Colour, Light and Wonder in Islamic Art

A unique investigation into the aesthetics of colour in Islamic art revealing its deeper symbolic and mystical meanings.It reconstructs concepts of beauty and the function of art in the periods before and during the Safavid period. Critical text for art historians, anthropologists and humanities students and scholars.

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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 17th-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 expresses knowledge beyond 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.