Art in the Koran: Solomon’s Trap
Publisher
:
Albin Michel
Parution date
:
2002
EAN
:
9782226126825
Description
The legendary meeting of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon was a central theme of Arab and Persian medieval illustrations and literature. In the Koran (Surah XXVII, verse 44), a parabola recounts the story of the Queen Sheba’s conversion to the One God after an unusual experiment: King Solomon invites the Queen to his palace, which he has had redecorated with glass. The decor is achieved with such perfection that the Queen mistakenly takes it for water and raises her dress to bathe her feet, before realizing her error. Using this story as a basis for her analysis, Valérie Gonzalez extends her study to the whole Koran. The optical illusion created with the glass décor allows Valérie Gonzalez to reflect on the visual metaphor and on the problematic of figurative representation. In this stimulating and unique book, she explores the art of representation as it developed in Islam and relates Islamic art to contemporary thought on art. This close examination of the Koran opens new avenues to understanding Muslim art, and reveals the many different modes of expression of this art characterized by a very pronounced taste for geometrical and abstract ornaments as well as the rejection of any representation of living beings.
Author
Valérie Gonzalez : A specialist of Muslim architectural and urban history, Valérie Gonzales currently is a researcher in the United States. She is the author of Beauty and Islam: aesthetics in Islamic Art and Architecture (I.B Tauris Publishers, 2001).
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