Glassware decoration
Islamic civilization played a major role in inspiring Islamic
stained. glass art from the 8th century onwards
Islamic stained glass art and its first home
. As mosques, homes, and cities were transformed into beautiful spaces decorated with glass, beauty and function were essential elements of design in Islamic civilization.
Perhaps in an effort to supply thousands of mosques, and also thanks to the input provided by burgeoning scientific activity in fields such as optics and chemistry.
Glassmakers in Islamic civilization transformed
what had been a craft until then into a craft that refers to the art of Islamic
stained glass as an industry that used new techniques and a large number of
workers from across Islamic civilization.
Who was the first to discover the art of Islamic stained glass in ancient history?
Throughout
Islamic civilization, glassware was produced in large quantities from the 8th
century either by blowing liquid glass into chambers or cutting it from
crystal, glassmakers in Syria and Egypt inherited and improved the Roman glass
industry, developing their own technique to perfect the art of Islamic stained
glass, its coloring .and decoration, and expanding the variety of products.
Syrian glass
Excavations in Syria and other parts of Islamic civilization have
Glass from the Islamic civilization, especially glass from Syria, was highly valued throughout the world, glass objects have been discovered at medieval European sites in Sweden and southern Russia, and even fragile objects such as 13th-century Syrian enamelled glass have been found in Sweden.
In the early 14th century, more than 300 years after Ibn Sahl, the astronomer and mathematician Kamal al-Din al-Farsi experimented with a glass ball filled with water to analyze the way sunlight penetrates the colors of the spectrum of the rainbow, and he observed the rays that produced the colors of the rainbow.
Decorative art
The rise of Islam, and the resulting expansion of Islamic lands during the seventh century AD, it ultimately led to the development of Islamic stained glass art and the emergence of a society that kept alive many of the achievements that had been. lost in the West
Mosaic glass, cast and cut ware, and die-blown ware continued to
The Arab Muslim artist created a new type of beautiful decoration, including discs, animal drawings, Kufic writing using a machine resembling tweezers, or seals with engraved inscriptions.
The manufacturer also introduced the method of
decoration with disks and threads added to the surface of the vessels.
These lines are either zigzag or in the form of
wavy bands, discs, or dots in the same color as the vessel or in a different
color.
The glass threads were pulled hot in one or two
opposite directions, forming many different shapes like saw teeth.
Gilding and coloring glass
The Muslim artist invented the method of gilding and enamel painting, they used to place golden decorations on the antiques using a brush when drawing the outer lines and with a brush in large areas.
After the maker fired the vessel in the oven for the first time, he determined the subject of the drawing in red, then he painted it with different colored enamels.
The semi-transparent enamel paint was composed of
melted lead and then colored with metallic oxides, if a green color was wanted,
copper oxide was added to the glass, and by adding iron oxide, the color red
was obtained, while yellow was obtained from antimony acid, white from tin
oxide, and blue by adding lapis lazuli powder.
In the Fatimid era
The crystal industry flourished in Egypt during
the Fatimids, an crystal stone is a natural stone with attractive
transparency, it is found on the coast of the Red Sea, and anklets, cups,
leaves, and bottles were made from it.
The Persian traveler Nasser Khusraw was impressed
by the glassware that he saw when he visited the Qandil Market near the Amr Ibn
Al-Aas Mosque, he praised them and described them as beautiful and creative, in
addition to their solidity and beautiful appearance.
Mamluk era
In the Mamluk era in Egypt and Syria, the glass
lamps covered with enamel were considered the pride of the glass industry.
The Mamluk sultans (kings) acquired these glass
lamps and decorated mosques with them, the lamp bottles are white to dark yellow, while the enamel they are decorated
with is red, blue, green, and white, their decoration consists of writings
within spaces and regions.
Islamic
stained glass art in Andalusia
In Andalusia, glassware was blown in
Almeria, Malaga, and Murcia in imitation of Oriental wares, like the glass cups
that were a favorite on the tables of Lyon in the tenth century.
It is said
that the technique of cutting crystal was introduced by Abbas Ibn Firnas (d.
887), a researcher and inventor in the court of Abd al-Rahman II and Muhammad
I, it is worth noting here the genius of Ibn Firnas, who was not only able to
decipher the most complex writing codes, but also attempted to fly by helicopter, by building artificial wings.
Regarding glass, he was aware of the scientific properties of glass, and contributed to the early experimentation with lenses and the idea of enlarged text using them, he also lent his skills to Cordova's glass-making furnaces, and represented the sky in glass, which he was able to make clear or cloudy, with lightning and thunder noises, with the push of a finger.
Egyptian and Syrian glass and metal
works were appreciated. In addition to many products of Mesopotamia and Moorish
Spain being highly regarded as being clearly superior to anything that could be
made in Western Europe at the time, it was largely imitation in the art of
Islamic stained glass, which contributed to the eventual rise of Western
products to Franchise.
The transfer of crystal manufactures to Europe
Most of the antiques made of crystal moved to the
palaces and churches of Europe, where Europeans admired them and began to buy
and acquire them.
It is still preserved in the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice, and the basis of its decoration is a drawing of two lions with a tree between them and between the neck of the jug and its body, a Kufic inscription that reads (A blessing from God for the dear Imam).
There is another masterpiece in the shape of a
crescent in the Nuremburg Museum in Germany, and it bears the Kufic inscription
(All religion belongs to God - Al-Zahir li’azaz, the religion of God, the
Commander of the Faithful).
A third masterpiece is in the cathedral of the
city of Fermo, Italy, on its body is a decoration of two birds facing each
other with plant branches of great precision and perfection, above the drawing
is a strip of Kufic writing with the phrase (Blessing and joy for King
Al-Mansur, that is, the ruler by the command of God Al-Mansur).)
This is in addition to other antiques in the Louvre Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Pitti palace in France, and others.
