Proportions in Islamic Art

          From the IX century to the X one, Islamic art didn’t reproduce faithfully enough the proportions of the human body. In a polychrome ceramic found in Nishapur (in Eastern Iran) there is a huntsman whose abdomen is quite disproportionate to the rest of his body, so are his enormous legs. He is going to kill a cheetah that is little to the possible realistic dimension. In another big cup made with the same technique in the same period, cheetahs help huntsmen riding horses or walking on foot. All figures are plain and disproportionate among themselves: the eyes of the huntsmen cover the profile of the head at all and the nose is big, but it is not protruding. Perspective is totally absent and cheetahs seeming to climb on the horses are little to real dimensions, so that they remind reptiles rather than mammals. The huntsmen on foot are covered by enormous shields which let only legs and heads are shown.

          Regarding the columns of the palace of Mas’ud the III, an Iranian king who lived between the XI and the XII century, they were realized with a technique that was different from the one of Greek and Roman columns because the base was larger. The more the column was near to the capital, the more it got stricter, but the capital was greater. Wherever inscriptions appear, they are big. Writing had an extreme importance, like a burial stone made with white marble shows. It was made in the XII century, it was found in Afghanistan and the text written on it says: “In the name of the gracious and merciful god”. In another tile to decorate walls, writing has an important role too and it is greater than decorations of the background. In a glazed ceramic made with slip painting, the wings which depart from the back of a bird are enormous, they seem to be another body and they give a greatest beauty to the bird creating an effect of movement.

          Iranian ceramists who lived during the XIII century built vases thanks to a technique called Lajvardina. They used blazed ceramic with applications of golden leaves on a blue background. This period in which they were made is called Ilkhanide. A vase is piriformis, with a long neck. The lower part is greater than the neck. On the top of the neck, there is a medium swollen. Some blazed ceramics of the previous century instead don’t present differences of dimensions between the base and the upper part.Moreover, a relief tile represents knights playing polo. It is made with ceramic with metallic and blue luster. It was found in Kashan and it was made in the XIII century.

          Eastern artists of that period were able to calculate and respect the proportions of the man to the horse and they became more able to calculate them by next century. In fact, in the images made in the XIII century and the XIV one there is an evolution of the proportions. A number of realistic hares are portrayed on a star-shaped tile. It is a ceramic painted thanks to blue luster which was found in Iran. The same technique was also used with another star-shaped tile (1291 – 1292) with a group of elephants which remind the story of the return of Isfandyar from his seven expeditions.

Angelo Viglioglia