{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Dome of the Rock (2) [continued (3)]}[21st April 1991]

[Redbook9:149-150][19910421:1410]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Dome of the Rock (2) [continued (3)]}[21st April 1991]

19910421:1410

*‘It was thus necessary for the unknown architect to plan a building in that same tradition and no doubt the lavish and beautiful mosaic decoration must have been carried out by local Syrian craftsmen of Christian origin.** The exquisite beauty consists in its harmonious proportions and rich ornamentation, especially the mosaic cladding of the arcades and the drum above and in the decoration of the bronze-clad tie-beams on soffits supporting the dome. A first impression of the design in mosaic is of vases from which grow great scrolling plants, the kind of subject to be seen in the marble floor-mosaics of Christian churches of Syria and Jordan; but apart from the greater brilliance of glass tesserae in wall mosaic, this vegetation is enhanced by the addition of jewels and crowns. In suggesting that these are intended as royal symbols, Professor Grabar has put forward his view that the Dome of the Rock was intended as an assertion of the supremacy of the Muslim faith over all older realms, and to emphasise by the inscriptions the finality of the Islamic revelation. Although the structural and decorative elements had all been used previously in Christian buildings, the actual form of the building is new, to match the novelty of its purpose.’

***

*[Source text continues from last previous ts journal entry]

**{& cf VIII. [[Redbook8:277-283][19910221:1142f]{Byzantine Art: Iconoclasm}[21st February 1991],] 277}

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:425]

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