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Color Symbolism in Islamic Book Paintings

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Color Symbolism in Islamic Book Paintings The American University in Cairo School of Humanities and Social Sciences Color Symbolism in Islamic Book Paintings A Thesis Submitted to The Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts By Imane M. Sadek Abaza Under the supervision of Dr. Bernard O’Kane 12/2017 Color Symbolism in Islamic Book Paintings | Imane Abaza Table of Content ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 1 ..................................................................................................................................... 7 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................................... 7 LIGHT AND COLOR THEORY ....................................................................................................................... 8 CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF COLOR SYMBOLISM IN ISLAMIC ART .................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................... 18 THE MEANING OF COLORS IN ISLAM ............................................................................................ 18 COLOR TERMINOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 18 GEMS AND COLORS ............................................................................................................................... 21 MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION .................................................................................................................... 23 COLOR IN THE QURAN ........................................................................................................................... 25 VISUAL PERCEPTION .............................................................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................... 33 BOOK PAINTINGS: MI‘RAJNAMA .................................................................................................. 33 THE MI‘RAJ IN ISLAMIC LITERATURE .......................................................................................................... 34 THE MI‘RAJ IN ISLAMIC PAINTINGS ........................................................................................................... 36 ILKHANID MI‛RAJNAMA: THE CORRELATION BETWEEN TEXT AND PAINTINGS ................................................... 46 PAINTINGS WITH COLOR SYMBOLISM SIMILAR TO THE MI‛RAJ ........................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................... 57 BOOK PAINTINGS: THE HAFT PAYKAR ........................................................................................... 57 THE BLACK PAVILION AND THE TALE OF THE INDIAN PRINCESS FURAK ............................................................. 60 THE YELLOW PAVILION AND THE TALE OF THE BYZANTINE PRINCESS HUMAY ................................................... 62 THE GREEN PAVILION AND THE TALE OF THE TARTAR PRINCESS NAZ-PARI ....................................................... 64 THE RED PAVILION AND THE TALE OF THE SLAVIC PRINCESS NASRIN-NUSH ...................................................... 66 THE BLUE (OR TURQUOISE) PAVILION AND THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS AZARGUN FROM THE MAGHRIB ................ 68 THE SANDALWOOD PAVILION AND THE TALE OF THE CHINESE PRINCESS YAGHMA-NAZ ..................................... 70 THE WHITE PAVILION AND TALE OF THE PERSIAN PRINCESS DURR-SITI ........................................................... 71 CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................................... 74 BOOK PAINTINGS: MAJNUN AND LAYLA ....................................................................................... 74 THE DEPICTION OF MAJNUN IN NIZAMI’S KHAMSA ..................................................................................... 76 KHUSRAW’S AND JAMI’S ACCOUNTS ........................................................................................................ 82 CHAPTER 6 ................................................................................................................................... 87 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................ 87 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................. 95 LIST OF FIGURES: CHAPTER 3 ........................................................................................................ 99 LIST OF FIGURES: CHAPTER 4 ...................................................................................................... 101 LIST OF FIGURES: CHAPTER 5 ...................................................................................................... 103 2 Color Symbolism in Islamic Book Paintings | Imane Abaza Acknowledgment I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Rare Books and Special Collections Library (RBSCL). They have the most passionate and supportive staff; they were always ready to offer their help and guidance and for that I am grateful. I would like to thank the administrative staff at the Department of the Arab and Islamic Civilizations for the constant support and their professional attitude. This thesis would have not seen the light of day without the support and guidance of my supervisor Dr. Bernard O’Kane. It took me a year to convince him with my topic and I am eternally grateful that he did not accept it right away. He pushed me to dig deeper and to widen my research base to come up with a more challenging angle for my thesis. He always demanded the highest quality of work which pushed me to thrive in my academic research. I would also like to thank my two readers; Dr. Jerry Bacharach and Dr. Ellen Kenney; their comments and critic were incredibly helpful in the fine tuning of my thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude towards my family, friends and colleagues. I am mom to a 12 years old boy and a 10 years old girl to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude for being so understanding and incredibly patient with me over the past few years. I would have never done it without them. Thank you Selim and Nadine for being the most supportive children anyone can ask for. I hope this makes you proud. I would also like to thank my mom, Samira, for always being there for me and handling my children when I could not. She has always been my biggest supporter and I can not thank her enough for always being there for me. Omar Abaza, thank you for being an amazing brother and a huge supporter. Basil Khattab thank you for pushing me to do this when I first told you I have this crazy idea of doing my master’s degree in Islamic art and architecture. You always told me that I should pursue my passion and what makes me happy regardless of people’s opinions and you were right. Amira Ayman and Salah Maged, thank you for taking my tantrums and my irrational 3 Color Symbolism in Islamic Book Paintings | Imane Abaza mid-night questions. You made it a fun journey and I am thankful for having you both in my life. Heba Sheta, Salma Azzam, Amina Karam, Leena Sadek and all the rest, thank you for making it a fun and an intellectually interesting journey. Last but not least, to all my friends from outside the program, Salma Zoghby, Ola Seouni, Noha Korashy and Hoda Wally, thank you for tolerating my 4 years of complaining and for believing that I would actually finish. Seif Abouwafia, I would never forget your 7:00 am phone call when I sent you that I would be starting my master’s degree in Islamic art and architecture and our conversation about the significance of colors in Islamic Art. Thank you for tolerating my babbling and overthinking, your input in chapter 1 and 2 was inspiring. The smile on my grandmother’s face when I told her I am starting my master’s was priceless, she was unique considering the generation she is coming from. She really believed in the power of education and I hope she is proud wherever she is. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my father, Sadek. He is not here with us anymore but his words and wisdom will always be with me wherever I go. Thank you for always being a role model and for believing in me. 4 Color Symbolism in Islamic Book Paintings | Imane Abaza Introduction Color symbolism in Islamic art has been one of my main points of interest when I started my masters. The question of why artists employed these specific colors to their works of art has been haunting me since I started noticing the predominant blue in the domes of Persian mosques or the pearl white and sandstone red in Indian architecture. I was waiting for an answer when I embarked on my studies but I as I dove deeper into this field I became more puzzled and the magnitude of my curiosity increased. Most of the articles I read and
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