Arabesque
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The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with
Stone relief with arabesques of tendrils, palmettes and half-palmettes in the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria
Part of a 15th-century ceramic panel from Samarkand (Uzbekistan) with white calligraphy on a blue arabesque background
Mosaics on the Treasury Dome of the Great Mosque of Damascus, 789, still in essentially Byzantine style
Palace facade from Mshatta in Jordan, c.740, now in the Pergamon Museum (Berlin)
Islamic geometric patterns
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Islamic geometric patterns are one of the major forms of Islamic ornament, which tends to avoid using figurative images, as it is forbidden to create a representation of an important Islamic figure ac
Arabesque
…cases there is evidence that such a connection did exist. The case for a connection with Islamic mathematics is much stronger for the development of the 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…
Detail of minaret socle of the Bibi Khanum Mosque, Samarkand, Uzbekistan.The arched vertical panels are decorated with different geometric patterns, featuring 10-, 8- and 5-pointed stars.
A doorway in Ben Youssef Madrasa, Marrakesh. The Atlas cedar doors have carved strapwork with a 16-point star. The arch is surrounded with arabesques; to either side is a band of Islamic calligraphy, above zellij tilework.
Tiles inside the Jame Mosque of Yazd, Persia, with geometric and vegetal patterns
Bou Inania Madrasa, Fes, Morocco, originally c. 1350, with geometric patterns in zellij tilework