Early Islamic Art, 650–1100

This is the first in a set of four volumes of studies by Oleg Grabar. The articles included represent major contributions to the understanding of the formative centuries of Islamic art, focusing on the Umayyad and Fatimid dynasties in greater Syria and in Egypt, and on the Mediterranean or Iranian antecedents of early Islamic art. Historical, cultural, and religious themes are introduced to help explain how a new art was formed in the central lands of the Near East, and how its language can be retrieved from visual or written sources.