Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

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MOORISH ART
Moorish Sculpture in Spain and North Africa
With the conquest of Spain in 710 A.D., the Islamic civilization obtained a strong foothold in western Europe. Cordova, chosen the capital and residence of the Spanish Umayyads, became an Oriental city. In 786 Abdur Rahman began the construction the Great Mosque, which was gradually enlarged and embellished by his successor. The most important period of Umayyad art in Spain began in the tenth century with Abdur Rahman in (912-961), who erected a magnificent palace at Madinat-az-Zahra, near Cordova. The decoration of the stone reliefs of the palace consists chiefly of floral scrolls, which differ radically from contemporary Abbasid work of the Islamic East. The disintegrated acanthus of Syrian variety is mixed with geometrical palmette scrolls in which Byzantine and local Visigothic traditions are evident. We have to go back to Syrian art of the seventh and eighth centuries, known to us from stone and wood carvings, to find prototypes for the decoration of Madinat-azZahra.
This ornament did not come directly from Syria, however, but via North Africa, where interesting parallels are found in the ninth century sculptures of the mosque at Kairwan in Tunisia. That direct Byzantine connections exited in evident from Islamic sources, which tell us that Byzantine emperors helped Abdur Rahman to decorate the palace. The Umayyad style of the tenth century is represented in several museums by marble capitals and bases, some
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of which belonged to the old palace. The ornament is often deeply undercut so as to form a pattern of light and dark, a feature very popular in Hispano-Moresque decoration.’
Hakam (961-76) made additions to the mosque of Cordova, giving both the interior and the exterior some of their finest decoration. The beautiful marble plaques at each side of the mihrab, decorated with palmettes scrolls and trees of life, are masterpiece of Hispano-Moresque sculpture. A characteristic feature of these marble reliefs is the absence of solid surfaces, all the motives are dissected into small thin scrolls which together from a lacelike pattern.
In the eleventh century Islamic Spain was ruled by stirs, known as Reyes de Taifas,” party kings”. Although Cordova remained the chief art centers. Some of the provincial cities had a prominent part in the development of Hispano-Moresque art. An important monument of the eleventh century is the palace of Aljaferia at Saragossa, erected by the ruler Abu Ja’far Mukhtadir (10146-81). The remains of the palace, now partly in Spanish Museums have a rich stone and stucco decoration which although based on the tenth century Cordovan style, shows features associated with the new style developed in Islamic Spain palmettes, used to some extent in the tenth century, have entirely replaced acanthus motives but are stylized in a fashion peculiar to Hispano-Moresque art. Derived from the Arabic half palmettes, they are often occasionally suggests natural leaves. The carving is more deeply undercut than in the tenth century and the decorative effect of light and dark therefore more pronounced. With the Berber Almoravides, who in 1090 combined Islamic Spain and Morocco into one empire began a new chapter in Hispano-Moresque art. Moorish Wood Carving in Spain and North Africa
Early Hispano Moresque wood carving is very little known today, as most of it, including such noted examples as the sanctuary screen and pulpit of Hakam in the Cordova mosque, has disappeared entirely. But several important eleventh and twelfth century pulpits have been preserved in North Africa. The earliest minbar is in the Great Mosque of Algiers built by the Almoravides in 1082. Its decoration consists of square panels carved with geometrical interlacing, palmette trees, and arabesque scrolls in the Hispano-
Dimand, P 104.