Islam and African Art key terms

Art Survey I MoU

adobe

The clay used to make a kind of sun-dried mud brick of the same name; a building made of such brick.

Almoravids

A Berber dynasty from the Sahara that spread over a wide area of northwestern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during the 11th century.

arabesque

"Arab-like." A flowing, intricate pattern derived from stylized organic motifs, usually floral; generally, an Islamic decorative motif. A repetitive, stylized pattern based on a geometrical floral or vegetal design.

arcade

A series of arches supported by piers or columns.

assemblage

An artwork constructed from already existing objects.

base

In ancient Greek architecture, the lowest part of Ionic and Corinthian columns.

blind arcade

An arcade having no actual openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface.

caliph(s)

Muslim rulers, regarded as successors of Muhammad.

calligraphy

Greek, "beautiful writing." Handwriting or penmanship, especially elegant writing as a decorative art.

ceramics

Inorganic, nonmetallic solids created by the action of heat and their subsequent cooling. Most common ceramics are crystalline and the earliest uses of ceramics were in pottery.

colonnette

A thin column.

congregational mosque

A city's main mosque, designed to accommodate the entire Muslim population for the Friday noon prayer. Also called the great mosque or Friday mosque.

cuerda seca

A type of polychrome tilework used in decorating Islamic buildings.

façade

The face of a building, especially the front.

finial

A crowning ornament.

glassmaking

The craft or industry of producing glass.

glaze

The vitreous coating of pottery or porcelain, or a transparent or semi-transparent layer of paint.

Hajj

This Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca takes place in the last month of the year. All Muslims are expected to make this trip at least once during their lifetime.

Hausa states

The early dynastic states that had spread across Africa by the ninth century, including Ghana, Gao, and the Kanem-Bornu Empire.

Hijra

The flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622, the year from which Islam dates its beginnings.

Hispano-Moresque style

A style of Islamic pottery created in Al-Andaluz, or Muslim Spain, which continued to be produced under Christian rule in styles that blended Islamic and European elements.

hypostyle hall

A hall with a roof supported by columns.

idolatry

The worship of idols.

Ife

The first of the Yoruba city-states or kingdoms, which established government under a priestly oba ("king").

Ikegobo

A Benin royal shrine.

illuminated manuscripts

A book in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders (marginalia), and miniature illustrations.

imam

In Islam, the leader of collective worship.

iwan

In Islamic architecture, a vaulted rectangular recess opening onto a courtyard.

Kaaba

Arabic, "cube." A square stone building in the center of the Great Mosque at Mecca, this is the most holy site in the Muslim faith. It stands on the site of a pre-Islamic shrine said to have been built by Abraham. Muslims worldwide are supposed to face in the direction of the Kaaba during prayer.

Kufic

An early form of Arabic script, characterized by angularity, with the uprights forming almost right angles with the baseline.

lusterware

A type of pottery or porcelain having an iridescent metallic glaze.

luxury arts

Highly decorative goods made of precious materials for the wealthy classes.

madrasa

An Islamic theological college adjoining and often containing a mosque.

Maqsud of Kashan

Designer of the carpet for the funerary mosque of Shakyh Safi al-Din, Ardabil, Iran, 1540.

maqsura

In some mosques, a screened area in front of the mihrab reserved for a ruler.

Master of The Symbolic Execution

One of three major Sapi ivory carvers during the period 1500-1540. His name piece is the saltcellar from Sierra Leone, depicting an extraordinary execution scene.

matte (also mat)

In painting, pottery, and photography, a dull finish.

Mecca

The birthplace of the prophet Mohammad (570-632CE), Mecca is a city in modern-day western Saudi Arabia, considered by Muslims to be the holiest city of Islam.

mihrab

A semicircular niche set into the qibla wall of a mosque.

minaret

A distinctive feature of mosque architecture, a tower from which the faithful are called to worship. The tall slender tower of an Islamic mosque, from which the muezzin recites the adhan (call to prayer).

minbar

In a mosque, the pulpit on which the imam stands.

miniature

An illustration in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript.

Mongols

An umbrella term for a large group of Mongolic and Turkic tribes united under the rule of Genghis Khan in the 13th century.

monotheistic

Believing in a single god, deity, spirit, etc., especially for an organized religion, faith, or creed.

mosaic

Patterns or pictures made by embedding small pieces (tesserae) of stone or glass in cement on surfaces such as walls and floors; also, the technique of making such works.

mosaic tilework

An Islamic decorative technique in which large ceramic panels are fired, cut into smaller pieces, and set in plaster.

mosque

The Islamic building for collective worship. From the Arabic word masjid, meaning a 'place for bowing down.' A place of worship for Muslims, corresponding to a church or synagogue in other religions, often having at least one minaret.

muezzin

The muezzin is a man who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret of a mosque.

Muhammad Ibn Al-Zayn

Designed the brass basin from Egypt inlaid with gold and silver, ca. 1300.

Muhaqqaq

A cursive style of Islamic calligraphy.

muqarnas

Stucco decorations of Islamic buildings in which stalactite-like forms break a structure's solidity.

muraqqa

An album in book form containing Islamic miniature paintings and specimens of Islamic calligraphy, normally from several different sources, and perhaps other matter.

Nri Kingdom of the Ig

One of several independent kingdoms that developed in the forested regions of the West African coast.

ogive (adj., ogival)

The diagonal rib of a Gothic vault; a pointed, or Gothic, arch.

petroglyph

An engraving or carving into a rock face, usually created with a hammerstone, chisel, or fine metal blade.

pictograph

A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also painting on rock. See also hieroglyphic.

pilaster

A rectangular column that projects partially from the wall to which it is attached; it gives the appearance of support but is only for decoration.

pointed arch

A narrow arch of pointed profile, in contrast to a semicircular arch.

qibla

The term for the direction of the Kaaba (the sacred building at Mecca), to which Muslims turn at prayer. The qibla is indicated in a mosque by the position of the mihrab. The direction (toward Mecca) Muslims face when praying.

Qu'ran (Koran)

Islam's sacred book, composed of surahs (chapters) divided into verses. The central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: Allah). It is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language.

radiocarbon dating

Method of measuring the decay rate of carbon isotopes in organic matter to provide dates for organic materials such as wood and fiber.

San people

Familial groups of hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa between the ninth and 18th centuries.

saz

An Ottoman Turkish design of sinuous curved leaves and blossoms.

scarification

Decorative markings made with scars on the human body.

sultan

A Muslim ruler.

Sultan-Muhammad

Created folio 20 verso of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, from Tabriz, Iran, ca. 1525-1530.

Sunnah

Collection of the Prophet Muhammad's moral sayings and descriptions of his deeds.

surahs

Chapters of the Koran, divided into verses.

terracotta

Hard-baked clay, used for sculpture and as a building material. It may be glazed or painted.

textile arts

The production of arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to create objects.

thermoluminescence

A method of dating amounts of radiation found within the clay of ceramic or sculptural forms, as well as in the clay cores from metal castings.

Tracery

Ornamental stonework for holding stained glass in place, characteristic of Gothic cathedrals. In plate tracery the glass fills only the 'punched holes' in the heavy ornamental stonework. In bar tracery the stained-glass windows fill almost the entire opening, and the stonework is unobtrusive.

triglyph

A triple projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze that alternates with metopes.