Author
Sharaf Al-Din, Shaima Muhammad Abdel-Rafi Muhammad
Subject
Artists, Decoration, Islamic arts, Superstition
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Royal Danish Library
Library Asset ID
ISSN: 2356-9654, DOI: 10.12816/0045736
Record ID
cdi_almandumah_primary_924626
Library Location
DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
Notes
Forms of mythical creatures appeared abundantly in the Ottoman decorative arts. Their forms and types varied, and they were usually not engraved as an independent subject, but rather appeared alongside drawings of real animals. The artist depicted them next to these animals as if they were a real element present in nature. They appeared at the peak of movement and were represented with professionalism that attests to the Islamic artist’s ability to draw them. They found their goals in it, because one of the standards of Islamic art is modification and abstraction, so they welcomed it, but they did not preserve its symbolic meanings as much as it dictated a purely decorative drawing. Among the most important mythical creatures that appeared in Ottoman art: the form of the dragon and the phoenix, and the drawing of the snake whose tail appears knotted. As for the composite creatures, they are represented in the form of an animal with a human head and the body of a lion (the Sphinx), and also a drawing of a bird with a human face. The form of an animal standing on its hind legs and holding fruit in its hand, or playing a musical instrument, also appears. It seems that these mythical animals found on Ottoman artistic products were transferred to him from Iranian art, which was influenced by Chinese art - through the transfer of artistic influences that occurred during the Ottoman conquests, and the movement of many Iranian artists to the Ottoman lands and work for them.
Görüntüle
Majallat al-ʻimārah wa-al-funūn wa-al-ʻulūm al-insānīyah, 2018-01 (10), p.332-353
