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Banna'i
In Iranian architecture, banna'i ( fa, بنائی, "builder's technique" in Persian) is an architectural decorative art in which glazed tiles are alternated with plain bricks to create geometric patterns over the surface of a wall or to spell out sacred names or pious phrases. This technique originated in Syria and Iraq in the 8th century, and matured in the Seljuq and Timurid era, as it spread to Iran, Anatolia and Central Asia. If the brickwork design is in relief then it is referred to as hazarbaf ( fa, هزارباف, compound of ''hazar'' "thousand" and ''baf'' "weavings", referring to the woven appearance of the bricks). History The earliest surviving example of decorative brick work with colored bricks is found in the city gate of Raqqa (c. 772). The earliest known example of ''hazārbāf'' is found in the Ukhaydir Palace near Baghdad, built around 762. The technique appeared in Iran and central Asia more than a century later but with more sophisticated designs. The to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kufic
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It developed from the Arabic alphabet in the city of Kufa, from which its name is derived. Kufic script is characterized by angular, rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation. There are many different versions of Kufic script, such as square Kufic, floriated Kufic, knotted Kufic, and others. History Origin of the Kufic script Calligraphers in the early Islamic period used a variety of methods to transcribe Qur’an manuscripts. Arabic calligraphy became one of the most important branches of Islamic Art. Calligraphers came out with the new style of writing called Kufic. Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts. The name of the script derives from Kufa, a city in southern Iraq which was considere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arslan Ibn Mas'ud
Arslan-Shah of Ghazna (full name: ''Sultan ad-Dawlah Abul-Moluk Arslan-Shah ibn Mas'ud'') (b. ? – d. 1118) was the Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire from 1116 to 1117 C.E. Biography In 1116, he overthrew his older brother Shir-Zad, took the Ghaznavid throne, and blinded or imprisoned his remaining brothers, except Bahram who was in Zamindawar. Arslan-Shah also appointed Abu'l-Fath Yusuf as his ''vizier''. After being initially defeated by Arslan at Tiginabad, Bahram, appealed to Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar, whose sister, Gawhar Khatun, was greatly offended at the conduct of her eldest son Arslan ibn Mas'ud, towards the rest. Incited by her and perhaps by his own ambitious views Sanjar called on Arslan to release his brothers and on his refusal marched against him with an army of 30,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry. Arslan was defeated after an obstinate engagement and fled to Ghazna. There, on the plain outside Ghazna, Arslan was decisively defeated and fled to India, where he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghazni
Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategically located along Highway 1, which has served as the main road between Kabul and Kandahar for thousands of years. Situated on a plateau at 2,219 metres (7,280 ft) above sea level, the city is south of Kabul and is the capital of Ghazni Province. Ghazni Citadel, the Minarets of Ghazni, the Palace of Sultan Mas'ud III, and several other cultural heritage sites have brought travelers and archeologists to the city for centuries. During the pre-Islamic period, the area was inhabited by various tribes who practiced different religions including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Arab Muslims introduced Islam to Ghazni in the 7th century and were followed in the 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turquoise (color)
Turquoise ( ) is a blue-green color, based on the mineral of the same name. The word ''turquoise'' dates to the 17th century and is derived from the French , meaning 'Turkish', because the mineral was first brought to Europe through Turkey from mines in the historical Khorasan province of Iran (Persia) and Afghanistan. The first recorded use of ''turquoise'' as a color name in English was in 1573. The X11 color named turquoise is displayed on the right. Turquoise gemstones Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula Cu Al6( P O4)4(O H)8·4 H2O. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gem and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. In many cultures of the Old and New Worlds, this gemstone has been esteemed for thousands of years as a holy stone, a bringer of good fortune or a talisman. The oldest evidence for this claim was found in ancien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cobalt Blue
Cobalt blue is a blue pigment made by sintering cobalt(II) oxide with aluminum(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl2O4. Cobalt blue is lighter and less intense than the (iron-cyanide based) pigment Prussian blue. It is extremely stable and historically has been used as a coloring agent in ceramics (especially Chinese porcelain), jewelry, and paint. Transparent glasses are tinted with the silica-based cobalt pigment smalt. Historical uses and production Cobalt blue in impure forms had long been used in Chinese porcelain. The first recorded use of ''cobalt blue'' as a color name in English was in 1777. It was independently discovered as a pure alumina-based pigment by Louis Jacques Thénard in 1802. Commercial production began in France in 1807. The leading world manufacturer of cobalt blue in the nineteenth century was Benjamin Wegner's Norwegian company Blaafarveværket ("blue c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia (Republic of Dagestan) to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918 and became the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state. In 1920, the country was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan SSR. The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the same year. In September 1991, the ethnic Armenian majority of the Nagorno-Karabakh region formed the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naskh (script)
Naskh ( ar, , qalam an-naskh, from the verb , , 'to copy', from n-s-kh root (ن-س-خ)) is a smaller, round script of Islamic calligraphy. Naskh is one of the first scripts of Islamic calligraphy to develop, commonly used in writing administrative documents and for transcribing books, including the Qur’an, because of its easy legibility. In his 1617 ''Grammatica Arabica'', Thomas van Erpe defined naskhī characters as the "noblest and true writing style". Origin Naskh style of writing can be found as early as within the first century of the Islamic calendar. Round scripts became the most popular in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries, due to their use by scribes. Ibn Muqla is credited with standardizing the "Six Pens" of Islamic calligraphy, also including , , , , and . These are known as "the proportioned scripts" () or "the six scripts" (). Kufic is commonly believed to predate naskh, but historians have traced the two scripts as coexisting long before their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jameh Mosque Of Saveh
The Jameh Mosque of Saveh ( fa, مسجد جامع ساوه – ''Masjed-e-Jāmeh Sāveh'') is a Seljuk-era mosque, located in Saveh, Iran. This monument was built in the 12th century, coinciding with the establishment of the city itself. History Like so many monuments of central Iran, the Jameh Mosque of Saveh's core is of the 12th century, and its single surviving minaret is dated in 1110 and 1061. The proportions of its façade are also related to systems of proportion established in the 12th century, although the work itself is, apparently, of the early 16th. Recent discoveries indicate that the mosque might have been constructed on the foundations of an older mosque dating back to the 10th. Several inscriptions found in the mosque date back to the 10th century. Architecture and design The Jameh Mosque of Saveh comprises a courtyard, porch, a minaret, a few nocturnal areas, dome and two archaic altars with inscription in Kufic script. Two altars dating to the Safavid-era a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
