Ornamenti e forme architettoniche nella miniatura islamica del XIII secolo

Abstract

In this analysis of the architectural elements present in Islamic miniature painting two main aspects have been considered: their role in the iconographic composition, and the parallel between painted and actual architecture. The chronological analysis showed that, while in the early years of thirteenth century such representations, often reduced to their essential architectural forms, were used as frames for the image, from the third decade of the thirteenth century such features became autonomous parts of the image. The actual architecture and the painted architecture have been analyzed by comparing both building typologies and ornamental motifs: many images of mosques, mausoleums, and tombstones present in the manuscripts of Ḥarīrī’s Maqāmāt have been compared with the contemporary architectural structures, while architectural elements and ornaments in miniatures from other two manuscripts (and Arabic Kalīla wa Dimna and the Seljukid Warqua wa Gulšāh) have been analyzed according to their chronology and typology.