4to. xv, [1], 236 pp., 165 b/w & colour illustrations, 3 colour plates hors text, cloth in d/w, illustrated endpapers, biblio, notes, index, copy in mint condition, Yale University Press in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, New Haven & London, 2007.

Synopsis

“Arts of the City Victorious” is the first book-length study of the art and architecture of the Fatimids, the Ismaili Shi’i dynasty that ruled in North Africa and Egypt from 909 to 1171. The Fatimids are most famous for founding the city of al-Qahira (whence the name Cairo) in 969, and their art – particularly textiles and lustre ceramics, but also metalwork and carved rock-crystal, ivory and woodwork – has been admired for nearly a millennium. Initially brought home to Europe by merchants and Crusaders and then preserved as relics and reliquaries in church treasuries, Fatimid art is still prized today by collectors and curators for its strongly figural imagery, and its elegant and inventive use of Arabic calligraphy, particularly the angular ‘Kufic’ script.