Qahwa and Kalam: Geometry, Art, and Ideology in Fatimid, Zangid and Ayyubid Egypt and Syria

Join this intriguing lecture by Bernard O’Kane, professor of Islamic art and architecture in the department, under the title “Geometry, Art, and Ideology in Fatimid, Zangid and Ayyubid Egypt and Syria.” With the support of the Winder Fund. 

The relative involvement of the Fatimids, Zangids and Ayyubids in the development of geometrical decoration in Islamic art has been a controversial one, with some scholars maintaining that there was an ideological bias on the part of the Sunni Zangids and Ayyubids towards geometrical decoration, contrasting it with a much greater use of vegetal decoration by the Shi‘i Fatimids. In fact, decoration in both styles, vegetal and geometric, can be found in the art of each of those dynasties. But did one use more complicated star and polygon patterns earlier than the other? If so, did this involve more advanced geometrical knowledge in pattern-making? And is the answer to this of any relevance to settling this dispute? The mathematical study of geometric patterns in Islamic art has advanced considerably in recent years through the publication of several seminal works, chief among them in terms of its encyclopedic coverage being Jay Bonner’s Islamic Geometric Patterns: Their Historical Development and Traditional Methods of Construction. This talk will re-examine some of this evidence, partially in the light of these new analyses, and bring new evidence to bear on the matter.

Refreshments will be served.

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