The Birth of a New Aesthetic
The Umayyad period stands as a transformative chapter in the story of Islamic art, a time when creativity and tradition intertwined to birth something entirely new. Picture this: a vast empire, stretching across diverse lands, unified under the banner of Islam, with Arabic as its unifying voice. Yet, in the hands of artists, the old world refused to fade away. Instead, it lingered, whispering through the strokes of their brushes and the chisels of their tools. The late antique classical naturalism of the eastern Mediterranean, with its lifelike depictions of the world, still held sway. Byzantine mosaics and Sasanian grandeur left their mark, inspiring intricate metalwork, luxurious textiles, and vivid portrayals of animals, plants, and human figures.
But art, like history, is never static. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the artists of the Umayyad period began to break free from the shadows of the past. They experimented, innovated, and reimagined, weaving together the threads of their inherited traditions with bold new ideas. The result was a tapestry of creativity that no longer merely echoed the classical or the Byzantine or the Sasanian. It was something uniquely their own—a nascent Islamic artistic identity, still in its infancy but brimming with potential. This artistic evolution, however, was just the beginning. It would take the fall of the Umayyad dynasty for this new identity to fully blossom, leaving behind a legacy that would shape the course of Islamic art for centuries to come.
Objects of The Umayyads
Stucco Carving
Metalwork
Stone
Woodwork
Textiles
Fresco Paintings
Sculptures
