Fāṭimid art and architecture - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Bloom, Jonathan M.
Leiden
Brill
(3,580 words)
The arts and architecture of the Fāṭimid period (North Africa and Egypt 297-567/909-1171) are dominated by the emergence and florescence of Cairo (al-Qāhira) as a cultural capital and the development or refinement there of various techniques and styles, ranging from fine stone masonry to carved rock crystal and ivory, lustre ceramics, and splendid tapestry-woven textiles, many characterised by exuberant figural decoration and inscriptions in an angular ("Kūfic"), often floriated script. This flowering of the arts was the result of lavish patronage not only by the