top of page
Emily Spriggs

Open Lecture: Representing Architecture in early Islam | 17 Nov 2021 | 4-6pm GMT #arthistory


Representing Architecture in early Islam: The San'a' Qur'an Frontispieces

Marcus Milwright, University of Victoria, Canada


Open Lecture


Wednesday 17 November 2021, 4pm-6pm GMT

Online

Free Admission, Booking Required


History of Art Research Seminar Series


The cache of ancient parchment fragments recovered from the Great Mosque in Sana‘a’ in Yemen included two folios with elaborate architectural designs. While their provenance remains the subject of speculation, there is broad scholarly agreement that these folios were originally frontispieces or finispieces from a luxury Qur’an, probably produced in Syria. There has been general acceptance that the paintings themselves are attempts to depict aspects of the plan, exterior features and interior spaces of a courtyard mosque. Some features suggest comparisons with the decorative components in the Great Mosque of Damascus, commissioned by caliph al-Walid I (r. 705-15). The images are problematic, however, in that they are not composed according to the conventions employed in the ancient world for the representation of standing buildings This talk locates the drawings in the tradition of Late Antique architectural ornamentation in the Mediterranean and Middle East. It is argued that the form of the early Islam courtyard mosque represented a unique challenge for the established modes of architectural representation, and that this problem has implications for our understanding of the goals of the designers of the Sana‘a’ frontispieces. The last part of the talk will assess the importance of these manuscript images in the evolution of early Islamic ornament.



Comments


bottom of page