midterm key words / study guid doc

Good Design

A concept defined by industrial designer Dieter Rams's principles, focusing on making products useful, understandable, innovative, aesthetic, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, and involving minimal design.

Tradition

The transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, often seen in various art forms like calligraphy, Persian painting, and blue and white pottery.

Calligraphy

Decorative handwriting or handwritten lettering, commonly used in Islamic art and architecture to create intricate and beautiful designs.

Qur'an

The Islamic sacred book, believed to be the word of God as dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel and written down in Arabic. The Koran consists of 114 units of varying lengths, known as suras ; the first sura is said as part of the ritual prayer. These touch upon all aspects of human existence, including matters of doctrine, social organization, and legislation.

Abbasid

(adjective) relating to a dynasty of caliphs who ruled in Baghdad from 750 to 1258.

Persian Miniature

a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a muraqqa.

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern-day Gibraltar, Portugal, Spain, and Southern France. The name describes the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492.

hypostyle

(adjective) (of a building) having a roof supported by pillars, typically in several rows.

horseshoe arch

type of arch in which the circular curve is continued below the horizontal line of its diameter, so that the opening at the bottom of the arch is narrower than the arch's full span

arcade

succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians; they include many loggias, but here arches are not an essential element. An arcade may feature arches on both sides of the walkway

Qibla

the direction of the Kaaba (the sacred building at Mecca), to which Muslims turn at prayer.

Orientalism

• style, artifacts, or traits considered characteristic of the peoples and cultures of Asia.

• the representation of Asia, especially the Middle East, in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude.

Loom

an apparatus for making fabric by weaving yarn or thread

Pictograph

a pictorial symbol for a word or phrase. Pictographs were used as the earliest known form of writing, examples having been discovered in Egypt and Mesopotamia from before 3000 BC

Oracle Bones

a bone used in early China especially during the Shang dynasty 1765–1123 b.c. in divination by writing a question upon it, heating it, and divining the answer from the resultant cracks

Blue and White

Refers to the blue and white porcelain that style originated in china, but the blue glaze was made from stuff they traded for and that’s how blue and white pottery became so popular and global

Celadon

a ceramic glaze originated in China that is greenish in color. Used b/c similar to jade.

Used before blue + white era, when simplicity in ceramics was more desired

China + Korea

Dongtien

Heaven caves in daoist garden design

A place where humans can go to connect with immortals/the spiritual realm

Medieval

literally means "of the Middle Ages". In this case, middle means "between the Roman empire and the Renaissance"—that is, after the fall of the great Roman state and before the "rebirth" of culture that we call the Renaissance.

Zodiac

a belt of the heavens within about 8° either side of the ecliptic, including all apparent positions of the sun, moon, and most familiar planets. It is divided into twelve equal divisions or signs

12 astral signs with apparent positions among the sun, moon, stars, and familiar planets.

Reliquary

a container for holy relics

Pilgrimage

a journey to a sacred place

in this context, pilgrims made journeys throughout Europe to the holy lands and major churches with well known martyrs and relics + reliquaries

Elevation

 a scaled, flat representation of one side of a building or structure

Gothic

of or in the style of architecture prevalent in western Europe in the 12th–16th centuries, characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, and flying buttresses, together with large windows and elaborate tracery.

• Gothic style of architecture

Nave

the main part of the interior of a church. especially : the long narrow central hall in a cruciform church that rises higher than the aisles flanking it to form a clerestory

Apse

a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof, typically at the eastern end, and usually containing the altar

Historicism

comprises artistic styles that draw their inspiration from recreating historic styles or imitating the work of historic artists and artisans

Rib Vault

an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs