What a work was for, and whose world it shows

This lesson asks you to explore and interpret works from the past to describe their purpose, style, materials and meanings, to say what different works were for, and to show how they reflect the society that made them. The museum offers three Islamic works known through written descriptions and studies: a domed shrine, a glass mosaic and a written band on cloth. Judging colour, form and composition in the works themselves is for your class. ¹

For each record, write what the work was used for in one sentence, then underline the words of the record that support it. If the record does not say, write what you would need to find out.

Look at where the materials and skills came from, who is named, and who is shown or left out. Compare one case with a work you know from your own community.

Read one band of writing on cloth. The TDV encyclopaedia says the band of tiraz usually ran around the collar, the sleeves, the front or the back of the garment, mostly in Kufic script ². Its text was commonly the basmala, the declaration of God's oneness, the ruler's name and members of his family, and prayers for his long life and reign; it often named the place of manufacture and the official responsible for the workshop, and rarely the weaver ². The same encyclopaedia says that Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered the Greek tiraz on the cloth of Egypt replaced with the declaration of God's oneness ², and that the state put tiraz on the garments of the caliph, the officials of the state and the soldiers ². Ibn Khaldun adds that the garments were marked to honour the sultan who wore them, or the man the sultan honoured with a garment of his or appointed to an office of the state ³.

It is easy to think the written band began with Islam. The record says it did not: it was older than Islam among the Persians and the Byzantines, and the TDV encyclopaedia traces it back to the pharaohs of Egypt ^{2 3}. What the sources ascribe to Abd al-Malik is a change in what the tiraz carried, and al-Baladhuri's own words are cautious: Abd al-Malik was "among the first" ⁴.

The Dome and the tiraz are both known through written descriptions. The Dome was described by al-Umari "as its building stood in the year 743", drawing on a short book by Taj al-Din Ahmad ibn Amin al-Mulk that set down measurements in cubits ^{5 6}. The editor of al-Umari's book says he went to Palestine to compare these figures with the building ⁷. For tiraz the record leans on al-Baladhuri, Ibn Khaldun and the TDV encyclopaedia, and on surviving pieces such as a fragment at The Met from about 892–902 ⁸.

The record says that when al-Ma'mun rose against his brother al-Amin, he took al-Amin's name and title off the tiraz ². Give a reason from the record, and answer the objection that it was only decoration: was a name on a garment a gift of honour or a sign of power?

• Tiraz: who ordered it, what the bands said and who wore it.
• Dome of the Rock: the domed shrine and the descriptions of it.
• Gold-leaf glass tesserae: the glass mosaic cubes and what a scholar found in their gold.
• Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan: the caliph the records name behind the change.

Read Dome of the Rock, Gold-leaf glass tesserae and Tiraz. For each, write a sentence on purpose, one on materials, and one on the society that made it.