Iconography of Islamic Art

Bernard O’Kane is Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the American University in Cairo. He is the author of Timurid Architecture in Khurasan (1987), Studies in Persian Art and Architecture (1996) and Early Persian Painting (2003); and the editor of Treasures of Islamic Art in the Museums of Cairo (2006).

• Preface; List of Illustrations; 1. Birds and Blessings: A Kohl-Pot from Jerusalem; Sylvia Auld; 2. Remarks on the Iconography of the Medieval Capitals of Cairo: Form and Emplacement; Marianne Barrucand; 3. A Mongol Envoy; Sheila S. Blair; 4. Almoravid Geometric Designs in the Pavement of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo; Jonathan M. Bloom; 5. A Kingly Posture: The Iconography of Sultan Husayn Bayqara; Barbara Brend; 6. Musical Beasts: The Swan-Pheonix in the Ibn Bakhtishu' Bestiaries; Anna Contadini; 7. Cup, Branch, Bird and Fish: An Iconographical Study of the Figure Holding a Cup and a Branch Flanked by a Bird and a Fish; Abbas Daneshvari; 8. Islamic Incense Burners and the Influence of Buddhist Art; Geza Fehervari; 9. Vine Ornament and Pomegranates as Palace Decoration in 'Anjar; Barbara Finster; 10. Persianate Trends in Sultanate Architecture: The Great Mosque of Bada'un; Finbarr Barry Flood; 11. Silks, Pots and Jugs: Al-Jahiz and Objects of Common Use; Oleg Grabar; 12. Khusrau Parviz as Champion of Shi'ism? A Closer Look at Early Safavid Miniature Painting in the Royal Museum of Edinburgh; Ulrike al-Khamis; 13. 'Waves of the Sea': Responses to Marble in Written Sources (9th-15th Century); Marcus Milwright; 14. The Arboreal Aesthetic: Landscape, Painting and Architecture from Mongol Iran to Mamluk Egypt; Bernard O'Kane; 15. The Vicissitudes of Rustam; B. W. Robinson; 16. Made for the Show: The Medieval Treasury of the Ka'ba in Mecca; Avinoam Shalem; 17. A Pictorial Representation of the Hadith al-Thaqalayn in an Ilkhanid Copy of Bal'ami's Tarjuma-yi Tabari in the Freer Gallery; Raya Y. Shani; 18. Style versus Substance: the Christian Iconography on Two Vessels Made for the Ayyubid Sultan al-Salih Ayyub; Rachel Ward; Bibliography of Robert Hillenbrand's works.

The reader will be delighted with this study, which as been produced by a group of experts in an exquisitely and extensively illustrated book.