The Topkapi Scroll
Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture
Getty Research Institute,U.S. (Publisher)
Published on 14. March 1996
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-89236-335-3 (ISBN)
Description
Since few architectural drawings and no theoretical treatises on architecture remain from the pre-modern Islamic world, the Timurid pattern scroll in the collection of the Topkapi Palace Museum Library is a valuable source of information. This text provides an analysis of the scroll dating from the late 15th or early 16th century, and aims to throw light on the conceptualization, recording, and transmission of architectural design in the Islamic world between the 10th and 16th centuries. It compares the Islamic understanding of geometry with that found in medieval Western art. The scroll, with its 114 individual geometric pattens for wall surfaces and vaulting, is reproduced in this volume. A catalogue includes illustrations showing the underlying geometries, in the form of incised "dead" drawings, from which the individual patterns are generated. An essay by Mohammad al-Asad discusses the geometry of the "muqarnas" and demonstrates by means of CAD drawings how one of the scroll's patterns could be used to design a three-dimensional vault.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Santa Monica CA
United States
Publishing group
Getty Trust Publications
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
61 colour and 277 b&w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 339 mm
Width: 279 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-89236-335-3 (9780892363353)
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Schweitzer Classification