Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (41.2000)

expression in a later period of Islamie iconoclasm. Humans are never depicted
in places of worship or on objects connected with the Islamie religion. Yet
they can and did appear in secular works of applied art, and thus they have
been portrayed in wali paintings as well as in miniaturę paintings, textiles,
carpets, metalwork, ceramics, and carved ivory objects. Humań figures were
taken not only from the Koran, but also from the Old and New Testaments,
and appear chiefly in Persian and Turkish art.

Humań representations appear freąuently in Islamie miniaturę paintings.
They originated as illustrations for books written in manuscript, initially in
a variety of scholarly disciplines, and then mostly as illustrations for works
of literaturę. In addition, miniaturę portraits and genre scenes intended for
albums (murakka) were also created in the form of individual sheets. At
the end of the 18th century, in Turkey, Persia, and India during the reign
of the Great Mughals, they were influenced by large-format European oil
paintings.

The portraiture of the Sultans of the Ottoman dynasty constitutes a certain
exception in Islamie art. A gallery of portraits of the Sultans has been
preserved in the Topkapi Pałace in Istanbul.2 3 Another interesting period in
which Christian motifs were freąuently used was the era of the Crusaders’
rule in Palestine and Syria in the 12th century, when they appeared in metal
items. Arab workshops of the period were geared for mass production of
luxury goods madę of bronze and richly enerusted with silver ornamentation,
intended for the Crusaders. Many metal items from this period have been
preserved in European collections, most often bowls, censers, little boxes,
and platesd Among the motifs appearing in the decorations are scenes from
the New Testament: the Annunciation, the Nativity of Christ, the Presentation
of Jesus in the Tempie, the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the Raising of
Lazarus, the Wedding at Cana, the Baptism of Christ, and the Madonna with
Child. In addition, figures of bishops and monks occasionally appear.

The Koran mentions 28 biblical prophets, while stories in the Koran as well
as later commentaries relate a significantly larger number of prophets’ names.
In the Koran, the history of the prophets begins with Adam; as in the Bibie,
he is considered the first human being created by God. Next to Adam appears
Eve (Hawwa). There are well-known Islamie depictions of the expulsion
of Adam and Eve from Paradise. Nevertheless, the prophets in the Koran
sometimes receive different attributes than those ascribed to them in the
Old Testament. For example, Abraham (Ibrahim) is considered as a friend
of God (Khalil). Islam is considered to have originated with Abraham, sińce
he was the first to believe in one God.

Islamie painting contains numerous depictions of throwing Abraham into
fire and his God inspired miraculous salvation. This story differs from the

2 Cf. The Sultans Portrait. Picturing the House of Osman, exh. cat., Topkapi Pałace Museum
in Istanbul, June 6 - September 6, 2000, Istanbul 2000.

3 Eva Baer, Ayyubid Metalwork with Chństiaii Images, Leiden-New York 1989.

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