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Algerian turban cover. Silk embroidery on linen. 18th century

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- Embroidery was an important art in the Medieval Islamic world. The 17th-century Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi called it the "craft of the two hands". Because embroidery was a sign of high social status in Muslim societies, it became widely popular. In cities such as Damascus, Cairo and Istanbul, embroidery was visible on handkerchiefs, uniforms, flags, calligraphy, shoes, robes, tunics, horse trappings, slippers, sheaths, pouches, covers, and even on leather belts. Craftsmen embroidered items with gold and silver thread. Embroidery cottage industries, some employing over 800 people, grew to supply these items.

- In the 16th century, in the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, his chronicler Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak wrote in the famous Ain-i-Akbari: "His majesty (Akbar) pays much attention to various stuffs; hence Irani, Ottoman, and Mongolian articles of wear are in much abundance especially textiles embroidered in the patterns of Nakshi, Saadi, Chikhan, Ari, Zardozi, Wastli, Gota and Kohra. The imperial workshops in the towns of Lahore, Agra, Fatehpur and Ahmedabad turn out many masterpieces of workmanship in fabrics, and the figures and patterns, knots and variety of fashions which now prevail astonish even the most experienced travelers. Taste for fine material has since become general, and the drapery of embroidered fabrics used at feasts surpasses every description.

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Bullion knot

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Blanket stitch

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Couching stitch

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Woven wheel stitch

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Fly stitch

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Detached chain stitch

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Split stitch

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Feather stitch

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Satin stitch

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Chain stitch

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Stem stitch

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French knot

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Straight stitch

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Running stitch

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Backstitch

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- Embroidery hoops
- Embroidery needles
- Scissors
- Embroidery thread

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- The process used to tailor, patch, mend and reinforce cloth fostered the development of sewing techniques, and the decorative possibilities of sewing led to the art of embroidery. Indeed, the remarkable stability of basic embroidery stitches has been noted:

- It is a striking fact that in the development of embroidery there are no changes of materials or techniques which can be felt or interpreted as advances from a primitive to a later, more refined stage. On the other hand, we often find in early works a technical accomplishment and high standard of craftsmanship rarely attained in later times.

- The art of embroidery has been found worldwide and several early examples have been found. Works in China have been dated to the Warring States period (5th–3rd century BC). In a garment from Migration period Sweden, roughly 300–700 AD, the edges of bands of trimming are reinforced with running stitch, back stitch, stem stitch, tailor's buttonhole stitch, and whip-stitching, but it is uncertain whether this work simply reinforced the seams or should be interpreted as decorative embroidery.

- Ancient Greek mythology has credited the goddess Athena with passing down the art of embroidery along with weaving, leading to the famed competition between herself and the mortal Arachne.

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Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on caps, hats, coats, overlays, blankets, dress shirts, denim, dresses, stockings, and golf shirts. Embroidery is available with a wide variety of thread or yarn colour.

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Theme: Malaysian
Tradisional Motifs (batik,
tekat, anyaman. Pua
kumbu)

SIze: 2ft X 2ft
Media: Acrylic on canvas
Finishing – spray clear

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Indian Art - Taj Mahal

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Metalwork, useful and decorative objects fashioned of various metals, including copper, iron, silver, bronze, lead, gold, and brass. The earliest man-made objects were of stone, wood, bone, and earth. It was only later that humans learned to extract metals from the earth and to hammer them into objects. Metalwork includes vessels, utensils, ceremonial and ritualistic objects, decorative objects, architectural ornamentation, personal ornament, sculpture, and weapons. Many of the technical processes in use today are essentially the same as those employed in ancient times.

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Skoal, Maw & Co vase designed by Walter Crane

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The Ruskin Pottery (1898–1935) specialized in glaze effects

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Wave bowl by Christopher Dresser, Linthorpe Art Pottery

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- Pottery, one of the oldest and most widespread of the decorative arts, consisting of objects made of clay and hardened with heat. The objects made are commonly useful ones, such as vessels for holding liquids or plates or bowls from which food can be served.

- The word "ceramics" comes from the Greek meaning "pottery", which in turn comes from meaning "potter's clay". Most traditional ceramic products were made from clay (or clay mixed with other materials), shaped and subjected to heat, and tableware and decorative ceramics are generally still made this way.

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Tapestry Room from Croome Court, moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hung with made to measure 18th-century Gobelins tapestries, also covering the chairs. 1763-71

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One of the tapestries in the series The Hunt of the Unicorn: The Unicorn is Found, circa 1495–1505

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Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may be visible.

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- The lower status given to works of decorative art in contrast to fine art narrowed with the rise of the Arts and Crafts movement. This aesthetic movement of the second half of the 19th century was born in England and inspired by William Morris and John Ruskin. The movement represented the beginning of a greater appreciation of the decorative arts throughout Europe. The appeal of the Arts and Crafts movement to a new generation led the English architect and designer Arthur H. Mackmurdo to organize the Century Guild for craftsmen in 1882, championing the idea that there was no meaningful difference between the fine and decorative arts. Many converts, both from professional artists' ranks and from among the intellectual class as a whole, helped spread the ideas of the movement.

- The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement led to the decorative arts being given a greater appreciation and status in society and this was soon reflected by changes in the law. Until the enactment of the Copyright Act 1911 only works of fine art had been protected from unauthorised copying. The 1911 Act extended the definition of an "artistic work" to include works of "artistic craftsmanship".

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- Tapestry
- Ceramic Pottery
- Metalwork
- Jewellery Art
- Goldmithing
- Mosaic Art
- Jade Craving
- Origami
- Furniture

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- The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usually architecture. Ceramic art, metalwork, furniture, jewels, fashion, various forms of the textile arts and glassware are major groupings.

- Applied arts largely overlaps with decorative arts, and the modern making of applied art is usually called design. The decorative arts are often categorized in distinction to the "fine arts", namely painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture, which generally produce objects solely for their aesthetic quality and capacity to stimulate the intellect.

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- Modern architecture, conceived of as the elimination of
ornament in favor of purely functional structures, left
architects the problem of how to properly adorn modern
structures.

- There were two available routes from this perceived crisis.
One was to attempt to devise an ornamental vocabulary that
was new and essentially contemporary. This was the route
taken by architects like Louis Sullivan and his pupil Frank
Lloyd Wright, or by the unique Antoni Gaudí. Art Nouveau,
for all its excesses, was a conscious effort to evolve such a
"natural" vocabulary of ornament.

- With the work of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus through the 1920s and 1930s, lack of decorative detail became a hallmark of modern architecture and equated with the moral virtues of honesty, sr, and purity

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- Styles of ornamentation can be studied in reference to the
specific culture which developed unique forms of decoration, or modified ornament from other cultures.

- The Ancient Egyptian culture is arguably the first civilization to add pure decoration to their buildings. Their ornament takes the forms of the natural world in that climate, decorating the capitals of columns and walls with images of papyrus and palm trees.

- Assyrian culture produced ornament which shows influence from Egyptian sources and a number of original themes, including figures of plants and animals of the region.

- Ancient Greek civilization created many new forms of ornament, with regional variations from Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian groups.

- The Romans Latinized the pure forms of the Greek ornament and adapted the forms to every purpose.

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- Architectural ornament can be carved from stone, wood or precious metals, formed with plaster or clay, or painted or impressed onto a surface as applied ornament; in
other applied arts the main material of the object, or a
different one such as paint or vitreous enamel may be used.

- A wide variety of decorative styles and motifs have been
developed for architecture and the applied arts, including pottery, furniture, metalwork. In textiles, wallpapers and other objects where the decoration may be the main justification for its existence, the terms pattern or design are more likely to be used.

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- Ornamentation is the term that architects use for decorative elements of buildings and structures. Examples include decorative arts such as carvings, paintings and other elements such as furniture and lighting. The term excludes large forms such as monumental sculpture.

- Styles of ornamentation can be studied in reference to the specific culture which developed unique forms of decoration, or modified ornament from other cultures. The Ancient Egyptian culture is arguably the first civilization to add pure decoration to their buildings. Their ornament takes the forms of the natural world in that climate, decorating the capitals of columns and walls with images of papyrus and palm trees. Assyrian culture produced ornament which shows influence from Egyptian sources and a number of original themes, including figures of plants and animals of the region.

- The Ancient Greek civilization created many new forms of ornament, which were diffused across Eurasia, helped by the conquests of Alexander the Great, and the expansion of Buddhism, which took some motifs to East Asia in somewhat modified form.[5] In the West the Ancient Roman latinized forms of the Greek ornament lasted for around a millennium, and after a period when they were replaced by Gothic forms, powerfully revived in the Italian Renaissance and remain extremely widely used today.

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The Shamsa from the Shah Jahan Album

- The Shah Jahan album was begun under Jahangir, father of Shah Jahan, and added to by Shah Jahan throughout his reign (r. 1627 – 1658). He was deposed by his son, who subsequently forbade art and music in his realm.

- Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal for his wife Mumtaz Mahal (1631 – 48).

- Much other architecture and fine objects were commissioned by Shah Jahan.

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Verso of Nilgai, showcasing Nasta’liq script.

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Glorification of Akbar, attributed to Govardhan

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The Shah Jahan Album ca. 1620 Nanha, India

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Alexander [the Great] visits the sage Plato in his Mountain Cave: folio from Khamsa of Amir Khusrau Kihlavi, 1597-8

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In India, the Mughal Empire was one of the greatest empires ever. The Mughal Empire ruled hundreds of millions of people. India became united under one rule, and had very prosperous cultural and political years during the Mughal rule. There were many Muslim and Hindu kingdoms split all throughout India until the founders of the Mughal Empire came. There were some men such as Babar, grandson to the Great Asian conqueror Tamerlane and the conqueror Genghis Khan from the northern region of Ganges, river valley, who decided to take over Khyber, and eventually, all of India.

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- The Mughal, Mogul or Moghul Empire, was an early modern empire in South Asia. For some two centuries, the empire stretched from the outer shores of the Indus basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan plateau in south India.

- The Mughal empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur, a warrior chieftain from what is today Uzbekistan, who employed military aid in the form of matchlock guns and cast cannon from the Ottoman Empire.

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Title page and colophon

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Qur'an cover, Ottoman, 1500s

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Ottoman Empire

Album of Hadith, ca. 1500, by Sheikh Hamdullah legendary Ottoman calligrapher who developed thuluth and naskh script styles.

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Iranian / Persian Book : History of Shah Jahan, 1825

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Colophon

- Turkish, Ottoman Empire, 1813
- Name of artist listed along with a prayer

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Chapter Heading

- Safavid Qur'an
- Thuluth and Naskh scripts
- 1571

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- Covers
- Shamsa (first page) – a medallion
- Chapter headings (sarlowh – full page, unwan – upper half decoration)
- Colophon (last page

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Safavid Dynasty, Iran (1501 – 1722)
Mughal Dynasty, India (1526 – 1858)
Ottoman Empire, Turkey (1516 – 1918)

These sites excelled at all the book arts: binding, calligraphy and illumination. Royal workshops were main sources of book production because of expense involved, and investment of patrons. Books were seen as financial investments, status symbols and gifts between heads of state.

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In the Islamic world, paper was made from rags of linen and hemp, not tree pulp. The rags were cut into strips and softened in limewater, then pounded into a pulp and soaked in a vat. To form a sheet of paper, a rectangular mold was placed into the vat and then left to dry.

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“…every manuscript is by definition a handmade artefact and as such is bound to be  unique in some degree, however small. Every single one can potentially add to our knowledge and understanding of the process involved in its production and the nature and value of the culture that produced it.”

- The Islamic manuscripts collection covers subjects including the Qur’an and its sciences, hadith, theology, jurisprudence (fiqh), Sufism, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, rhetoric, grammar, poetry, history, geography, and medicine.

- It consists of more than 1,100 volumes dating from the 8th to the early 20th century, containing roughly 1,800 texts primarily in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish. The collection ranks among the largest and most significant of its kind in North America.

- Artistry in calligraphy, binding, illumination and illustration from the Ottoman period is particularly well represented, as is evidence documenting the transmission, reading, borrowing, purchase, and ownership of the manuscripts.

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Legong, Keraton Dance Performance with Gamelan's performance at Puri Saren Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

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Balinese dance is a variety of dances that originate from the island of Bali. Balinese dance doesn't always depend on the storyline. The main objective of Balinese dancers is to draw each stage of movement and sequence with full expression. Balinese dance beauty is visible on abstract and beautiful movements. Balinese dances that are best known include Pendet, Gambuh, Baris, Sanghyang and Legong.

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This kebaya does look like Javanese kebaya. Usually, Kebaya Bali has a simple motif and is brightly colored. In addition, in its use, this kebaya is always combined with a scarf that is fastened like a belt. Thus, the graceful side of the woman wearing it is more radiated.

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Traditional clothing this one becomes a type of clothing that is often used when balinese people want to hold worship to the temple. This clothing also has a characteristic in the form of the use of white fabrics.

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'Payas madya' has a flexible level of use. You can use these clothes for everyday activity. In addition, the rules on how to wear it are also not very strict. Even so, those who wear this type of Balinese custom dress will look so dashing and beautiful.

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1. Payas Agung

- This balinese custom dress features a luxurious and special impression. Therefore, it is not surprising that its utilization also can not be for a variety of activity. 'Payas agung' is a type of clothing specifically intended for weddings.

- 'Payas agung' for men is often accompanied by kris and subordinates in the form of sumptuous songket fabrics. Meanwhile, the 'great swamp' for women using cloth or a sling that is deliberately wrapped on the upper body. At the bottom, there is a luxurious songket woven fabric.

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Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park is a tourist destination and attraction located at Ungasan, Badung on the island of Bali, Indonesia about 10–15 minutes drive from Ngurah Rai International Airport. It is devoted to the Hindu god Vishnu, and his mount, Garuda, the mythical bird who became his companion.

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Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, or Pura Bratan, is a major Hindu Shaivite temple in Bali, Indonesia. The temple complex is on the shores of Lake Bratan in the mountains near Bedugul.

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In Bali, all the events of the life are marked by religious ceremonies. At the birth, the child is blessed by the pédanda. He will touch the ground only at the end of the third month, and will pass his early childhood in the fields or the rice plantations while living in a village community. About 7 or 8 years, it will learn the dance or the music at the school in the village. Arrived at adolescence, it will have to undergo the filing of its six more beautiful teeth to drive out the six sins (idleness, indifference, indecision, taste for the material goods, pleasure of the senses, taste of luxury)

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Endek textiles or Wastra Endek is a Balinese weft ikat cloth. The local still preserving its sustainability and still often used as a material for ritual or ceremonies. Currently, it is a material for school uniform (some areas in Bali) and also government office uniform. Endek’s motifs are so diverse, some motives are even considering as sacred and only can be used for religious activities in temples. The king and noble descendants also have a special motif of Endek cloth. Patra and Encak motifs are commonly using in religious ceremonies to symbolize respect to God. While nature motifs like flowers, leaves, and animals are commonly using for daily activities. They usually make weaving cloth as their daily activity. Almost all female residents in this village, young and old are able to weave at least for simple patterns.

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Balinese wood carving is an ancient art form but has also changed and developed over the years. Mas Village is famous for its woodcarvings, and some of its master artisans become famous across Indonesia and in international. Wooden statues and even furniture, fixtures, and door frames usually adorned with flowers, landscapes, and traditional themes by skilled craftsmen. You can buy these carving as souvenirs in all parts of Bali, varying from cheap and charming to intricate and unique. For Balinese people, they usually designed natural things as a part of daily life according to traditional principles. For this reason, sculpture is of great importance in Bali.

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Bali as the “island of artists” have thousands of artworks, especially Balinese Painting. The artsy spirit that exists on this island come from generation to generation. In fact, Balinese artists traditionally produced only religious art for depicting myths. One of the oldest traditional Balinese paintings is from Gelgel Kingdom Heritage with several works of art. Further, the painting estimated around 15th century. Simple painting style with natural dye made of cotton flower and rice starch. It looks like the paintings found in “Wayang Kulit” (shadow puppetry from Java).

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- Balinese art is art of Hindu-Javanese origin that grew from the work of artisans of the Majapahit Kingdom, with their expansion to Bali in the late 14th century. From the sixteenth until the twentieth centuries, the village of Kamasan, Klungkung (East Bali), was the centre of classical Balinese art.

- During the first part of the twentieth century, new varieties of Balinese art developed. Since the late twentieth century, Ubud and its neighboring villages established a reputation as the center of Balinese art.Ubud and Batuan are known for their paintings, Mas for their woodcarvings, Celuk for gold and silver smiths, and Batubulan for their stone carvings.

- Balinese traditional paintings were mainly found what is now known as the Kamasan or Wayang style. These are visual presentation of narratives, especially of the Hindu-Javanese epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata as well as a number of indigenous stories, such as the Malat, depicting Panji narratives and the Brayut story.

- These two-dimensional drawings are traditionally drawn on cloth or bark paper (Ulantaga or daluwang paper), and sometimes on wood, with natural dyes. The colouring is limited to available natural dyes: red from volcanic rocks, ochre, blue from indigo, and black from soot. In addition, the rendering of the figures and ornamentations must follow strictly prescribed rules, since they are mostly produced for religious articles and temple hangings.

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1. Aboriginal art is based on dreamtime stories.
2. Aboriginal symbols are used instead of written language.
3. Aboriginal paintings are used to teach new generations.
4. There are many Aboriginal tribal groups.
5. Permission is required to paint an Aboriginal dreaming.
6. Aboriginal art has many layers of meaning.
7. There are hidden secrets in Aboriginal dot paintings.
8. Aboriginal art is shown in museums and galleries.
9. What is the highest priced paid for Aboriginal artworks.
10. Aboriginal art keeps Aboriginal culture strong.

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Black – represents the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Yellow circle – represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector.
Red – represents the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal peoples' spiritual relation to the land.

- Traditionally, only ochre, or natural pigments, were used in Aboriginal art because that’s what they had readily available. They created paintings using materials in their surroundings, such as plants and even mud.

- These pigments were used to produce colors such as white, yellow, red and black from charcoal. Other colors were soon added such as smoky greys, sage greens and saltbush mauves. Many desert communities can be identified because of their use of strong primary colors, while other communities might use more muted styles. Even within regions there can be many variations.

- Today, however, modern artists may use a wide variety of colors.

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The use of symbols is an alternate way to write down stories of cultural significance, teaching survival and use of the land. Symbols are used by Aboriginal people in their art to preserve their culture and tradition. They are also used to depict various stories and are still used today in contemporary Aboriginal Art.

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- Aboriginal art is art made by indigenous Australian people. It includes work made in many different ways including painting on leaves, wood carving, rock carving, sculpting, ceremonial clothing and sand painting. Aboriginal art is closely linked to religious ceremonies or rituals.

- There are several types of and methods used in making Aboriginal art, including rock painting, dot painting, rock engravings, bark painting, carvings, sculptures, and weaving and string art. Australian Aboriginal art is the oldest unbroken tradition of art in the world.

- The sacred Aboriginal colours, said to be given to the Aborigines during the Dreamtime, are Black, Red, Yellow and White. Black represents the earth, marking the campfires of the dreamtime ancestors. Red represents fire, energy and blood - 'Djang', a power found in places of importance to the Aborigines.

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Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

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The Nakagin Capsule Building

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- After the devastation of World War II, Japanese Architects took the lead in the reconstruction and reshaping of the country. Influenced by their circumstances and eager to rebuild, Architects sought not only to stabilize but to innovate; to distill a uniquely Japanese practice in creating spaces.

- One of the most famous creatiions from this time period is the Nakagin Capsule Building in Ginza made by Kisho Kurokawa in 1972, and here beautiful captured by photographer Tom Blachford in his collection Nihon Noir.

- In similar hopeful and anticipatory fashion, the famous Japanese architect, Kenzo Tenge, designed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The park was built shortly after World War II and the American occupation which ended in about 1952.

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Tatsumura, White and Gold Obi Belt

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Uchikake (Outer Kimono), 1870-90

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- The Meiji Restoration in 1868 marked a turning point in Japanese history. Gone with the feudal past and military rulers, Japan at this time was firmly marching towards modernization and westernization under the leadership of Emperor Meiji. The Meiji and Taisho era (1868-1926) was distinctively different from what had come before in all aspects.

- It was in the textile industry where production methods first began to modernize. In the 1860s, Kyoto’s Nishjin – the premier center of the kimono industry - sent delegates to Europe to bring back the jacquard loom that transformed weaving processes.

- Japanese silk weaving was first brought to Kyoto by the Yasushi family, who immigrated to Japan from China sometime in the 5th or 6th century and taught the art to the local people.

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Japanese Plate Made for Export, 1770

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Kakiemon Plate, Late 17th Century

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Small Dish with Cherry Blossoms