New edition

A bold, readable and beautifully illustrated introduction to an entire civilization, from 7th-century Arabia via medieval Spain and Central Asia to modern Iran

Embracing over a thousand years of history and an area stretching from the Atlantic to the borders of India and China, this is an unrivalled synthesis of the arts of Islamic civilization. From the death of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day, Robert Hillenbrand traces the evolution of an extraordinary range of art forms, including architecture, calligraphy, book illumination, painting, ceramics, glassware, textiles and metalwork.

New to this edition is a chapter ranging from c. 1700 to c. 1900, a period very often neglected in books on this subject. Hillenbrand explores how recent centuries, far from being a dark age, saw extraordinary artistic ferment and creativity across the Islamic world. Throughout, full-colour illustrations of masterpieces of Islamic art and architecture – from Moorish Spain to modern Iran – show the far-reaching stylistic developments as well as the recurrent preoccupations that have shaped the arts of Islam since the seventh century.

Contents List

Introduction • 1. The Birth of Islamic Art: the Umayyads • 2. The ‘Abbasids • 3. The Fatimids • 4. The Saljuqs • 5. The Age of the Atabegs: Syria, Iraq and Anatolia, 1100–1300 • 6. The Mamluks • 7. The Muslim West • 8. The Ilkhanids and Timurids • 9. The Safavids • 10. The Ottomans • 11. Towards Modernity • Further Reading

About the Author

Professor Robert Hillenbrand was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford and has taught at the University of Edinburgh, where he is now an honorary professorial fellow, since 1971. He was Islamic art adviser to the 36-volume Macmillan Dictionary of Art. He has also served on the Councils of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, British Research in the Levant, and the British Institute of Persian Studies.