View source for Arabesque

{{Short description|Decorative pattern, characteristic of Muslim art}}
{{Other uses|Arabesque (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Flickr - jemasmith - Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Detail..jpg|thumb|340px|Stone relief with arabesques of tendrils, [[palmette]]s and half-palmettes in the [[Umayyad Mosque]], [[Damascus]], [[Syria]]]]
[[File:Turquoise epigraphic ornament MBA Lyon A1969-333.jpg|thumb|Part of a 15th-century ceramic panel from [[Samarkand]] ([[Uzbekistan]]) with white [[Islamic calligraphy|calligraphy]] on a blue arabesque background]]
The '''arabesque'''{{efn|Also sometimes spelled ''arabesk''.<ref>{{cite web |title=arabesque |url=https://server-66-113-234-189.da.direct/century-dictionary.com/html/wnph-chw.php?query=arabesque |website=Century Dictionary |access-date=6 June 2026}}</ref>}} is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines,<ref>{{cite book |author1=Fleming, John |author2=Honour, Hugh |title=Dictionary of the Decorative Arts |year=1977 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-670-82047-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofdeco00john }}</ref> often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ornament, used in the Islamic world, typically using leaves, derived from stylised [[half-palmette]]s, which were combined with spiralling stems".<ref>Rawson, 236</ref> It usually consists of a single design which can be '[[tessellation|tiled]]' or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired.<ref name=Robinson>{{cite book |author=Robinson, Francis |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521435109 |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-66993-1}}</ref> Within the very wide range of [[Eurasia]]n decorative art that includes [[Motif (visual arts)|motif]]s matching this basic definition, the term "arabesque" is used consistently as a technical term by [[history of art|art historians]] to describe only elements of the decoration found in two phases: [[Islamic art]] from about the 9th century onwards, and European decorative art from the [[Renaissance]] onwards. [[Interlace (art)|Interlace]] and [[Scroll (art)|scroll]] decoration are terms used for most other types of similar patterns.
Arabesques are a fundamental element of Islamic art. The past and current usage of the term in respect of European art is confused and inconsistent. Some Western arabesques derive from Islamic art, however others are closely based on [[Ancient Rome|ancient Roman]] decorations. In the West they are essentially found in the [[decorative arts]], but because of the generally non-figurative nature of Islamic art, arabesque decoration is often a very prominent element in the most significant works, and plays a large part in the decoration of [[Islamic architecture|architecture]].
Claims are often made regarding the theological significance of the arabesque and its origin in a specifically Islamic view of the world; however, these are without support from written historical sources since, like most medieval cultures, the Islamic world has not left us documentation of their intentions in using the decorative motifs they did. At the popular level such theories often appear uninformed as to the wider context of the arabesque.<ref>Tabbaa, 74-77</ref> In similar fashion, proposed connections between the arabesque and Arabic knowledge of [[geometry]] remains a subject of debate; not all art historians are persuaded that such knowledge had reached, or was needed by, those creating arabesque designs, although in certain cases there is evidence that such a connection did exist.<ref>Tabbaa, 88</ref> The case for a connection with [[Islamic mathematics]] is much stronger for the development of the [[Islamic geometric patterns|geometric patterns]] with which arabesques are often combined in art. Geometric decoration often uses patterns that are made up of straight lines and regular angles that somewhat resemble curvilinear arabesque patterns; the extent to which these too are described as arabesque varies between different writers.<ref>Canby, 20-21</ref>
== Islamic arabesque ==
The Islamic arabesque was probably invented in Baghdad around the 10th century. It first appeared as a distinctive and original development in Islamic art in carved marble panels from around this time.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&q=Arabesque+was+probably+invented+baghdad+10th+century+&pg=RA2-PA244 |title=Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set |last2=Blair |first2=Sheila S. |last3=Blair |first3=Sheila |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-530991-1 |pages=65 |language=en}}</ref>
What makes Islamic arabesque unique and distinct from vegetal decorations of other cultures is its infinite correspondence and the fact that it can be extended beyond its actual limits.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/groveencyclopedi0001unse |title=The Grove encyclopedia of Islamic art and architecture, Vol I |date=2009 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford; New York |isbn=978-0-19-530991-1 |pages=65}}</ref> The arabesque developed out of the long-established traditions of plant-based [[scroll (art)|scroll]] ornament in the cultures taken over by the early [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic conquests]]. Early Islamic art, for example in the famous 8th-century [[mosaic]]s of the [[Umayyad Mosque|Great Mosque of Damascus]], often contained plant-scroll patterns, in that case by Byzantine artists in their usual style. The plants most often used are stylized versions of the [[Acanthus mollis|acanthus]], with its emphasis on leafy forms, and the vine, with an equal emphasis on twining stems. The evolution of these forms into a distinctive Islamic type was complete by the 11th century, having begun in the 8th or 9th century in works like the [[Mshatta Facade]]. In the process of development the plant forms became increasingly simplified and stylized.<ref>Tabbaa, 75-88; Canby, 26</ref> The relatively abundant survivals of [[stucco]] [[relief]]s from the walls of palaces (but not mosques) in [[Abbasid Samarra]], the Islamic capital between 836 and 892, provide examples of three styles, Styles A, B, and C, though more than one of these may appear on the same wall, and their chronological sequence is not certain.<ref>Necipoğlu, Gülru, Payne, Alina, ''Histories of Ornament: From Global to Local'', 88-90, 2016, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|0691167281}}, 978069116728, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9nACCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 google books]; [https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/mik/miksamarra.html "Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin: Objects from Samarra"]; Ettinghausen et al, 57-59; examples of styles A, B, and C illustrated.</ref> 
 
Though the broad outline of the process is generally agreed, there is a considerable diversity of views held by specialist scholars on detailed issues concerning the development, categorization and meaning of the arabesque.<ref>Tabbaa's Chapter 4 gives an overview of these questions.</ref> The detailed study of Islamic arabesque forms was begun by [[Alois Riegl]] in his [[formalism (art)|formalist]] study ''[[Stilfragen|Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik]]'' (''Problems of style: foundations for a history of ornament'') of 1893, who in the process developed his influential concept of the ''Kunstwollen''.<ref>Tabbaa, 74-75</ref> Riegl traced formalistic continuity and development in decorative plant forms from [[ancient Egyptian art]] and other ancient Near Eastern civilizations through the classical world to the Islamic arabesque. While the ''Kunstwollen'' has few followers today, his basic analysis of the development of forms has been confirmed and refined by the wider ''corpus'' of examples known today.<ref>Rawson, 24-25; see also [http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/-8220-Style-8221-151-or-whatever-4745 ""Style"—or whatever", J. Duncan Berry], A review of ''Problems of Style'' by Alois Riegl, ''[[The New Criterion]]'', April 1993</ref> [[Jessica Rawson]] has recently extended the analysis to cover [[Chinese art]], which Riegl did not cover, tracing many elements of Chinese decoration back to the same tradition, the shared background helping make the assimilation of Chinese motifs into Persian art after the [[History of Iran#Mongol invasion .281219.E2.80.931221.29|Mongol invasion]] harmonious and productive.<ref>Rawson, the subject of her book, see Preface, and Chapter 5 on Chinese influences on Persian art.</ref>
Many arabesque patterns disappear at (or "under", as it often appears to a viewer) a framing edge without ending and thus can be regarded as infinitely extendable outside the space they actually occupy; this was certainly a distinctive feature of the Islamic form, though not without precedent. Most but not all foliage decoration in the preceding cultures terminated at the edge of the occupied space, although infinitely repeatable patterns in foliage are very common in the modern world in [[wallpaper]] and [[textile]]s.
Typically, in earlier forms there is no attempt at realism; no particular species of plant is being imitated, and the forms are often botanically impossible or implausible. "Leaf" forms typically spring sideways from the stem, in what is often called a "half-[[palmette]]" form, named after its distant and very different looking ancestor in ancient Egyptian and Greek ornament. New stems spring from leaf-tips, a type often called [[honeysuckle]], and the stems often have no tips, winding endlessly out of the space. The early [[Mshatta Facade]] is recognisably some sort of vine, with conventional leaves on the end of short stalks and bunches of grapes or berries, but later forms usually lack these. Flowers are rare until about 1500, after which they appear more often, especially in Ottoman art, and are often identifiable by species. In Ottoman art the large and feathery leaves called [[Saz style|''saz'']] became very popular, and were elaborated in drawings showing just one or more large leaves. Eventually floral decoration mostly derived from Chinese styles, especially those of [[Chinese porcelain]], replaces the arabesque in many types of work, such as pottery, textiles and miniatures.
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:Damasco moschea degli OmayyadiHPIM3241.JPG|[[Mosaic]]s on the Treasury Dome of the [[Great Mosque of Damascus]], 789, still in essentially Byzantine style
File:Mschatta-Fassade (Pergamonmuseum).jpg|[[Mshatta facade|Palace facade from Mshatta]] in Jordan, {{circa}}740, now in the [[Pergamon Museum, Berlin|Pergamon Museum]] (Berlin)
Spagna, cordoba, pisside col nome di al-mughina, avorio, X sec. 04.JPG|[[Pyxis of al-Mughira]], 10th century, in the [[Louvre]]
File:Panel with Horse Heads MET DP170363.jpg|Panel with horse heads, 11th century, in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City
File:Tughra Suleiman.jpg|[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[tughra]] of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]], with flowers and ''saz'' leaves, 1520
Tile panel flowers Louvre OA3919-2-297.jpg|[[Iznik pottery|Iznik]] tile panel with flowers, 1550-1600, in the Louvre
Unknown, Turkey, 1560 - Iznik Tile - Google Art Project.jpg|Iznik tile, 1560, in the [[Museum of Islamic Art, Doha|Museum of Islamic Art]] from [[Doha]], [[Qatar]]
Iznik tiled lunette panel.jpg|Iznik tiled lunette panel that may have come from the [[Piyale Pasha Mosque]] in Istanbul, 1570-1575, in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] in London
File:Sheikh Lotfallah Esfahan.JPG|Giant arabesque pattern on the dome of the [[Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque]] from [[Isfahan]], [[Iran]], 17th century
Rosette, Titles of Sha Jahan.jpg|"Rosette bearing the names and titles of shah Jahan", folio from the shah Jahan album, {{Circa|1645}}, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
</gallery>
=== Significance in Islam ===
[[File:Egitto, cairo, placca decorativa in avorio, XI sec - Louvre - OA 6265-1.jpg|thumb|Arabesque pattern behind hunters on [[ivory carving|ivory plaque]], 11th–12th century, Egypt]]
[[File:Alhambra (038).jpg|thumb|Three modes: arabesques, [[Islamic geometric patterns|geometric patterns]], and [[Islamic calligraphy|calligraphy]] used together in the [[Court of the Myrtles]] of [[Alhambra]] ([[Granada]], Spain)]]{{More citations needed section|date=September 2020}}
The arabesques and [[Islamic geometric patterns|geometric patterns]] of Islamic art are often said to arise from the [[Islam]]ic view of the world (see above). The [[Aniconism in Islam|depiction of animals and people is generally discouraged]], which explains the preference for abstract geometric patterns.
There are two modes to arabesque art. The first mode recalls the principles that govern the order of the world. These principles include the bare basics of what makes objects structurally sound and, by extension, beautiful (i.e. the angle and the fixed/static shapes that it creates—esp. the [[truss]]). In the first mode, each repeating geometric form has a built-in symbolism ascribed to it. For example, the square, with its four [[equilateral]] sides, is symbolic of the equally important elements of nature: [[soil|earth]], [[air]], [[fire]] and [[water]]. Without any one of the four, the physical world, represented by a circle that inscribes the square, would collapse upon itself and cease to exist. The second mode is based upon the flowing nature of [[plant]] forms. This mode recalls the [[female|feminine]] nature of life giving. In addition, upon inspection of the many examples of Arabesque art, some would argue that there is in fact a third mode, the mode of [[Islamic calligraphy]].
Instead of recalling something related to the 'True Reality' (the reality of the spiritual world), Islam considers [[calligraphy]] a visible expression of the highest art of all; the art of the spoken word (the transmittal of thoughts and of history). In Islam, the most important document to be transmitted orally is the [[Qur'an]]. [[Proverb]]s and complete passages from the Qur'an can be seen today in Arabesque art. The coming together of these three forms creates the Arabesque, and this is a reflection of unity arising from diversity; a basic tenet of Islam.
The arabesque may be equally thought of as both [[art]] and [[science]]. The artwork is at the same time [[mathematical]]ly precise, aesthetically pleasing, and symbolic. Due to this duality of creation, the artistic part of this equation may be further subdivided into both [[secular]] and [[religious]] artwork. However, for many Muslims there is no distinction; all forms of art, the natural world, mathematics and science are seen to be creations of God and therefore reflections of the same thing: God's will expressed through his creation. In other words, man can discover the geometric forms that constitute the arabesque, but these forms always existed before as part of God's creation, as shown in this picture.
There is great similarity between arabesque artwork from very different geographic regions.<ref name=Wade>{{cite web |last1=Wade |first1=David |title=The Evolution of Style |url=http://patterninislamicart.com/background-notes/the-evolution-of-style |website=Pattern in Islamic Art |access-date=19 December 2015 |date=March 2006 |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519142349/https://patterninislamicart.com/background-notes/the-evolution-of-style |url-status=dead }}</ref> In fact, the similarities are so pronounced that it is sometimes difficult for experts to tell where a given style of arabesque comes from. The reason for this is that the science and mathematics that are used to construct Arabesque artwork are universal. Therefore, for most Muslims, the best artwork that can be created by man for use in the [[Mosque]] is artwork that displays the underlying order and unity of nature. The order and unity of the material world, they believe, is a mere [[ghost]]ly approximation of the spiritual world, which for many Muslims is the place where the only true reality exists. Discovered geometric forms, therefore, exemplify this perfect reality because God's creation has been obscured by the [[sin]]s of man.
Mistakes in repetitions may be intentionally introduced as a show of humility by artists who believe only Allah can produce perfection, although this theory is disputed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Islamic Textile Art: Anomalies in Kilims |author=Thompson, Muhammad |author2=Begum, Nasima |url=http://www.turkotek.com/salon_00101/salon.html |work=Salon du Tapis d'Orient |publisher=TurkoTek |access-date=25 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The future of art in a digital age: from Hellenistic to Hebraic consciousness |url=https://archive.org/details/futureartdigital00alex |url-access=limited |last=Alexenberg |first=Melvin L. |year=2006 |publisher=Intellect Ltd |isbn=1-84150-136-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/futureartdigital00alex/page/n55 55]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Only God is Perfect |url=http://www.geometricdesign.co.uk/perfect.htm |work=Islamic and Geometric Art |author=Backhouse, Tim |access-date=25 August 2009}}</ref>
Arabesque art consists of a series of repeating geometric forms which are occasionally accompanied by [[calligraphy]]. Ettinghausen et al. describe the arabesque as a "vegetal design consisting of full...and half [[palmette]]s [as] an unending continuous pattern...in which each leaf grows out of the tip of another."<ref>Ettinghausen et al, 66.</ref> To the adherents of [[Islam]], the Arabesque is symbolic of their united faith and the way in which traditional Islamic cultures view the world.
==Terminology and Western arabesque==
[[File:"Music" MET ra52.118.R.jpg|thumb|The French sense of arabesque: a [[Savonnerie]] carpet in the [[Louis XIV style]], {{circa}}1685–1697, wool, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City]]
[[File:Design for an Arabesque MET DP811613.jpg|thumb|Design of a [[Louis XVI style]] arabesque, by [[Étienne de La Vallée Poussin]], {{circa}}1780–1793, pen and gray and brown ink, brush and colored wash, Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
[[File:Царское-село,-Екатерининский-дворец.jpg|thumb|The "Arabesque Room" in the [[Catherine Palace]], with [[neoclassicism|neoclassical]] [[grotesque]] decoration]]
Arabesque is a [[French language|French]] term derived from the [[Italian language|Italian]] word ''arabesco'', meaning "in the Arabic style".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/arabesque|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122225637/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/arabesque|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 22, 2019|title=Arabesque {{!}} Definition of Arabesque by Lexico|website=Lexico Dictionaries {{!}} English|language=en|access-date=2019年11月22日}}</ref> The term was first used in Italian, where ''rabeschi'' was used in the 16th century as a term for "[[pilaster]] ornaments featuring [[acanthus (ornament)|acanthus]] decoration",<ref name="Osborne, 34">Osborne, 34</ref> specifically "running scrolls" that ran vertically up a panel or pilaster, rather than horizontally along a [[frieze]].<ref>Fuhring, 159</ref>
According to [[Ralph Nicholson Wornum]] in 1882: "The western arabesque which appeared in the 15th century derived from Roman remains of the early time of the empire, not to any style derived from Arabian or Moorish work. Arabesque and Moresque are really distinct; the latter is from the Arabian style of ornament, developed by the Byzantine Greeks for their new masters, after the conquests of the followers of Mahomet; and the former is a term pretty well restricted to varieties of cinquecento decoration, which have nothing in common with any Arabian examples in their details, but are a development derived from Greek and Roman grotesque designs, such as we find them in the remains of ancient palaces at Rome, and in ancient houses at Pompeii. These were reproduced by Raphael and his pupils in the decoration of some of the corridors of the Loggie of the Vatican at Rome: grotesque is thus a better name for these decorations than Arabesque. This technical Arabesque, therefore, is much more ancient than any Arabian or Moorish decoration, and has really nothing in common with it except the mere symmetrical principles of its arrangement. Pliny and Vitruvius give us no name for the extravagant decorative wall-painting in vogue in their time, to which the early Italian revivers of it seem to have given the designation of grotesque, because it, was first discovered in the arched or underground chambers (grotte) of Roman ruins—as in the golden house of Nero, or the baths of Titus. What really took place in the Italian revival was in some measure a supplanting of the Arabesque for the classical grotesque, still retaining the original Arabian designation, while the genuine Arabian art, the Saracenic, was distinguished as Moresque or Moorish."<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Arabesque}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ralph N Wornum |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.279529 |title=Analysis Of Ornament The Characteristics Of Styles |date=1882}}</ref>
The book ''Opera nuova che insegna a le donne a cuscire ... laqual e intitolata Esempio di raccammi'' (A New Work that Teaches Women how to Sew ... Entitled "Samples of Embroidery"), published in Venice in 1530, includes "groppi moreschi e rabeschi", Moorish knots and arabesques.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/35.75.3 Met Museum]; the Italian word uses the Latin derived "inceptive" or "inchoative" word ending "-esco" signifying a beginning, thus ''ferveo'', to boil and ''fervesco'' to begin to boil.</ref>
From there it spread to England, where [[Henry VIII]] owned, according to an inventory of 1549, an [[agate]] cup with a "fote and Couer of siluer and guilt enbossed with Rebeske worke",<ref>[[OED]], "Arabesque":"1549 Inventory Henry VIII (1998) 25/2 Item one Cuppe of Agathe the fote and Couer of siluer and guilt enbossed with Rebeske worke";</ref> and William Herne or Heron, [[Serjeant Painter]] from 1572 to 1580, was paid for painting Elizabeth I's barge with "rebeske work".<ref>"rebeske" being a now disused version of "arabesque", see OED, "Rebesk". Herne payment quoted in [[Erna Auerbach]], ''Tudor Artists'', 1954; not in print OED</ref> The styles so described can only be guessed at, although the design by [[Hans Holbein the younger|Hans Holbein]] for a covered cup for [[Jane Seymour]] in 1536 (see gallery) already has zones in both Islamic-derived arabesque/moresque style (see below) and classically derived [[acanthus (ornament)|acanthus volutes]].<ref name=marks>Marks, Richard and Williamson, Paul, eds. ''Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547'', 156, 2003, V&A Publications, London, {{ISBN|1-85177-401-7}}. For other Renaissance ornament from Henry's court, see also no 13 on page 156, and pp. 144-145, 148-149.</ref>
Another related term is [[moresque]], meaning "[[Moors|Moorish]]"; [[Randle Cotgrave]]'s ''A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues'' of 1611 defines this as: "a rude or anticke painting, or carving, wherin the feet and tayles of beasts, &c, are intermingled with, or made to resemble, a kind of wild leaves, &c."<ref>OED, "Moresque", citing Cotgrave</ref> and "arabesque", in its earliest use cited in the [[OED]] (but as a French word), as "Rebeske work; a small and curious flourishing".<ref name="OED, Arabesque">OED, "Arabesque"</ref> In France "arabesque" first appears in 1546,<ref>Larrouse dictionary</ref> and "was first applied in the latter part of the 17th century" to [[grotesque]] ornament, "despite the classical origin of the latter", especially if without human figures in it—a distinction still often made, but not consistently observed.<ref>Osborne, 34 (quoted), see also [[OED]] quoted below and Cotgrave - Osborne says the French usage begins in the "latter part of the 17th century" but in the following paragraphs describes a development beginning rather before this.</ref>
Over the following centuries, the three terms "grotesque", "moresque", and "arabesque" were used largely interchangeably in English, French, and German for styles of decoration derived at least as much from the European past as the Islamic world, with "grotesque" gradually acquiring its main modern meaning, related more to Gothic [[gargoyle]]s and [[caricature]] than to either [[Pompeii]]-style Roman painting or Islamic patterns. Meanwhile, the word "arabesque" was now being applied to Islamic art itself, by 1851 at the latest, when [[John Ruskin]] uses it in ''[[The Stones of Venice (book)|The Stones of Venice]]''.<ref>''[[The Stones of Venice (book)|The Stones of Venice]]'', [http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ruskin/sov/1.html chapter 1, para 26]</ref> Writers over the last decades have attempted to salvage meaningful distinctions between the words from the confused wreckage of historical sources.
Peter Fuhring, a specialist in the history of ornament, says that (also in a French context): <blockquote>The ornament known as moresque in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (but now more commonly called arabesque) is characterized by bifurcated scrolls composed of branches forming interlaced foliage patterns. These basic motifs gave rise to numerous variants, for example, where the branches, generally of a linear character, were turned into straps or bands. ... It is characteristic of the moresque, which is essentially a surface ornament, that it is impossible to locate the pattern's beginning or end. ... Originating in the Middle East, they were introduced to continental Europe via Italy and Spain ... Italian examples of this ornament, which was often used for bookbindings and embroidery, are known from as early as the late fifteenth century.<ref>Fuhring, 162</ref></blockquote>
Fuhring notes that grotesques were "confusingly called arabesques in eighteenth century France", but in his terminology "the major types of ornament that appear in French sixteenth century etchings and engraving ... can be divided into two groups. The first includes ornaments adopted from antiquity: grotesques, architectural ornaments such as the orders, foliage scrolls and self-contained elements such as trophies, terms and vases. A second group, far smaller than the first, comprises modern ornaments: moresques, interlaced bands, strapwork, and elements such as cartouches"—categories he goes on to discuss individually.<ref>Fuhring, 155–156</ref>
The moresque or arabesque style was especially popular and long-lived in the Western arts of the book: [[bookbinding]]s decorated in gold tooling, borders for illustrations, and printer's ornaments for decorating empty spaces on the page. In this field the technique of gold tooling had also arrived in the 15th century from the Islamic world, and indeed much of the leather itself was imported from there.<ref>Harthan, 10–12</ref> Small motifs in this style have continued to be used by conservative book designers up to the present day.
According to Harold Osborne, in France, the "characteristic development of the French arabesque combined bandwork deriving from the moresque with decorative acanthus foliage radiating from C-scrolls connected by short bars".<ref name="Osborne, 34" /> Apparently starting in [[embroidery]], it then appears in garden design before being used in [[Northern Mannerist]] painted decorative schemes "with a central medallion combined with acanthus and other forms" by [[Simon Vouet]] and then [[Charles Lebrun]] who used "scrolls of flat bandwork joined by horizontal bars and contrasting with ancanthus scrolls and [[palmette]]."<ref>Osborne, 34-35</ref> More exuberant arabesque designs by [[Jean Bérain the Elder]] are an early "intimation" of the [[Rococo]], which was to take the arabesque into three dimensions in reliefs.<ref>Osborne, 35</ref>
The use of "arabesque" as an English noun first appears, in relation to painting, in [[William Thomas Beckford|William Beckford]]'s novel ''[[Vathek]]'' in 1786.<ref name="OED, Arabesque" /> Arabesque is also used as a term for complex freehand pen flourishes in drawing or other graphic media. The ''[[Grove Dictionary of Art]]'' will have none of this confusion, and says flatly: "Over the centuries the word has been applied to a wide variety of winding and twining vegetal decoration in art and meandering themes in music, but it properly applies only to Islamic art",<ref>[[Oxford Art Online]], "Arabesque", accessed March 25, 2011</ref> so contradicting the definition of 1888 still found in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'': "A species of mural or surface decoration in colour or low relief, composed in flowing lines of branches, leaves, and scroll-work fancifully intertwined. Also fig[uratively]. As used in Moorish and Arabic decorative art (from which, almost exclusively, it was known in the Middle Ages), representations of living creatures were excluded; but in the arabesques of [[Raphael]], founded on the ancient Græco-Roman work of this kind, and in those of Renaissance decoration, human and animal figures, both natural and grotesque, as well as vases, armour, and objects of art, are freely introduced; to this the term is now usually applied, the other being distinguished as Moorish Arabesque, or Moresque."<ref>OED, printed and online editions (accessed March 2011)</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="170px">
Panel of Tellus, Ara Pacis, Rome (II).jpg|[[Ancient Roman architecture|Roman]] - Arabesque on the [[Ara Pacis]], Rome, unknown architect and sculptors, 13-9 BC<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Hutton|title=The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View|date=2022|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-02236-8|page=323|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Basilica of San Vitale - Lamb of God mosaic.jpg|[[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine]] - Mosaics with arabesques on a ceiling from the [[Basilica of San Vitale]], [[Ravenna]], [[Italy]]
The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library (2994335291).jpg|[[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] - Ceilings decorated with arabesques in the [[Vatican Library]], [[Vatican City]], by [[Domenico Fontana]], 1587-1588<ref>{{cite book|last1=Listri|first1=Massimo|title=The World's Most Beautiful Libraries|date=2020|publisher=Taschen|isbn=978-3-8365-3524-3|page=52|url=|language=}}</ref>
File:Kasteel van Vaux-le-Vicomte - Maincy 06.jpg|[[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] - Gardens at [[Vaux-le-Vicomte]], France, by [[André Le Nôtre]], 1657–1661{{sfn|Bailey|2012|pp=328}}
Detail of the Galerie d'Apollon (14).jpg|Baroque - Arabesques on a door in the [[Galerie d'Apollon]], [[Louvre Palace]], Paris, by [[Louis Le Vau]] and [[Charles Le Brun]], after 1661<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sharman|first1=Ruth|title=Yves Saint Laurent & Art|date=2022|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-02544-4|page=147|url=|language=en}}</ref>
File:1 Tessinska palatset trädgård 2.jpg|Baroque - Garden of the [[Tessin Palace]], Stockholm, [[Sweden]], by [[Nicodemus Tessin the Younger]], 1692–1700{{sfn|Bailey|2012|pp=336}}
Eventail plié, 19819591.jpg|[[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] - Fan inspired by [[Ancient Roman art|Roman]] frescos in [[Pompeian Styles]], unknown designer and painter, 1780-1800, leather, gouache, ivory, and gilding, [[Musée Galliera]], Paris
Boudoir de la reine, Château de Fontainebleau.jpg|[[Louis XVI style]] - The Boudoir of Marie-Antoinette, [[Palace of Fontainebleau]], [[Fontainebleau]], France, decorated with arabesques in the Pompeiian Style, by the Rousseau brothers, 1785
Pierre Rousseau - Double-Leaf Doors - 1942年2月12日 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|[[Neoclassicism#Architecture and the decorative arts|Neoclassical]] - Door, by [[Pierre Rousseau (architect)|Pierre Rousseau]], 1790s, oil on panel, [[Cleveland Museum of Art]], [[Cleveland]], US
Vase with scenes of storm on land MET DP335261 (cropped).jpg|Neoclassical - vase with scenes of storm on land and arabesques, by the [[Dihl and Guérhard porcelain|Duc d'Angoulême's porcelain factory]], {{circa}}1797-1798, hard-paste porcelain, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York
Boulevard du Temple (Paris), numéro 42, portail 06 grille en fonte.jpg|[[Renaissance Revival architecture|Renaissance Revival]] - [[Cast iron]] door window grill of a building on the [[Boulevard du Temple]] no. 42, Paris, unknown architect, {{circa}}1850
File:Paris 7e 34 rue du Bac 27.JPG|Renaissance Revival - Cast iron door window grill of [[Rue du Bac, Paris|Rue du Bac]] no. 34, Paris, unknown architect, {{circa}}1850
Decorative arts in the Louvre - Room 545 (06).jpg|[[Baroque Revival]] (inspired by those from the [[Louis XIV style]]) - Arabesque panel in the [[Napoleon III]] Apartments of the Louvre Palace, unknown painted and designer, {{circa}}1860
</gallery>
==Printing==
A major use of the arabesque style has been artistic printing, for example of book covers and page decoration. Repeating geometric patterns worked well with traditional printing, since they could be printed from metal type like letters if the type was placed together; as the designs have no specific connection to the meaning of a text, the type can be reused in many different editions of different works. [[Robert Granjon]], a French printer of the sixteenth century, has been credited with the first truly interlocking arabesque printing, but other printers had used many other kinds of ornaments in the past.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Henry Lewis|title=Decorative Ornaments and Alphabets of the Renaissance: 1,020 Copyright-Free Motifs from Printed Sources|date=1991|publisher=Dover Publications|location=New York|isbn=9780486266053}}</ref> The idea was rapidly used by many other printers.<ref name="Hoefler Text: Arabesques">{{cite web|title=Hoefler Text: Arabesques|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/hoefler-text/features/hoefler-text-arabesques-patterns|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref><ref name="English printers' ornaments">{{cite book|last1=Plomer|first1=Henry R.|title=English printers' ornaments|date=1924|publisher=Martino Pub.|location=Mansfield Center, CT|isbn=9781578987153|url=https://archive.org/details/englishprinterso00plom|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref><ref name="Historic Design in Printing">{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Henry Lewis|title=Historic Design in Printing|date=1923|publisher=Graphic Arts Company|location=Boston, MA|url=https://archive.org/details/historicdesignin00john|access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref> After a period of disuse in the nineteenth century, when a more minimal page layout became popular with printers like [[Giambattista Bodoni|Bodoni]] and [[Firmin Didot|Didot]], the concept returned to popularity with the arrival of the [[Arts and Crafts movement]], Many fine books from the period 1890–1960 have arabesque decorations, sometimes on paperback covers.<ref name="The craftsman and the critic : defining usefulness and beauty in arts and crafts-era Boston">{{cite book|last1=Brandt|first1=Beverly K.|title=The Craftsman and the Critic: Defining Usefulness and Beauty in Arts and Crafts-Era Boston|date=2009|publisher=University of Massachusetts Press|location=Amherst|isbn=9781558496774|page=67}}</ref> Many digital [[serif font]]s include arabesque pattern elements thought to be complementary to the mood of the font; they are also often sold as separate designs.<ref name="Moresque 2D">{{cite web |title=Moresque 2D |url=http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/2d-typo/moreske-2d/ |website=MyFonts |access-date=17 August 2015}}</ref>
<gallery heights="150px">
File:Design for a Cup for Jane Seymour, Hans Holbein the Younger and Workshop.jpg|Design for a Cup for Jane Seymour, [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], 1536, with zones in both Islamic-derived arabesques or [[moresque]]s, and classically derived [[acanthus (ornament)|acanthus volutes]]
File:Moresque ornament, Peter Flötner.jpg|Arabesque or [[moresque]] ornament print, by [[Peter Flötner]] (d. 1546)
File:Schultheiss.png|Arabesque or moresque borders in a print by [[Peter Flötner]]
File:DE 23 246127X 006.gif|Arabesque/moresque printers ornament, German, 17th century
File:SignBernardMelun.png|Arabesque pen flourishes on a signature
</gallery>
== Notes ==
{{Arab culture}}
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist}}
== References ==
* {{cite book |last1=Bailey |first1=Gauvin Alexander |title=Baroque & Rococo |date=2012 |publisher=Phaidon |isbn=978-0-7148-5742-8}}
* Canby, Sheila, ''Islamic art in detail'', US edn., Harvard University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-674-02390-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-674-02390-1}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tA9Uuy2cSIcC&pg=PA26 Google books]
*Richard Ettinghausen, Oleg Grabar, and Marilyn Jenkins-Madina, ''Islamic Art and Architecture, 650-1250''. (New Haven: Yale UP, 2001)
* Fuhring, Peter, ''Renaissance Ornament Prints; The French Contribution'', in Karen Jacobson, ed (often wrongly cat. as George Baselitz), ''The French Renaissance in Prints'', 1994, Grunwald Center, UCLA, {{ISBN|0-9628162-2-1}}
* Harthan, John P., ''Bookbinding'', 1961, [[HMSO]] (for the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]])
* [[Jessica Rawson|Rawson, Jessica]], ''Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon'', 1984, British Museum Publications, {{ISBN|0-7141-1431-6}}
* Osborne, Harold (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts'', 1975, OUP, {{ISBN|0-19-866113-4}}
* Tabbaa, Yasser, ''The transformation of Islamic art during the Sunni revival'', I.B.Tauris, 2002, {{ISBN|1-85043-392-5}}, {{ISBN|978-1-85043-392-7}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ph7EdrzSpGoC&pg=PA73 Google books]
== External links ==
{{Commons category|Arabesque (art)|Arabesque}}
{{EB1911 poster|Arabesque}}
* Abdullahi Y., Embi M. R. B, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190121175132/http://www.archnet-ijar.net/index.php/IJAR/article/view/558''Evolution Of Abstract Vegetal Ornaments On Islamic Architecture''], International Journal of Architectural Research, 2015, Archnet-IJAR
* Houston, Kerr. [https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/khamseen/terms/2021/arabesque/ "Arabesque," ''Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online''], 3 September 2021. 
{{Islamic architecture}}
{{Islamic studies}}
{{Islamic art}}
{{Ornaments}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabesque (Islamic Art)}}
[[Category:Arabic architecture]]
[[Category:Visual arts genres]]
[[Category:Visual motifs]]
[[Category:Moorish architecture]]
[[Category:Islamic culture]]
[[Category:Islamic architectural elements]]
[[Category:Islamic art]]
[[Category:Ornaments]]
[[Category:Arab inventions]]