The Art of the Islamic Tile - Tapa dura

Islamic ceramic tilework is surely one of the most magnificent forms of decorative art in the world. Through the centuries Islamic potters and craftsmen have displayed a skill and ingenuity that verge on the miraculous. From Morocco in the west to India in the east, their work adorns mosques and minarets, palaces and mausoleums, revealing an extraordinary mastery of form, function, and design. The architecture of the Islamic world represents an incontestable high point in the art of ceramic decoration, and employs an inexhaustible source of decorative motifs: from floral to figurative, from geometric to allegoric, all in sumptuous, vibrant color. The art form continues to amaze and inspire today.

This volume presents a broad panorama of Islamic architectural decoration in all it diversity, drawn from a vast area including Spain, North Africa, Turkey, Iran, and the Indian subcontinent. Sumptuous illustrations-- accompanied by a text that places each monument in its historical, architectural, and technological context-- conjure up a dazzling, magical world of fabulously decorated buildings, revealing the secrets of the techniques that made them possible.

Gerard Degeorge is an historian and specialist in the study of Syria and of the Arab world in general. An experienced photographer of the Islamic world, and a civil engineer and architect, he teaches at the Ecole d'Architecture de Paris-la-Seine. The author has published several scholarly works including Ornament and Decoration in Islamic Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 2000).

Yves Porter holds a Ph.D. in Iranian Studies and is a lecturer in Islamic Art at the Universite de Provence (Aix-en-Provence, France). He regularly participates in international conferences, has authored a book on the techniques of Persian painting, and has written numerous articles in both scientific and popular journals.