Symmetries of Islamic Geometrical Patterns [Hardcover]

S. J. Abas (Author), Amer Shaker Salman (Author), Ahmed Moustafa (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 9810217048 | ISBN-13: 978-9810217044 | Publication Date: December 1994

The book is about symmetric geometric patterns of Islamic art. It has educational, aesthetic, cultural and practical purposes. The central purpose of the book is to bring to the attention of the world in general and the people of the Islamic countries in particular, the potential of this art in the context of mathematical education. This book sets out to place the study of Islamic patterns within the wider framework of symmetry. The symmetry structure of about 250 Islamic patterns is presented. Simple algorithms suitable for modern computer graphics are given for the construction of two-dimensional periodic patterns. This book should be suitable for both the lay reader keen to explore Islamic art and the specialized mathematician.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

"... a masterly account of the way in which art and science are combined into aesthetic beauty by the Islamic geometric designs and motifs which decorate much of the Eastern World."

From The New Yorker

"... This book will allow readers to travel through time and space, from ancient ornaments to the most modern computer graphics patterns."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 396 pages
• Publisher: World Scientific Pub Co Inc (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9810217048
• ISBN-13: 978-9810217044
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,784,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, June 19, 2009

By 

D K - See all my reviews

This review is from: Symmetries of Islamic Geometrical Patterns (Hardcover)

...This book shows how each pattern is constructed. First showing the over all tiling and revealing the basic unit of each, then showing how the transformational rules ( of rotation and mirroring etc.) are applied. It is amazing how complex a pattern may be created from an extremely simple beginning. It contains a few color plates, but its real strength is in the 250 black and white islamic patterns, each with unit cell, and template motif which demonstrate the constructions. Many of the patterns, analyzed are those originally shown in "Arabic Geometrical Pattern and Design" (Dover Pictorial Archive Series) by J. Bourgoin.
...The first half of the book mainly covers Zalij shapes, the nature and properties of symmetry, invariance groups, the 17 groups, their identification, and algorithms for them.
...This book is perhaps more for those interested in symmetry than those interested in drawing islamic patterns.
...The black and white patterns are all of single line width, and thus show no interlacing.
..."Pattern in Islamic Art" by David Wade, ( isbn 0879510420 ) contains interlace patterns from page 78 to 105, but it is not a book about symmetry, it utilizes a grid method of construction.
..."Islamic Geometric Patterns" by Eric Broug ( SBN-10: 050028721X ISBN-13: 978-0500287217 ) shows the use of a compass on pages 22 and 23 to creat double line width, but has no full plates showing the weaving as does David Wade's book.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich source of information, January 27, 2001

By 

Helmer Aslaksen (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Symmetries of Islamic Geometrical Patterns (Hardcover)

In 1944, Edith Muller claimed that all the 17 wallpaper groups were found in Alhambra. Unfortunately, her paper only contained 11 of them. Grunbaum and Shephard found two more, and finally in 1987 Perez-Gomez found the missing four.

The book includes pictures and discussions of all the 17 wallpaper groups. Unfortunately, it does not include pictures of the "missing" patterns from Alhambra. For that you have to go to J.M. Montesinos: Classical Tessellations and Three-Manifolds.