TheMirageof IslamicArt:Reflections ontheStudyofanUnwieldyField
Sheila S. BlairandJonathanM. Bloom
Whenwe startedstudyingIslamicart somethirtyyearsago,therewere nogoodintroductorytextbooks thatundergrad-uates couldread. When we startedteachingthesubjectnearlya decadelater,there were stillnone,andwe had to make dowithstacksofphotocopiedarticles andchapters assignedfrom onebook or anotherin anattempttopresentstudentswith a coherent narrative.So littlesurveymaterialexisted thatevengraduatestudentshaddifficultygettingagraspon thewholefield and had to resortto obscureand unevenpubli-cations.Forexample,K.A.C.Creswell's massivetomesim-pliedthat Islamicarchitectureendedin900
C.E.
exceptinEgypt,where itsuddenly stoppedfour hundredyearslaterinthemiddleof theBahri Mamlukperiod,althoughthe Mam-luksequenceof sultanspersisteduntil1517andthere wasampleevidence for aglorioustraditionof Islamic architec-tureinmanylands besidesEgypt.'The venerableSurvey ofPersianArt,originally publishedin five massivevolumesin the1930s,continuedto define thatfieldalthoughmanyof thechapterswerewoefullyoutof datewhen the series wasre-printed,fautedemieux,inthe1970s.2Inshort,despitetheexponentialgrowthof interest in the Islamiclandsgeneratedbytheoil boomand crisis ofthe1970s,Islamicart remainedaratheresotericspecialtyfieldtaughtin afeweliteinstitu-tions.Todaythesituation couldnotbemore different.Coursesin Islamicart areregularlyofferedatdozensofcollegesanduniversitiesin NorthAmerica,andmanyuniversitydepart-ments of arthistorymint doctoral candidatesin thespecialty.Generalarthistorysurveybooks andcourses,thoughstillheavilyWesternandchronologicalinorientation,oftenin-cludeone or twochaptersor lectureson Islamicart,awk-wardlyinsertedsomewherebetween theperiodsof latean-tiquityandearlymedievalandthegeographicallydefinedfields ofIndia, China,andJapan.There arenow severalintroductorytexts devotedexclusivelytoIslamicart,andspecialistbooks andarticlesproliferateto suchadegreethatscholarsandgraduatestudents cannotpossibly keepupwitheverything publishedin thefield.Itis,perhaps,ameasureofthepopularityofIslamic artthatthePelicanHistoryof Artvolumeon thesubject,commissionedin the1950sandpub-lishedin1987,hasalreadybeen reissuedinanew andexpandededition.3ThehorrificeventsofSeptember11,2001,haveonlyincreasedpubliccuriosityfor allthingscon-nectedtoIslam,art included.As thecourselistings,surveytexts,andspecialists'articlesonIslamic artproliferate,scholarsofthesubjecthaveputthefundamentaldefinitionof theirfield underclosescrutiny.From thevantage pointof theearlytwenty-firstcenturyoftheCommonEra(ortheearlyfifteenthcenturyafterMuham-mademigratedwitha smallcompanyof believersfromMeccatoMedina),wemaynowask: WhatexactlyisIslamicart? Howwelldoes thiscategoryservetheunderstandingofthemate-rial? Doesareligiouslybased classification serve us betterthangeographicorlinguisticones,likethose usedfor muchofEuropeanart?Tobeginto answer thesequestions,we mustfirst review how thesubjectisdefined,how itgotto be thatway,andhowithasbeen studied.4The DefinitionandHistoriographyof Islamic ArtIslamic art isgenerallyheld to be "the art madebyartistsorartisans whosereligionwasIslam,forpatronswho livedinpredominantlyMuslimlands,or forpurposesthat arere-strictedorpeculiartoa Muslimpopulationor a Muslim
setting."5
It thereforeencompassesmuch,ifnotmost,oftheartproducedoverfourteen centuriesinthe"Islamiclands,"usuallydefined as the aridbeltcoveringmuchof West Asiabutstretchingfrom the Atlantic coast of North AfricaandSpainon the westto thesteppesofCentralAsia andtheIndian Ocean on the east.These were thelands where Islamspreadduringthe initialconquestsin the seventh andeighthcenturies
C.E.
Otherregionswhere Islamflourishedinlatercenturies,such astropicalAfrica,easternEurope,southernRussia,westernChina,northernIndia,and southeastAsia,aremarginalizedbythis definitionandtherebytreatedasperipheralto the mainstory,eventhoughtheyhavehuge,and somemajority,Muslimpopulations.Indonesia,for ex-ample,nowhas moreMuslims(almost200million)thanallthe traditionalArab countries combined.India,now consid-ered alargelyHinducountry,hasalmost 150 million Mus-lims,virtuallythesame numberlivingintheneighboringMuslimcountryof Pakistan. Yetrarelydoesthe Islamic artoftheIndiansubcontinent,let alonethat ofIndonesia,playanyrole in traditionalcourseson Islamicart,principallybecauseit takessolongtogetthereifyouhave to startat the Kaabainseventh-centuryArabia.As Muslimpopulationshave emi-gratedin the twentiethcenturyfrom their traditionalhome-landsto WesternEuropeandtheAmericas,one can evenbegintoinvestigatethe artof an Islamicdiaspora.6As anacademicdiscipline,however,thestudyof Islamicart is nor-mallyrestrictedto the "core"Islamiclands betweenEgyptandCentralAsiafrom theseventh to theeighteenthcentury,withoccasionalforaysintoSpain,Sicily,andIndiaor laterperiods.Despiteitsname,the academicfield ofIslamic arthasonlya tenuousandproblematicrelationshipwiththereligionofIslam.WhilesomeIslamicartmayhavebeenmadebyMus-lims forpurposesofthefaith,muchofit was not. Amosqueoracopyofthe Koranclearlyfitseverybody'sdefinitionofIslamicart,but whataboutatwelfth-centurySyrianbronzecanteeninlaid withArabicinscriptionsand Christianscenes?Acarpetbearingadesignofa nichecontainingalampandlaid on thegroundinthedirectionof MeccaisclearlyIslamicart,but whataboutatechnicallyidenticalbuticonographi-callydifferentcarpetusedsimplyto cover andsoftenthe
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