane, containing foliate decoration, but here with contrasting materials used to emphasise the distinction between the two characters of Islamic design – lineal geometry and foliate decoration.

While many of the designs illustrated here, including my attempts to deconstruct them, are based on two- dimensional designs, there are many examples of three- dimensional design work in the Islamic world. Here to the side is the top of a fifteenth century wooden Egyptian minbar that has been articulated with pendentives, a form of cantilever that is commonly used in masonry constructions, though here is more decorative than structural due to the inherent character of timber which has both compressive and tensile qualities which stone lacks. The lower photograph here shows a part of the side of the stairs on the same minbar. It illustrates something of the strong modelling that can be created with, essentially, two- dimensional geometric patterns. Note the strong difference in treatment and effect between the simple cursive running design on the framing and that of the main geometrically laid out panels. There is more written about the basic geometries behind Islamic patterns on both this page and the next page which illustrate some of the constructions behind basic Islamic designs. But it might be useful to introduce here the idea of different geometries being used adjacent to each other, yet remaining in harmony.

These panels are from the minbar illustrated above. The panel on the left has a basis in ten- point geometry, while that on the right is twelve- point. These are designed as separate panels and illustrate a simple solution to patterning. Later on more complicated patterns combining more than one geometry in a single pattern will be illustrated. Connectify Wifi Hotspot Software Crack Website. These next two examples of artefacts exhibiting Arabic geometry have been included even though they are less complicated in their underlying geometry and far more crudely assembled than that above. I have shown them because they are, perhaps, more the type of example with which we are familiar in our daily lives. This standard and character of design is commonly found all over the Middle East.

They represent the character of inlaid work that is displayed in many decorative pieces. Sold to tourists many such items are brought back from the Arab world. The lower example, in particular, is extremely poorly set out.

Nevertheless, it has sufficient geometrical integrity for the pattern to be easily seen and readily comprehended. Incidentally, all of these first three examples are based on eight point geometry, a common and relatively easy framework to establish. While many regard Islamic designs as being based on strict geometrical constructions, there are also Islamic designs that are formed with floral devices and where the governing geometry might not be immediately obvious. This first illustration is of a plate with a beautifully articulated design of a ship, the rim being very crudely broken into four panels creating a degree of stability for the extremely mobile centre design.

Compare the above dish with this which has a decorative pattern on it and an apparently eccentric geometrical layout. The rim of the dish is broken into nine, slightly unequal, elements inside which there are six stylised flowers hanging from the central motif which, itself, has nine points in its centre, but ten outer petals. Although the pattern is nowhere as interesting as that of the plate above, the slight eccentricities of its execution give it a certain vitality.

Here is a dish that is simpler, in that its geometry is based only on a division of eight elements, though it has a more complex decorative treatment. The calligraphic decoration reads, I am told, . Whatever the reading is, the design incorporates both a form of kufic calligraphy as well as natural decoration that integrate into a pleasing visual design.

This next illustration, again Turkish in origin but more recent in manufacture, is placed here as a reminder that there are other forms of decoration that were, and are still, produced by Islamic designers, this piece being made of a hardwood inlaid with white shell pieces.