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The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines,〔John Fleming and Hugh Honour, Dictionary of the Decorative Arts (1977)〕 often combined with other elements. It usually consists of a single design which can be 'tiled' or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired.〔Francis Robinson, The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World, Cambridge University Press, 1996〕 Within the very wide range of Eurasian decorative art that includes motifs matching this basic definition the term "arabesque" is used consistently as a technical term by art historians to describe only elements of the decoration found in two phases: Islamic art from about the 9th century onwards, and European decorative art from the Renaissance onwards (see Arabesque (European art)). Arabesques are a fundamental element of Islamic art but they develop what was already a long tradition by the coming of Islam. The past and current usage of the term in respect of European art can only be described as confused and inconsistent. Some Western arabesques derive from Islamic art, but others are closely based on Ancient Roman decorations. In the West they are essentially found in the decorative arts, but because of the generally non-figurative nature of Islamic art arabesque decoration is there often a very prominent element in the most significant works, and plays a large part in the decoration of architecture. == Islamic arabesque == Early Islamic art, for example in the famous 8th century mosaics of the Great Mosque of Damascus, often contained arabesque patterns. The plants most often used are stylized versions of the acanthus, with its emphasis on leafy forms, and the vine, with an equal emphasis on twining stems. Arabesque patterns also decorated everyday items such as cups and containers.〔 The evolution of these forms into a distinctive Islamic type was complete by the 11th century, having begun in the 8th or 9th century in works like the Mshatta Facade. In the process of development the plant forms became increasing simplified and stylized.〔Tabbaa, 75-88; Canby, 26〕 Though the broad outline of the process is generally agreed, there is a considerable diversity of views held by specialist scholars on detailed issues concerning the development, categorization and meaning of the arabesque.〔Tabbaa's Chapter 4 gives an overview of these questions.〕 The detailed study of Islamic arabesque forms was begun by Alois Riegl in his formalist study ''Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik'' (''Problems of style: foundations for a history of ornament'') of 1893, who in the process developed his influential concept of the ''Kunstwollen''.〔Tabbaa, 74-75〕 Riegl traced formalistic continuity and development in decorative plant forms from Ancient Egyptian art and other ancient Near Eastern civilizations through the classical world to the Islamic arabesque; while the ''Kunstwollen'' has few followers today, his basic analysis of the development of forms has been confirmed and refined by the wider ''corpus'' of examples known today.〔Rawson, 24-25; see also ("“Style”—or whatever", J. Duncan Berry ), A review of ''Problems of Style'' by Alois Riegl, ''The New Criterion'', April 1993〕 Jessica Rawson has recently extended the analysis to cover Chinese art, which Riegl did not cover, tracing many elements of Chinese decoration back to the same tradition; the shared background helping to make the assimilation of Chinese motifs into Persian art after the Mongol invasion harmonious and productive.〔Rawson, the subject of her book, see Preface, and Chapter 5 on Chinese influences on Persian art.〕 Claims are often made regarding the theological significance of the arabesque, and its origin in a specifically Islamic view of the world; however these are without support from written historical sources as, like most medieval cultures, the Islamic world has not left us documentation of their intentions in using the decorative motifs they did. At the popular level such theories often appear uninformed as to the wider context of the arabesque.〔Tabbaa, 74-77〕 In similar fashion, proposed connections between the arabesque and Arabic knowledge of geometry remains a subject of debate; not all art historians are persuaded that such knowledge had reached, or was needed by, those creating arabesque designs, although in certain cases there is evidence that such a connection did exist.〔Tabbaa, 88〕 The case for a connection with Islamic mathematics is much stronger for the development of the geometric patterns with which arabesques are often combined in art. Geometric decoration often uses patterns that are made up of straight lines and regular angles but are clearly derived as a whole from curvilinear arabesque patterns; the extent to which these too are described as arabesque varies between different writers.〔Canby, 20-21〕 Many arabesque patterns disappear at (or "under" as it often appears to a viewer) a framing edge without ending, and thus can be regarded as infinitely extendable outside the space they actually occupy; this was certainly a distinctive feature of the Islamic form, though not without precedent. Most but not all foliage decoration in the preceding cultures terminated at the edge of the occupied space, although infinitely repeatable patterns in foliage are very common in the modern world in wallpaper and textiles. Typically, in earlier forms there is no attempt at realism; no particular species of plant is being imitated, and the forms are often botanically impossible or implausible. "Leaf" forms typically spring sideways from the stem, in what is often called a "half-palmette" form, named after its distant and very different looking ancestor in Ancient Egyptian and Greek ornament. New stems spring from leaf-tips, a type often called honeysuckle, and the stems often have no tips, winding endlessly out of the space. The early Mshatta Facade is recognisably some sort of vine, with conventional leaves on the end of short stalks and bunches of grapes or berries, but later forms usually lack these. Flowers are rare until about 1500, after which they appear more often, especially in Ottoman art, and are often identifiable by species. In Ottoman art the large and feathery leaves called ''saz'' became very popular, and were elaborated in drawings showing just one or more large leaves. Eventually floral decoration mostly derived from Chinese styles, especially those of Chinese porcelain, replaces the arabesque in many types of work, such as pottery, textiles and miniatures. File:DSC04073 Istanbul - Aya Sophia - Matroneo - Foto G. Dall'Orto 24-5-2006.jpg|Byzantine capital in Hagia Sophia - pre-Islamic File:Damasco moschea degli OmayyadiHPIM3241.JPG|Mosaics on the Treasury Dome of the Great Mosque of Damascus, 789, still in essentially Byzantine style File:Mschatta-Fassade (Pergamonmuseum).jpg|Palace facade from Mshatta in Jordan, now in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, c. ?740 File:Atauriques.jpg|Arabesque pattern at the Alhambra File:Sheikh Lotfallah Esfahan.JPG|Giant arabesque pattern on the dome of the Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque, Isfahan, 17th century File:Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque.jpg|Tiled panel in the same mosque File:Navaisuleyman11.JPG|Border decoration to an Ottoman miniature, early 16th century File:Mantes carpet Louvre OA6610 detail1.jpg|Detail of 16th century Persian carpet 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arabesque (Islamic art)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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