Since tectonic arrangement in architecture was confined to the broad lines, a wide field was pre sented for ornament. In the cOmayyad period preference was given to the glittering glass mosaic and deep-shadowed pierced stone filigree-work, both common in Byzantium. With the victory of the sun-dried brick under the tAbbasids, these were superseded by stucco facing sometimes moulded in the flat, sometimes like wise cut in high relief, as in the third style of Samarra and in won derful inscriptions in floral Cufic from Persia, all originally richly painted. Later, in the Turkish and Mongolian periods, stucco gave way to the cheaper substitute for the more costly mosaic, in free stone or brick, but most often in faience tiling. The less impor tant parts of the rough core of the wall, often quite carelessly put together, were overlaid with a particoloured mosaic of glazed bricks of varied shapes, making all kinds of twined patterns and formalised Cufic words endlessly repeated; while the major por tions were covered with mosaics of tiles cut skilfully to the exact shapes of the prevalent patterns, in harmonious colour-schemes, particularly blue, or in combinations of faience ornament on a stucco ground (in relief) or friezes of inscriptions in incised stucco in the intervals of faience mosaic. Admirable also are the script friezes of glazed tiles with dark blue characters on a ground of golden-brown arabesques. With the decay of ornament after the 16th century, this type of mosaic was generally supplanted by square faience tiles with the decoration simply painted on them. Apart from one or two magnificent portions of buildings, Syria, Egypt and the West were content with coloured stucco-work and mosaics of particoloured stone plaques, generally white and red or white and black. (For plan and tectonics see MOHAMMEDAN ARCHITECTURE.) Furniture.—Another reason for this rich wall-decoration lies in the almost complete absence of furniture, in our sense of the term, in Mohammedan places of worship and dwelling-houses. This, like the custom of sitting on the floor, was due to the no madic habit. Household crockery was kept in stuccoed recesses in the walls, or on wooden shelves and in cupboards built into the walls; of the latter there is at Berlin a fine example from Aleppo, with biblical paintings in the Persian style. Furniture, in our sense, was represented in private houses by small, low, round or oblong tables, and in India also by beds (charpoy). Persons of consequence used the takht, but sat on it in the same posture as on the floor; chairs came into use in the 17th century only in the highest circles. In the mosques the Koran was placed on a desk (kursi) like a campstool, and was of ten kept in a small circular cabinet; the pulpit (minbar) was a domed box at the top of a staircase, reached through a doorway that could be closed. A feature of most of these objects is the manner in which they are decorated with tasteful tarsia-work of small boards, richly carved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory, etc. This was necessary owing to the wood available and the danger of warping. The harem doors were worked in like fashion, often with rich bronze orna mentation, and the balcony-railings (musharabiya), made of small curved wooden pales. (See also INTERIOR DECORATION.) The remaining objects in the house comprised rugs and cushions, jewel-cases and boxes, together with table utensils, lamps, smoking equipment, open charcoal-pans (as stoves) and warming-pans, candle-sticks, etc., in bronze, faience, glass, ivory and other materials. (For rugs and woven fabrics, see TPCTILES.) Ceramics.—The Mohammedan ceramic art built upon ancient oriental traditions, enriched them for its own religious purposes with a new and highly effective technique, and pursued its de velopment under growing influences from eastern Asia. The use of the coloured glazed brick was inherited from Babylon, as was the unglazed earthenware in the barbotin style (in which the pattern is made by applying bands of clay) with the "tree of life" and "naked goddess" (Astarte) motifs, enriched with Hellenistic and Sassanian elements, laurel and acanthus leaves, stubs of palm leaves, and later wreathed medallions centred with animal figures, griffins, eagles and the like. Examples are to be seen in the pottery of Samarra, though this is almost entirely in tiny shards. Echoes of this barbotin technique appear in the ware of Mosul down to the 14th century, and in the Ghabri ware of Persia, in the sgraf fito manner, of ten with lively painting, until c. 1200. Contempo raneously, in Samarra, we find the first lustre-ware. Islam in its early days was puritanical enough to proscribe gold—like silk— as a worldly luxury, and for that reason, in later times, faience painted with a gold lustre changing to green, brown and violet was used as a substitute; in the earliest examples the forms of the magnificent golden and silver vessels of the Sassanian epoch can still be plainly traced. This style rose high in favour, particularly in the Seljuk and Mongol periods, but disappeared at the begin ning of the 17th century. The 'Abbasid caliphs also imported porcelain, from China (Sung dynasty), and caused its white, yel low and green overflow-glazing and its stippled, fish and other designs to be imitated in earthenware. With the Seljuks came a new wave of far eastern influence, the chief centre of the industry under their rule being Rhagae, the forerunner of Teheran. The "mineii" ware shows chiefly bowls, beakers, tankards and bottles in spirited painting and gilding on a white ground, often with rich figure-compositions arranged in bands. There are also vessels of similar types as well as such akin to the bronzes, in animal and human form; their design is left white, generally on a ground of violet lustre, and shows the classical arabesque and palm-leaf motifs, sphinxes and birds with crowned women's heads, pea cocks, elephants, scenes of court life and war, and, above all, horsemen with their characteristic pigtails and their garments adorned with arabesques. After the destruction of Rhagae by the Mongols, Sultanabad and Veramin became the centres of the ceramic industry in the 13th and 14th centuries. Favourite types were not only mindi and lustre ware, but also faience in green and dark blue tones, in many cases with moulded ornamentation, and tiles richly decorated in lustre. From the 16th century on wards, Chinese white porcelain with blue and grey designs was imported in large quantities and became a regular type ; its deco ration was copied and freely developed, but porcelain itself could not be successfully manufactured, and a kind of semi-faience, closely resembling it, was made instead. Persian pottery forms the basis of that of Syria, Egypt, Spain and Asia Minor. In the area of the Arab civilisation, figure-motifs disappeared at an early period, and bands of script or arabesque, arranged radially or in rings, became the prevalent form. In Spain, under Christian rule, this art developed still further, and absorbed Gothic motifs ; the 14th and 15th century wares of Malaga (whence the name "majolica") and of Paterna and Manises, two suburbs of Valencia, exercised a very strong influence on the majolica ware of the early Italian renaissance. On the other hand, in the Ottoman pottery
of Kutahia and Isnik ("Damascus" and "Rhodos" ware), which flourished from the I5th century onwards, relatively naturalistic tulips, carnations, roses, lilies, cypresses, etc., and also figure sub jects, were preferred for purposes of decoration, cobalt blue, tur quoise, green and manganese violet being used as colours, generally On a white ground. (See also POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.) Glass and Crystal Ware.—Unlike pottery, glass-making was inherited from Hellenic antiquity, and was centred in Syria and Egypt. The Fatimid period produced narrow-necked bottles, tank ards and beakers, and scent-bottles ornamented with externally ap plied bosses, threads and bands, or with spiral tendrils and animal figures moulded into the glass. In addition, imitations were made ("Hedwig glasses") of rock-crystal vessels with ornament consist ing of figures and circular tendrils, of Sassanian origin; many of these came early into the possession of religious or noble houses in Europe, and have thus been preserved. The most marvellous work, however, was produced at Aleppo in Syria, under the Ayyubid and Mameluke dominations. Bottles, beakers, goblets and above all hanging lamps for mosques, were covered with bands of arabesque and script and with medallions in enamel colours (white, red, blue and yellow) and gold ; the subjects included figures of horsemen and others, and the coats of arms of the court offices. The celebrated "Luck of Edenhall" was a goblet of this type. Modern Persian glass originated in the industry pro moted by Shah 'Abbas the Great (c. 1600). (See GLASS.) Metal-work.—Here again oriental traditions, particularly those of the Sassanian empire and the Far East, predominate. Most of the work is in bronze, iron being still used almost only for weapons. The use of gold and silver also was limited, because it was forbidden by the Koran; and although the prohibition was often ignored, the great value of such objects led to their early destruction and melting down. Mohammedan jewellery of the early period is therefore of extreme rarity, being represented only by a few buckles, bracelets, etc., of the Fatimid and Mongol periods, and such pieces as the Gerona silver chest (akin to the similar ivory coffers) in Spain and the Berlin silver tankard of the 13th century, with its embossed reliefs of Sassanian animal friezes.
Such animals in the Sassanian style, lions, dragons, sphinxes, peacocks, doves, cocks and the like, were also cast in bronze in three dimensions, and served, like their ceramic counter parts, as basins, braziers, etc. They were particularly sought after in the later 'Abbasid, Fatimid and Seljuk periods, and from Egypt they became the prototypes of similar European forms. It was the Seljuks, apparently, who introduced the round bronze mirror, the reverse of which shows in low relief either two sphinxes face to face—in the manner of the mindi pottery—surrounded by a twined pattern, or two friezes with the astrological symbols of the seven chief heavenly bodies (sun, moon and the five nearest plan ets) and the twelve signs of the zodiac, surrounded by a band of script ; this goes back ultimately to Chinese origins. In the earlier period, mugs, etc., were ornamented with animals in low relief, but this was quickly supplanted by engraving. Under the later Seljuks (particularly the Ortoqid Atabegs of Mosul) and the Mamelukes, engraving became almost the only form of decoration, but only to serve as a basis for the yet richer technique of inlay ing : small silver plates and wires, themselves delicately engraved, were hammered into the ribs and surfaces, which were hollowed out and undercut at the edges. In place of this an Ortoqid bowl in the provincial museum at Innsbruck has the spaces filled in with cellular enamel. This was a method of evading the prohibi tion of precious metals, just as gold lustre was in pottery. The ornament consisted of friezes and medallions in lattice and ara besque work, the interstices being filled with figures of warriors, hunters, musicians, animals and astrological symbols. These were superseded later by Mameluke coats of arms and inscriptions. In the 15th century the technique was imported from Syria to Venice, where productions of the same kind, alla damaschina or all' azzimina were made right into the 16th century by Moham medan masters, and were in great demand. In the East the process is still common, but both technically and artistically it has de cayed. In the i5th century, however, there was a renascence of pure metal-engraving, but the design—inscriptions and arabesques in the Timurid and Safawid styles—was not cut into the material, but left free in the manner of a relief, the background being etched in black. Decoration was applied to bowls and basins, mugs and vases, mortars, braziers and warming-pans, candle sticks and smoking-utensils, inkstands and jewel-cases, Koran holders, mosque-lamps, and kui sis. These are generally in the simplest possible forms—spherical, cylindrical, prismatic—and are developed by cutting off corners, adding projections, narrowing and channelling the walls, and by reduplication; the subjects in clude motifs of vegetation and animal life—the former mainly in the necks and feet of vessels, the latter for handles and ears, feet and sometimes small spouts. (See BRONZE.) Weapons.—Ancient Mohammedan weapons of any artistic value are comparatively rare : most of the extant pieces date from the 17th or i8th or even early 19th century, while the period from the 14th to the i6th is represented by a fair number of fine examples. Mohammedan swords were famous even in antiquity for their wonderful blades of "Damascene" and "Toledo" steel. This high standard was attained by a laborious process of repeat edly welding together pieces of iron of different qualities, but its ultimate explanation lies in the peculiar process used for smelting the Indian raw material—a method whose results have been sur passed only by those of the modern Bessemer process. The earlier blades are all straight ; curved sabres and daggers do not become common until after 1 soo. The blades were ornamented with in laid work of gold and silver threads, arabesques, blessings and— on the celebrated "Mongol blades"—also phoenixes and dragons in the Chinese manner; at a later period the inlay was confined to the part near the hilt, the remainder being adorned with en graved reliefs. For the handle and guards, gold and cellular enamel were used, as on the magnificent "Boabdil" swords named after the last Moorish king in Spain (15th century), with their hooked guards, and many Ottoman and Persian daggers and sabres of the 17th and i8th centuries; nephrite, ivory and silver plating with jewelled ornament were also used, especially for daggers. The scabbards had ornaments to match the hilts, and were cov ered with nielloed silver plating, leather, snake-skin or ray-skin.