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The experience of colour in Islamic visual culture has
historically been overlooked. In this new approach, Idries Trevathan 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. Here, Trevathan
examines the philosophical and mystical traditions that formed the mosque's
backdrop. He 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.
About the author
Idries Trevathan is a
curator and conservator of Islamic art collections. He regularly works on
conservation projects and has conducted technical colour studies on a range of
Islamic art objects, including the Malay Qur'an manuscripts and Ottoman
porticoes in the grand mosque in Mecca.
Summary
The experience of colour in Islamic visual culture has historically been overlooked. In this new approach, Idries Trevathan 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.
