Islamic Art of Illumination

This book appears to have been written by someone with no writerly experience and no editor. It includes some nice photographs but seems to be limited by the delusion that the Topkapi palace is the only repository of Islamic art on the planet. It’s kind of like a nice high school project done by a kid who has decent photoshop skills and access to google search for images. I regret every cent.

This is an excellent book for those interested in Islamic art, with information on various styles and techniques. A very useful guide to those who draw and paint and probably also for those looking for a good coffee table guide to a fascinating artistic genre. Very glad I bought it. I was less thrilled by Amazon having used UPS as it’s delivery partner in Pakistan. The book was sent to the wrong city, UPS tried to deliver to the wrong address and I spent three hours on the phone to Amazon uk but it did arrive in the end. However that is no reflection on the book itself.

This book is great inspiration for any Islamic art , show you a lot of ways on how to draw . Love it

Magnifique livre , très instructif sur la façon de dessiner et créer.... une petite merveille à regarder et à étudier. Par contre il faut savoir lire l'anglais (ce qui ne me pose pas de problème), mais je pense à ceux qui ne maîtrise pas la langue anglaise, mais pour eux aussi c'est intéressant car le livre est vraiment très beau.

An excellent book a good history of Islamic illumination and lots of good design tips.

There are very few books on the market (at least in English and in the US/UK) that actually are about the Islamic Illuminations Arts. Many are available on the use of Illumination in Medeival works and Churches in the Western traditions but the techniques and applications between those and the Islamic Arts is very different. Both generally utilize the use of shell gold and both have been used to create beautiful decoration in religious manuscripts but the styles, techniques, designs are quite unique to each. Some people who apparently have read this book seem to think it's about calligraphy. The art of Tezhip is not calligraphy it is the decorative art in floral and geometric patterns that can surround calligraphy and other works and which is generally done with the application of shell gold (powdered gold suspended in in a medium then painted on a surface and rubbed to shine) to parts of the design. This book provides a lot of really wonderful background information and history of the art form. I've never found another book in English that goes this far in-depth in fact usually Tezhip gets at best a cursory mention in general art overviews on the subject of illumination and/or Islamic arts. Though I've sought out most of the information from various sources over the years this is the first source I've found that compiles all of the information like this in one place. The books pages are a nice thick paper and the images inside are beautiful. There are numerous examples of the things the author is describing and discussing. The only complaint I have is that this book doesn't have more of a pratice and methodology section. It shows you some individual parts then shows you them in a completed work but doesn't layout very well how to get from step A to step B. This is far more than most books will give you but I'd absolutely love to see perhaps another book by the author that are more practice books that do detail out the steps. Those kinds of books do exist but are generally in Turkish or in Persian/Farsi and are not easy to find in the US and only available through on-line orders in which you can't really look through them to see if they really are what you want. You can end up throwing a lot of money away on books that don't cover what you were hoping for. With a little extra searching you can find information on how to get those in-between steps in which case this book's breakdown of the individual components can be helpful in building your pieces. It would also be useful as a reminder for people who have a basic understanding of the composition basics and can then use the breakdowns as reference reminders. If you are just beggining your journey into the world of Tezhip this won't take you from beginner to intermediate. This will maybe take you from beginner to knowledgeable beginner with a strong understanding of history and context. Either way you'll want this book for reference later and if nothing else the beautiful imagery can be quite inspiring in your own works.