DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0255
MOHAMMEDAN PERIOD 169
adaptations with their own means of expression that Mohamme-
dan art became a strikingly individual thing. Probably it is at
Cairo that this art reveals itself in its most refined and purest
form. Hence in this chapter we shall study chiefly the monuments
of that city.1
Egypt was a province of the Byzantine Empire at the time of
its conquest by the Mohammedans in 638 a.d., and was ruled by
governors appointed by the great Caliphates of Damascus or
Bagdad until a line of rulers threw off the domination of the
Caliph, and reached a golden age under the Mamelukes (12.50-
1516 a.d.). These rulers were originally Tartar slaves in the employ
of the Caliphs and rose from servitude to become for nearly three
hundred years independent Moslem sovereigns of Egypt. Politi-
cally it was an age of intrigue and murder. The Mamelukes were
still barbarians and merciless cutthroats; rarely did a Mameluke
reign more than a few years, and very few died a natural death.
Yet the arts flourished with an amazing vigor and displayed a
rare and refined taste — one of the startling contrasts of history,
as Mr. Lane-Poole suggests.
Some of the outstanding characteristics of Moslem art were
due to the strict injunctions of the Koran, the bible of the Mo-
hammedan, especially that which forbade any representation
of the human or other animate figure and thus turned the atten-
tion of the artists to the world of floral and geometric forms for
their motifs in decoration.
Against sumptuousness and license of all kinds the Koran
decreed puritanically. Yet these Mohammedans, particularly the
Mamelukes, with their oriental love of color, of fine silks,
jewels, and richly inlaid vessels, managed in various ways to
circumvent these decrees, so that their everyday life was that
fairy land of splendor of which we read in the Thousand and One
Nights. With great wealth at their command they adorned their
homes, and even their traveling tents of gold-shot silk, with
rich hangings, fine rugs, and at least a few exquisite utensils; and
clothed themselves in the most splendid apparel. In spite of
many fastings, prayers, and pilgrimages demanded by the Koran,
life was gay with festivals, feasts, and sports.2
ARCHITECTURE
Since the Mohammedan was fanatical in religious belief and
at the same time keenly zealous in the pursuit of pleasure, it is
1 For other manifestations see the chapters on Persia and India.
2 For a picture of Mohammedan life, see Lane-Poole, Art of the Saracens in Egypt, ch. I.
adaptations with their own means of expression that Mohamme-
dan art became a strikingly individual thing. Probably it is at
Cairo that this art reveals itself in its most refined and purest
form. Hence in this chapter we shall study chiefly the monuments
of that city.1
Egypt was a province of the Byzantine Empire at the time of
its conquest by the Mohammedans in 638 a.d., and was ruled by
governors appointed by the great Caliphates of Damascus or
Bagdad until a line of rulers threw off the domination of the
Caliph, and reached a golden age under the Mamelukes (12.50-
1516 a.d.). These rulers were originally Tartar slaves in the employ
of the Caliphs and rose from servitude to become for nearly three
hundred years independent Moslem sovereigns of Egypt. Politi-
cally it was an age of intrigue and murder. The Mamelukes were
still barbarians and merciless cutthroats; rarely did a Mameluke
reign more than a few years, and very few died a natural death.
Yet the arts flourished with an amazing vigor and displayed a
rare and refined taste — one of the startling contrasts of history,
as Mr. Lane-Poole suggests.
Some of the outstanding characteristics of Moslem art were
due to the strict injunctions of the Koran, the bible of the Mo-
hammedan, especially that which forbade any representation
of the human or other animate figure and thus turned the atten-
tion of the artists to the world of floral and geometric forms for
their motifs in decoration.
Against sumptuousness and license of all kinds the Koran
decreed puritanically. Yet these Mohammedans, particularly the
Mamelukes, with their oriental love of color, of fine silks,
jewels, and richly inlaid vessels, managed in various ways to
circumvent these decrees, so that their everyday life was that
fairy land of splendor of which we read in the Thousand and One
Nights. With great wealth at their command they adorned their
homes, and even their traveling tents of gold-shot silk, with
rich hangings, fine rugs, and at least a few exquisite utensils; and
clothed themselves in the most splendid apparel. In spite of
many fastings, prayers, and pilgrimages demanded by the Koran,
life was gay with festivals, feasts, and sports.2
ARCHITECTURE
Since the Mohammedan was fanatical in religious belief and
at the same time keenly zealous in the pursuit of pleasure, it is
1 For other manifestations see the chapters on Persia and India.
2 For a picture of Mohammedan life, see Lane-Poole, Art of the Saracens in Egypt, ch. I.