Islamic Arts from Spain - Hardcover

by Mariam Rosser-Owen (Author)

Intricate, elaborate, and colorful, Islamic art produced in medieval Spain has had a lasting influence on Western decorative art. This fascinating book, lavishly illustrated with objects drawn from the V&A's collections, includes exquisite ivory caskets, including stunning Byzantine works, marble tombstones and capitals, architectural models, jewelry, textiles, ceramics, and also examines the late 19th-century craze for the "Alhambresque" style promoted by English designer Owen Jones, the work of Antoni Gaudi, and much more.

Islamic Arts from Spain addresses the creation, suppression, rediscovery, and influence of Islamic art in Spain from the 8th to the 20th century . It looks first at patronage during the "Golden Age" of the Umayyad caliphate, from the mid-10th to the early 11th century, before discussing the Nasrid dynasty, who ruled from Granada while Christian monarchs were reemerging in northern Spain. The book also explores the phenomenon of the "Mudejar," Islamic-influenced arts produced under non-Muslim patrons in the Renaissance.

Author Biography

Mariam Rosser-Owen is a curator in the V&A's Middle Eastern Department. She has published extensively on ivories from the medieval Mediterranean, and contributed to Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East. She co-edited the volume Revisiting Al-Andalus: Perspectives on the Material Culture of Islamic Iberia and Beyond.