Calligraphy In The Islamic World

The Islamic world is full of beautiful, intricate art and rich history. Art works span from giant, insanely detailed mosques to the tiny script of the Koran, Islamic writing being a sacred art form in itself. All of the art that came from the Islamic cultures spread throughout the world is very finely detailed and colorful, intricate patterns and designs are common as well as the use of calligraphy instead of the western custom of figures to represent certain things in art. Calligraphy is very big within Islamic cultures and people spend their entire life trying to master the art form of the seemly unending lines of script and the fluidity of making the text into the art itself rather than an accent to outside art. In the early centuries of the Islamic world artists devoted their entire life to their craft- with architecture and calligraphy equally- so they could become masters and make art that still exists and holds meaning in today’s world.

The relief sculpture is simply a tile that would have been used in a mosque or other building of significant meaning, the only title given to the piece is “Rectangular Tile”, the artist is unknown. The piece was made in the 13th or 14th century-it is unclear which- and the script that covers the majority of the two tiles translates to “His messenger who…, Do not know.”, respectively from top to bottom. There is no known artist. It is made from Earthen wear-or Kashan ware- with an underglaze of blue and turquoise, accented by a gold luster. The piece is very appealing because of the start contrast of colors, the blues of the raised calligraphy and the brown and white of the background, along with the intricate and fluid leaf-like design used for the background in contrast to the bold