Colour, Light and Wonder in Islamic Art

Idries Trevathan explores the language of colour in Islamic art and architecture, highlighting its pre-modern Muslim experience of interpreting colour. The Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran, is a prime example of colour-use on a grand scale, expressing knowledge beyond the corporeal world. Trevathan argues that colour becomes a spiritual language, calling for a re-consideration of how we read Islamic aesthetics.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 30 April 2024
Publisher: Saqi Books

The experience of colour in Islamic visual culture has historically been overlooked, but Idries Trevathan's new approach examines the language of colour in Islamic art and architecture in dialogue with its aesthetic contexts, offering insights into the pre-modern Muslim experience of interpreting colour. The seventeenth-century Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran, represents one of the finest examples of colour-use on a grand scale. Trevathan examines the philosophical and mystical traditions that formed the mosque's backdrop and shows how careful combinations of colour and design proportions in Islamic patterns express knowledge beyond that experienced in the corporeal world, offering another language with which to know and experience God. Colour thus becomes a spiritual language, calling for a re-consideration of how we read Islamic aesthetics.

Weight: 520g
Dimension: 232 x 154 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780863560606