Medieval Islamic artisans developed a pattern-making process for designing ornate tiled surfaces that allowed them to produce sophisticated patterns not seen in the West until centuries later, a new study suggests. Many walls of medieval Islamic buildings have ornate geometric star-and-polygon, or “girih,” patterns, often overlaid with a zig-zagging network of lines. This undated picture shows an archway from the Darb-i Imam shrine, Isfahan, Iran ( built in 1453 ) with two overlapping girih patterns.
Magnificently sophisticated geometric patterns in medieval Islamic architecture indicate their designers achieved a mathematical breakthrough 500 years earlier than Western scholars, scientists said on Thursday.
Entire Article here (This was from early 2007 but first I saw it – was in an annual list of breakthoughs for 2007)
Filed under: ancient art, ancient mosaics | Tagged: ancient art, ancient mosaic, mosaic, mosaic art
