The world of the Fatimids

Abstract

This survey in 14 essays of Fatimid art between the 10th and 12th centuries showcases the pottery, rock crystal, metalwork, textile, architectural, wood, and calligraphic creations of one of the most artistically inventive periods in Islamic culture, with special attention paid to the art of Christian and Jewish communities under the Fatimids. ---- Exhibition: Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada (10.03. - 02.07.2018).

Contents

The Fatimid caliphs : rise and fall / Farhad Daftary -- The Fatimid dream of a new capital : dynastic patronage and its imprint on the architectural setting / Doris Behrens-Abouseif -- On Fatimid gardens : a note on the Darrasa excavations / Stéphane Pradines -- Fatimid art and its unresolved enigmas : from ceramics to rock crystal to its vanished silverware / Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani -- Monumental calligraphy in Fatimid Egypt : epigraphy in stone, stucco, and wood / Bernard O'Kane -- Literary culture in Fatimid Egypt / Paul Walker -- The Egyptian art of the Tiraz in Fatimid times / Bernard O'Kane -- Christian art and culture / Johannes Den Heijer, Mat Immerzeel, Naglaa Hamdi D. Boutros, Manhal Makhoul, Perrine Pilette, and Tineke Rooijakkers -- Jewish books in Fatimid Egypt / Paula Sanders -- The Fatimids and the Islamic world / Maribel Fierro -- Itinerant objects in the Fatimid world : from Cairo to al-Andalus to Sicily and back / David Bramoullé -- Architectural calligraphy in the Fatimid Maghrib : an insidious penchant for breaking bonds / Lotfi Abdeljaouad -- Arab avant-garde art in the twelfth century : Cairo or Palermo? / Doris Behrens-Abouseif and Maurizio Massaiu -- The Iranian Da'is and Fatimid Egypt / Farhad Daftary -- Just what did Naser-e Khosrow see in Cairo? : an ongoing debate / Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani.