Gilded brass gleams under engraved bands of Arabic verse, its surface alive with scrolling foliage and sharp, angular script. This jug, a vessel of both war and peace, flaunts power in the language of poetry—how many unseen hands once lifted it in triumph?

#IslamicArt #Metalwork #ClevelandMuseumofArt
https://clevelandart.org/art/1966.22

Inside a building of the Shah-i-Zinda ensemble, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

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Tiling by a door, Chefchaouen, Morocco

#TilingTuesday #geometry #tiling #MathArt #photography #design #TravelPhotography #Chefchaouen #Morocco #IslamicPattern #IslamicArt #zellij #zellige

Islamic geometrical art is justly famous for its mathematical beauty. Here I will point to some documented connections between the artisans who created it and mathematicians.

The mathematician Abū’l-Wafāʾ al-Būzjānī (940–77/8 CE) wrote in a book on geometry useful for craftsmen (more on this later) that he had been present at discussions between artisans and geometers. Al-Khayyāmī (Omar Khayyam; c.1048–c.1131), the father of algebra, wrote of attending such a meeting. Caʿfer Efendi (fl. early 17th century) wrote of discussions between ‘learned men’ and architects on the subject of geometry.

Another connection is in the person Abu’l-Faḍl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm (d. 1202/3), whom Ibn abi Uṣaybiʿah recorded as having been called ‘the geometrician’ for his famed knowledge of geometry. He was by profession a carpenter and stonemason. He studied Euclid to improve his carpentry; he then proceeded to Ptolemy’s ‘Almagest’ and became an authority in geometry. His skill is evident in the doors he made for the Bīmaristān Nūr al-Dīn in Damascus, which have upon them a geometrical pattern of hexagons and pentagrams made up of brass nails (the design is shown in the attached image).

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#geometry #MathArt #aesthetics #MathematicalBeauty #tiling #IslamicArt

A tiling made of two kinds of materials (near a fountain), Tangiers, Morocco

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Islamic art spans 1400+ years across cultures—expressed through design, geometry & calligraphy, not people.

📖 FAMOUS MUSLIM Artists & Writers
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Detail of a fountain at the Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco

#TilingTuesday #geometry #tiling #MathArt #photography #design #IslamicPattern #IslamicArt #zellij #zellige #TravelPhotography