MUSLIM ART. — The Arabs, extending their religious and political control over the territories of North Africa and the Middle East, appropriated the culture and art of the peoples they dominated, unifying them. In Spain, the local tradition gave rise to a composite style known as *Mozarab* (*musta'ribah* = "arabized") when it was due to Christians working in Muslim lands; and *Mudejar* (*nud-dahar* = authorized to reside) when it was due to Arabs active in lands reconquered by Christians.
**I. ARCHITECTURE.** — It was especially Persia that extended its influence throughout Islam, and from it came certain distinctive constructional features: the dome connected by pendentives on a square plan, blind arcades to lighten the masonry, horseshoe arches, raised and pointed. The architectural structure was often clad in sumptuous decoration in which stucco, polychrome majolica tiles covering entire surfaces, and, less frequently, colored stone played a major role. Fantastic effects were achieved through the decoration of stalactite vaults (*muqarnas*). Religious architecture took as its theme the construction of minarets and mosques, though plan and elevation varied in different regions and at different times. Civil architecture left sumptuous examples in royal palaces, whose most common type had an externally defensive character. The entire structure was arranged around a central courtyard with fountains and reflecting pools; at the far end of the courtyard were the reception rooms, and beyond them the baths and private dwellings. In Sicily, no palaces built during the Fatimid domination remain, but those erected in Palermo in the Norman age—the Cuba and the Zisa—are largely the work of Arab architects. In Spain, the most splendid and famous example of princely construction remains the Alhambra of Granada.
**II. ARCHITECTURE.** — The setting of the so-called "Tower of the Infants," Granada (Alhambra).
**III. PAINTING.** — The plastic arts had as their principal task the decoration of buildings: predominantly geometric ornamental motifs were used under the Abbasids; floral and foliate motifs under the Mamluks. The use of stucco prevailed; stone sculpture was little employed and was limited to the decoration of architectural elements.
MUSLIM ART – Inlaid casket (13th century) – Palermo, Palatine Chapel.
This art seems to have been practiced somewhat late, since Firdūsi in his *Book of Kings* (late 10th century) speaks of frescoes in princely palaces, but never of miniatures.
In North Africa, it was applied to the illustration of religious books, in which the elegance of calligraphy and the preciousness of geometric decoration, rich in imaginative variety, rival the carpets. In Persia, miniature painting from the beginning of the 13th to the end of the 18th century displayed a splendid variety of compositions. Three great schools succeeded one another, corresponding to the three dynasties that ruled Iran: the Mongols, the Timurids, and the Safavids. Following the Mongol invasion of the 13th century, the influence of Chinese painting penetrated Persia and determined particular characteristics of miniature painting, which reached great heights especially under the Timurids, great patrons of letters and art. In the first half of the 15th century, the prince Baysunqur, a nephew of Tamerlane, founded an academy of the book in Herat, from which emerged works of great beauty; the leading figure of this school was Kamāl ad-dīn Behzād, who had disciples in Herat and Tabrīz. The subjects most commonly treated are scenes of battles, hunts, and banquets. Despite the continued interest of princes (Shah Abbas I sent young painters to Rome for study), decline began in the 18th century.
**IV. MINOR ARTS.** — The impulse given to the art of the book also favored the refinement of bookbinding techniques, the most common type being leather bindings with geometric designs and gilding. In the field of textile arts, Persia was particularly active, producing light silks, brocades, velvets, and continuing the *sansa* tradition, as well as floral patterns and confronted animal motifs. But the most important product of the East in this field was the carpet, first a popular craft, then industrialized in court workshops, soon sought after and exported even to Europe (it is already seen reproduced in Italian paintings from the first half of the 14th century). This art flourished in Anatolia, the Caucasus, and especially in Persia, where it reached its peak under the Safavids. The most precious examples date from this period, with floral designs, gardens, hunts, and animals (e.g., the carpet in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum in Milan, from 1521).
In Muslim countries, metals were decorated with *ajamī* inlay, a technique that spread from Mesopotamia not only to Persia but also to the West as far as Venice. The use of enamel on metal, however, is quite rare and only of Byzantine derivation. As in painting, Chinese art also influenced the decoration of maiolica. The production of pottery was vast, exported and sought after even in the West. Decoration was not only painted but sometimes also incised. The most common forms are long-necked flasks, cups, bowls, and "albarelli," whose model was imitated in Italy and gave its name to pharmacy jars. A Muslim discovery was metallic-lustre glaze, which apparently originated around the 9th century in Mesopotamia and spread to Persia, Egypt, and Spain, where there were numerous production centers: Majorca (whence the name "maiolica"), Valencia, Seville, and Málaga, from whose workshops came the great vase of the Alhambra. Arab craftsmen continued their activity in Spain after the expulsion of the Muslims, and medieval production was vast.