Arts of the City Victorious Islamic Art and Architecture in Fatimid North Africa and Egypt
Yale University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
This is the first book-length study of the art and architecture of the Fatimids, the Ismaili Shi‘i dynasty that ruled in North Africa and Egypt from 909 to 1171. The Fatimids are most famous for founding the city of al-Qahira (Cairo) in 969, and their art – particularly textiles and luster ceramics, but also metalwork and carved rock-crystal, ivory and woodwork – has been admired for nearly a millennium.
In this engaging and accessible book, Jonathan M. Bloom concentrates on securely dated and localized examples of Fatimid art and architecture. His discussions focus on significant examples and are illustrated with over 100 photographs, many in colour, and extensive notes and bibliography provide guidance for further reading and research.
Foreword
Preface
1. An Introduction to Fatimid History and Fatimid Art
2. Fatimid Art in North Africa
3. Architecture in Egypt from 969 to the 1060s
4. The Decorative Arts from 969 to the 1060s
5. Architecture from the 1060s to 1171
6. The Decorative Arts from the 1060s to 1171
7. The Legacies of Fatimid Art
Appendix: The Fatimid Caliphs
Note
Bibliography
Photograph credits
Index
‘Well-written, well-balanced and witty... Bloom has written a wonderful in-depth and simultaneously highly readable book... It opens up new horizons and encourages the reader to go and pursue further studies in the arts of this period... highly recommendable to students and a general audience alike.’
– Luitgard Mols, BIOR No.LXVIII3–4
Jonathan Bloom shares both the Norma Jean Calderwood University Professorship of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College and the Chair of Islamic Art at the Virginia Commonwealth University with his wife, Sheila Blair. He is the author of the award-winning book, Paper Before Print, as well as co-author of Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power and The Art and Architecture of Islam, published by Yale University Press.