Islamic Art in Context by Robert Irwin

Islamic Art in Context by Robert Irwin

For courses in Nonwestern Art, Islamic Art or supplement to the Western Art Survey.

• The first social history of Islamic art, this text offers a thematic exploration of both court and everyday Islamic art—from its beginnings until the late seventeenth century—in the Islamic world from Spain to Afghanistan. Written in a lively, engaging style by a noted historian, it pays unusually focused attention to context—the literary, social, and cultural background for art works. An abundance of high-quality photographs, many in color, illustrates the full range of Islamic arts—from buildings, paintings, and sculptures, to carpets, coins, ivory inlay, jade carvings, metalwork, glass, ceramics, calligraphy, etc. All-encompassing in approach, it considers the masterful as well as the commonplace, the preserved as well as the “lost.”
• Part of the Perspectives series of modestly priced, heavily illustrated, high-quality paperback books on specific subjects in art history.