Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/737

* MOHAMMEDAN ART. 659 MOHAMMEDANISM. Cairo, ami L'uiiluva all toiik part and the tribes and villages rivaled with the large eities. Noth- ing beoaiiie more eharaetcristie of the Kast, noth- ing inllueneed the West more strongly, throvigh constant importation and the contaet of the Crusaders. The haute-lisse tapestry, after a method long lost in Europe, was in current use. The .same difference finally appeared in the de- signs here as in other Ijranches: geometrical and set pattciiis being more common in Egyjit ; free lloral designs being used in Persia. I'he feu- known Persian rugs of as early a ])eriocl as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries arc now valued at many thousand dollars (.$10,000 to .$40,000), and a study of their design shows an almost incalculable variety of native llowers nat- uralistically reproduced. The Syrian school had much in conunon with the Byzantine and, as usual, occupied a middle position, with medal- lions in a stiff lloral ground containing heraldic animals or birds. There were in every Moham- medan country royal manufactories whose prod- ucts were entirely reserved for the Court and sovereign; the standards, baldachins, tents, royal robes, hangings, housings, and rugs were all of a magnificence unknown to the ruder West and unsurpassed at any time. The known speci- mens date no earlier than the eleventh century and the art decayed before the sixteenth century. Ini'I.I'ENce o.-v Ei'ROPE. Sicily. Southern Italy. Venice, and Spain were all'cctcd by the Mohaiii- medan arts during the Middle Ages, and even as late as the Renaissance. Hence the use of the pointed and the horseshoe arch in many parts of Southern Europe. The cosmopolitan culture of the Norman Kings of Sicily had a large Moham- medan element. The palaces of the kings — such a.s La Kuba, La Liza, Favara. and Baida — were imitated from those of the Eastern emirs and sultans; San tjiovanni degli Eremiti seems an importation from Cairo. Mohanunedan artists executed the wonderful stalactite ceiling in carved wood and probably also the geometric mosaics in the Cappella Palatina at Palermo. The famous Rufl'olo Palace at Ravcllo, and several cloisters (e.g. at Amalfi), show the spread of Eastern architectural forms in Campania. It is interest- ing to see how in most cases where there are traces of Byzantine art, there are also signs of Mohanmicdan influence, and vice versa. This is nowhere more evident than in Venice, where both forms of Oriental art were so prominent. Here quite a flourishing school of Mohammedan metal- workers was established, existing as late as the sixteenth eontury, when Mahmud El-Kurdi signed some exquisite pieces. The Halian artists who imitated them called themselves workers all' aficmwa, 'in the Persian style.' and even Cellini confesses to have copied Oriental arms. In fact, the Renaissance metal-workers of the sixteenth century both in Italy and France owed more than their mediteval predecessors to Oriental design. Even more widespread and radical was the use and imitation in Europe of Oriental stuffs and fabrics, partly Byzantine, but especially Moham- medan. W(mderful not merely for beauty of ma- terial, but for the figures and patterns woven or embroidered. The imported tents, baldachins, hangings, carpets, and the like, furnished the models for the European ateliers in Sicily, Rome. Venice. Belgium, and France, BiBLionRAPiiY. G. Le Bon, La civilisation des Amies (Paris, 1883), contains the most sugges- tive general sketch of the .Mohammedan arts, with numerous illustrations; (Jayet. in L'art l>irsan (Paris, IS!);")) and L'aii (iniht (ib., 1893), describes the various arts in Mohammedan Persia and Egjpt, in hand-book form. A more thorough book of the same type is Stanley Lane- Poole, The Art of the Haracens in Eyyiit (Lon- don, 188(5). Franz- Paseha, Die liaukunut des Islam (Darmstadt, I89G), is a general historical and critical treatise on .Mohanunedan architec- ture and dei'orative dct;uls. with description of the dirt'ereut classes of buildings. For the de- signs and patterns used in decoration, the best text-book renuiins J. Bourgoin, Les arts arahes (Paris, 1808-70) and Pricis de I'arl arabe ( ib., 1889). In Fergusson's History of Archi- tecture (2d ed., London. 1873-76), considerable space, with not very .scientiflc treatment, is given to the Mohanunedan styles; see also his Indian and Eastern Arrhitrcliire ( L(md<m. 1870); M. von Berchem, in his "Notes d'arch^ologie arabe"' (in various years of the Journal Asiatiqiie), is laying a good historic basis for a historic treatment and making known new monuments. The most sumptuous illustrative plates are still for Egypt in Prisse d'Avennes, f/art arabe d'aprcs les nwnuriients dii Caire (Paris, 1809-77). and for Persia Flandin and Coste, Monuments ino- dernes de la Perse ( ib., 1867). For Spain the first serious work was Girault de Prangly, L'areliitectnre des Arabes et des Maures en Ks/iaf/ne, rn t^icile et <m Tiarbarie (ib., 1842), which should be supplemented by the Spanish Government publication. Monumenlos arquitec- tonicos de Espana (Madrid, 1877 sqq. ). Noth- ing satisfactoiy has been published about the monuments of Northern Africa, of Syria or Asia Minor. In fact, the whole literature of the sub- ject is unsatisfactory. Aside from the works re- maining in situ there are not many collections of the smaller works of Mohammedan art. That of the South Kensington Musoun is important, as are those of Cairo, and of the Musee des Arts Dccoratifs in Paris, MOHAMMEDANISM. The name commonly given in the West to the religion founded by Mo- hammed. The proper name is Islam (q.v. ), sug- gested by Mohammed himself, and explained by him to include the ))erformance of five duties (the 'five cardinal points of Islam'), viz.: ac- ceptance of the fornuihi. 'there is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet'; prayer; alms-giving; the fast of Ramadan; and the pil- grimage to Mecca. Doctrine a.nd Practice. Like every organized religion, Islam, as developed by the Mohammedan theologians, presents two sides — the theoretical jiart, known as 'aman, 'faith,' and the practical ])art called din. 'religion.' The doctrine concern- ing (lod. His nature and attributes, coincides with the .Jewish and Christian in so far as He is by both taught to !)<> the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, who rules and jircscrves all things, without beginning, onmipotent. onuiis- cient, omnipresent, and full of mercy. But, ac- cording to the Mohanunedan belief. He has no offspring. .Tesus is regarded, like Adam. Abra- ham, and Moses, as a prophet and apostle, al- though His birth is said to have been due to a divine intervention; as the Koran superseded the Gospel, so Mohanuned su))erseded Christ and all preceding pro|)hets. Next to the belief in God, that in angels forms a prominent dogma, and,