Customer Reviews

Islamic Metalwork (Eastern Art)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I remember reading this book when it first came out because I reviewed it for the Arab News while I lived in Saudi Arabia. It struck me that, amidst all these beautiful images of Islamic metalwork, the reader was inundated by a narrow minded Orientalist attitude.

For instance, Ward writes, "It Islam made little immediate difference to local cultural traditions, it did have an effect on the distribution of wealth. Non-Muslims were subject to harsher taxation than Muslims and so their power of patronage was reduced [insofar as patronage of the metal arts was concerned, the non-Muslims thereby being presumably reduced to a much reduced cash-flow level]. Their Arab overlords, who dominated the main sources of revenue and valuable raw materials, were inevitably more important patrons."

Oh please. This kind of stilted writing still goes on, but mainly in highly conservative right wing magazines and syndicated opinion columns. The fact of the matter, for anyone who would like to do about two hours' worth of research, is that non-Muslims living in a Muslim state did have to pay tax, as did Muslims. It had a different name in the two cases, but it was the same amount. The Muslim paid his/hers as required charity and the Non-Muslim paid his/hers as required tax. Interestingly, it was even the same percentage of the overall income. If you have read this far, you may be wondering what that has to do with Islamic metalwork. Not a whole hell of a lot.

The pictures are inspiring. Sorry to say the perspective is not.

Very impressive collection of objects from the above period. Great pictures. Detailed descriptions of the methods of work, meaning of the designs, social influences in the design. No iron work, which is my field of study.

Well indexed and source acknowledgements with recommendations for further reading.