The document discusses the four main components of Islamic ornamentation: calligraphy, vegetal patterns, geometric patterns, and figural representations. It provides details on each: calligraphy is the most important element and can be used decoratively; vegetal patterns were adapted from other traditions; geometric patterns feature intricate combinations of simple shapes; and figural representations were used ornamentally despite restrictions on images. Across the four sections, it explores the origins, development, and uses of motifs in Islamic art.

1. Four Components
of
Islamic
Ornamentation

2. Calligraphy
All text for Calligraphy is from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cali/hd_cali.htm
Calligraphy is the most highly regarded
and most fundamental element of
Islamic art. It is significant that the
Qur’an, the book of God's revelations to
the Prophet Muhammad, was
transmitted in Arabic, and that inherent
within the Arabic script is the potential
for developing a variety of ornamental
forms. While most works of art had
legible inscriptions, not all Muslims
would have been able to read them. One
should always keep in mind, however,
that calligraphy is principally a means to
transmit a text, albeit in a decorative
form.

3. Calligraphy
In some cases, calligraphy is the
dominant element in the
decoration. In these examples,
the artist exploits the inherent
possibilities of the Arabic script
to create writing as ornament.
An entire word can give the
impression of random
brushstrokes, or a single letter
can develop into a decorative
knot.

4. Calligraphy
In other cases, highly esteemed
calligraphic works on paper are
themselves ornamented and
enhanced by their decorative
frames or backgrounds

5. Calligraphy
Calligraphy can also become
part of an overall ornamental
program, clearly separated
from the rest of the decoration.

6. Calligraphy
In some examples, calligraphy
can be combined with vegetal
scrolls on the same surface
though often on different
levels, creating an interplay of
decorative elements.

7. Vegetal Patterns
All text for Vegetal Patterns is from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vege/hd_vege.htm
Vegetal patterns employed alone or in
combination with the other major
types of ornament—
calligraphy, geometric
pattern, and figural representation—
adorn a vast number of
buildings, manuscripts, objects, and
textiles, produced throughout the
Islamic world. Unlike
calligraphy, whose increasingly
popular use as ornament in the early
Islamic Arab lands represented a new
development, vegetal patterns and
the motifs they incorporate were
drawn from existing traditions
of Byzantine culture in the eastern
Mediterranean and Sasanian Iran.

8. Vegetal Patterns
The early centuries of
the Islamic era saw the initial
adoption of seminaturalistic
pre-Islamic motifs and
patterns, followed by
widespread and highly diverse
experimentation adapting
these forms to suit the
aesthetic interests and tastes of
the new Muslim patrons.

9. Vegetal Patterns
It was not until the medieval
period (tenth–twelfth
centuries) that a highly abstract
and fully developed Islamic
style emerged, featuring that
most original and ubiquitous
pattern often known as
"arabesque."

10. Geometric Patterns
All text for Geometric Patterns is from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/geom/hd_geom.htm
While geometric ornamentation may have
reached a pinnacle in the Islamic
world, the sources for both the shapes
and the intricate patterns already existed
in late antiquity among the
Greeks, Romans, and Sasanians in Iran.
Islamic artists appropriated key elements
from the classical tradition, then
complicated and elaborated upon them in
order to invent a new form of decoration
that stressed the importance of unity and
order. The significant intellectual
contributions of Islamic
mathematicians, astronomers, and
scientists were essential to the creation of
this unique new style.

11. Geometric Patterns
Consisting of, or generated
from, such simple forms as the
circle and the square,
geometric patterns were
combined, duplicated,
interlaced, and arranged in
intricate combinations, thus
becoming one of the most
distinguishing features of
Islamic art

12. Geometric Patterns
In its repetition and complexity, it
offers the possibility of infinite
growth and can accommodate the
incorporation of other types of
ornamentation as well. In terms of
their abstractness, repetitive
motifs, and symmetry, geometric
patterns have much in common
with the so-called arabesque style
seen in many vegetal designs.
Calligraphic ornamentation also
appears in conjunction with
geometric patterns.

13. Figural Representations
All text for Figural Representations is from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/figs/hd_figs.htm
With the spread of Islam outward from
the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh
century, the figurative artistic traditions of
the newly conquered lands profoundly
influenced the development of Islamic
art. The Islamic resistance to the
representation of living beings ultimately
stems from the belief that the creation of
living forms is unique to God, and it is for
this reason that the role of images and
image makers has been controversial. As
ornament, however, figures were largely
devoid of any larger significance and
perhaps therefore posed less challenge.

14. Figural Representations
As with other forms of Islamic
ornamentation, artists freely
adapted and stylized basic
human and animal
forms, giving rise to a great
variety of figural-based designs.
Figural motifs are found on the
surface decoration of objects or
architecture, as part of the
woven or applied patterns of
textiles, and, most rarely, in
sculptural form.

15. Figural Representations
In some cases, decorative
images are closely related to
the narrative painting
tradition, where text
illustrations provided sources
for ornamental themes and
motifs. As for manuscript
illustration, miniature paintings
were integral parts of these
works of art as visual aids to
the text, therefore no
restrictions were imposed.

16. Figural Representations
A further category of fantastic
figures, from which ornamental
patterns were generated, also
existed. Some fantastic motifs,
such as harpies (female-headed
birds) and griffins (winged
felines), were drawn from pre-
Islamic mythological sources,
whereas others were created
through the visual
manipulation of figural forms
by artists.