Customer Reviews

The Treasures of Islamic Art in the Museums of Cairo

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The woodworks, ivory carvings, metalwork, ceramics, manuscripts paintings, sculptures, glass, and other art works, despite their variety, different ages, and countries, all "bear something of the essence of the Islamic faith: divine unity, balance, and peace." Unlike much Western art, Islamic art is not meant to be provocative or idiosyncratic. Their are works from Turkey, Iran, and other places in the Muslim world. But most are from Egypt arranged according to different ruling dynasties starting about 600AD. Fine color photographs catch the details of designs, the textures, and the workmanship of the varied pieces. General text gives historical and cultural background of the different historical periods, and there's an informative, concise annotation with each art work pictured. The variety of the art works, the specifics of the annotations, and the text sections giving background convey the bounty of the world of Islamic art.

This is a visually stunning book that covers an array of islamic art pieces from the Museums of Islamic Art in Ciaro. The annotations and essays are just as rich. An excellent book for students, academics and collectors of Islamic Art.
My only reservation is that despite the fact that this book has been published in hard back, the binding is extremely poor. My copy simply fell apart within 24 hours of it arriving. I had viewed the pages of the book about three times - just amazed by the photographs. However, during the fourth viewing of the book, as I started to engage in reading through the text, the pages had become detached from the stitched spine. I had to have my book repaired at the cost of what the book cost me in the first place. I was told by the book repairer that the glue used by the publisher/printing firm was of very poor quality and had become very brittle rather than form a flexible adhesive.
Overall though the book is a fabulous reference book.