The Art of the Islamic Tile (Hardcover)

~ Gerard Degeorge (Author), Yves Porter (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Islamic ceramic tilework is surely one of the most magnificent forms of decorative art in the world. Through the centuries Islamic potters and craftsmen have displayed a skill and ingenuity that verge on the miraculous. From Morocco in the west to India in the east, their work adorns mosques and minarets, palaces and mausoleums, revealing an extraordinary mastery of form, function, and design. The architecture of the Islamic world represents an incontestable high point in the art of ceramic decoration, and employs an inexhaustible source of decorative motifs: from floral to figurative, from geometric to allegoric, all in sumptuous, vibrant color. The art form continues to amaze and inspire today.

This volume presents a broad panorama of Islamic architectural decoration in all it diversity, drawn from a vast area including Spain, North Africa, Turkey, Iran, and the Indian subcontinent. Sumptuous illustrations-- accompanied by a text that places each monument in its historical, architectural, and technological context-- conjure up a dazzling, magical world of fabulously decorated buildings, revealing the secrets of the techniques that made them possible.

About the Author

Gerard Degeorge is an historian and specialist in the study of Syria and of the Arab world in general. An experienced photographer of the Islamic world, and a civil engineer and architect, he teaches at the Ecole d'Architecture de Paris-la-Seine. The author has published several scholarly works including Ornament and Decoration in Islamic Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 2000).

Yves Porter holds a Ph.D. in Iranian Studies and is a lecturer in Islamic Art at the Universite de Provence (Aix-en-Provence, France). He regularly participates in international conferences, has authored a book on the techniques of Persian painting, and has written numerous articles in both scientific and popular journals.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Flammarion (October 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 208010876X
• ISBN-13: 978-2080108760
• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 9.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,339,069 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The pictures will hypnotize you, May 22, 2005

By	Top 100 UK Reviewer (Nottingham, UK) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent book, no matter how many times you go through it you are completely captivated by the pictures of the stunning mosques, mausoleums, palaces, etc. It actually makes you want to visit the whole muslim world country by country.

From Esfahan, to Cairo, From Samarkand, to Cordova - (countries included: Morrocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Turkey, Spain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Uzbekistan and Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) obviously it can't have every country and every monument but it has the main ones and is reasonably priced.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous!, January 19, 2005

By	D. Watkins "debbud65" (Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is full of wonderful photos! An excellent resource book for anyone who is interested in studying the visual richness of this medium.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good photos but poor texts, May 7, 2004

By	Vladyslav Serdyuk "Vlad" (Kiev, Ukraine) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I understand that it is almost impossible to write about many different centres of Islamic tiles but at least the authors should try but not just put a lot of color pictures of the tiles and write short text about it. This books is just good title and size.