Geometry, Arabesque and Calligraphy

Islamic art is famous for three kinds of ornament, often used together on one surface.

Geometric pattern: stars, polygons and interlacing bands built with a compass and a straightedge, repeating in every direction.
Arabesque: flowing, branching vines and leaves that curl and split rhythmically and could go on forever.
Calligraphy: beautiful writing, especially of the words of the Qur'an. It is the most honored art in the Islamic world. Early scripts such as Kufic are angular and stately; later rounded scripts such as naskh are easier to read and became the usual book hand.

An eight-pointed star pattern, built from squares turned against each other.

Key idea

Islamic ornament combines geometric pattern, arabesque (flowing vine scrolls) and calligraphy, the most honored art.

Why it works

Why so much pattern? In religious settings, such as mosques and copies of the Qur'an, Muslim tradition generally avoided images of people and animals, so ornament carried the beauty and meaning. Patterns that repeat without end were seen by many as a fitting sign of an infinite God. And the Qur'an is the word of God in Arabic, so writing it beautifully was a way of honoring it.

Mosque lamp bearing the name of Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir, Egypt or Syria, about 1340, enameled and gilded glass. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Looking closely: A mosque lamp. Tall Arabic letters in blue enamel march around the lamp's body and neck, their upright strokes making a strong rhythm. Between them, smaller panels hold vine scrolls and flowers. The words name the sultan who paid for it. Lamps like this hung from chains by their small handles, with an oil lamp inside, so the glass glowed and the letters stood out in the light. Many such lamps carry the Qur'an's Verse of Light, which compares God's light to a lamp in a niche.

The Court of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada, 1370s.

At the Alhambra in Spain, walls are covered in carved plaster: arabesques, geometric panels and bands of writing, including poems praising the palace. You will visit it in Córdoba and the Alhambra.

Worked example: Name the ornament

A tile shows an eight-pointed star made of two overlapping squares, surrounded by interlocking shapes that repeat across the wall. Which kind of ornament is it?

Vine scrolls would be arabesque; letters would be calligraphy.
Stars and polygons that repeat are geometric pattern.

Answer: Geometric pattern.

Common mistake

Thinking Islamic art has no images of people at all. Religious settings generally avoid them, but palaces, illustrated books, ceramics and metalwork often show figures: princes, hunters, musicians, scenes from poems. Check the setting: mosque or palace, Qur'an or book of poems?

Sort the ornament.

Geometry, Arabesque and Calligraphy

Practice

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Sources and further reading