Islamic Geometric Patterns by Jay Bonner

Author:Jay Bonner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

All humor aside, this story is revealing in that it relays the mnemonic practices of artists working with geometric patterns: albeit very late in the history of this tradition. While this anecdote tells us that at least some artists were reliant upon memory to recreate patterns within their limited repertoire, it also implies that such artists lacked the necessary skills that would allow them to create original designs. However, considering the vast number of patterns from the historical record, it is unlikely that these specific point-joining constructions were held within memory alone, and it must be assumed that design scrolls and manuals were employed to a greater or lesser extent in propagating the recreation of existing designs. Regrettably few artists’ scrolls (tumar) or bound manuscripts are known to have survived to the present, and one hopes that more will turn up with time.73 Two are of particular importance to the question of traditional geometric design methodology: the aforementioned Topkapi Scroll and the anonymous Persian language treatise On Similar and Complementary Interlocking Figures in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris,74 henceforth referred to as Interlocking Figures. The exceptional significance of this treatise is that the illustrations are accompanied with written step-by-step instructions for constructing the diverse range of geometric figures, including multiple geometric patterns. Except for those more complex examples that involve either conic sections or verging procedures, some of these instructions are very similar in concept to the point-joining methodology advocated since the 1970s. This is currently the only known ancient treatise that provides written instructions for constructing geometric patterns, some of which are found within the historical record. Interlocking Figures illustrates over 60 geometric constructions, most of which are accompanied with written instruction. Like the Topkapi Scroll, the illustrations are inked in black and red, with occasional dotted lines that provide further differentiation. The provenance of Interlocking Figures is uncertain and speculations for its date of origin have been based upon both linguistic analysis and comparisons with identical or near-identical geometric patterns within the architectural record.75 Estimates for its date range between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries during either the Great Seljuk or Khwarizmshahid periods, with some portions added as late as the Timurid period when the Paris manuscript was copied. More recent research estimates its origin to circa 1300, the later end of this spectrum.76 The problem with comparing specific patterns from Interlocking Figures to architectural examples from the historical record as a means of estimating the approximate date of its original compilation is that it is impossible to know whether (1) the manuscript may have preceded and possibly influenced an architecture example, and, if so, by how long; (2) the manuscript and architectural examples were produced concurrently, possibly by the same individuals; or (3) the production of a given architectural example may have preceded and possibly influenced the manuscript, and, if so, by how long. Adding to this uncertainty is the fact that it is not known how many times the original manuscript may have been copied, and to what extent the copyists may have included examples of patterns from later dates.

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