Editing Culture of Iraq (section)

== Art ==
{{Main|Art of Mesopotamia|Iraqi art}}
[[File:Ashurbanipal in a chariot, wall relief, 7th century BC, from Nineveh, the British Museum.jpg|thumb|7th-century BC relief depicting [[Ashurbanipal]] (<abbr>r.</abbr> 669–631 BC) and three royal attendants in a [[chariot]]]]
Iraq's art has a deep heritage that extends back in time to ancient times and refers to all works of [[visual art]] originating from the geographical region since ancient [[Mesopotamia]]n periods. Mesopotamian art include favourite subjects such as deities, either alone or with worshippers, and animals in several types of scenes: repeated in rows, single, fighting each other or a human, [[confronted animals]] by themselves or flanking a human or god in the [[Master of Animals]] motif, or a [[Tree of Life]].<ref>Convenient summaries of the typical motifs of cylinder seals in the main periods are found throughout in Teissier</ref>

During the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], which ruled from the heartland of [[Mesopotamia]], pottery achieved a high level of sophistication, calligraphy began to be used to decorate the surface of decorative objects and illuminated manuscripts, particularly [[Quran|Q'ranic]] texts became more complex and stylised.<ref>Hillenbrand, R., ''Islamic Art and Architecture,'' Thames & Hudson, [World of Art series], 1999, London, p. 59 {{ISBN|978-0-500-20305-7}}</ref> Iraq's first art school was established during this period, allowing artisans and crafts to flourish.<ref>Dabrowska, K. and Hann, G., ''Iraq Then and Now: A Guide to the Country and Its People,'' Bradt Travel Guides, 2008, p. 278</ref> Famous Abbasid artist include [[Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti|Yahya Al-Wasiti]] who lived in [[Baghdad]] in the late Abbasid era (12th to 13th-centuries) and was the pre-eminent artist of the Baghdad school. His most well-known works include the illustrations for the book of the ''[[Maqamat Badi' az-Zaman al-Hamadhani|Maqamat]]'' (Assemblies) in 1237, a series of anecdotes of social satire written by [[Al-Hariri of Basra|al-Hariri]].<ref>"Baghdad school," in: ''Encyclopædia Britannica,'' [https://www.britannica.com/art/Baghdad-school Online:]; Esanu, O., ''Art, Awakening, and Modernity in the Middle East: The Arab Nude,'' Routledge, 2017, [E-book edition], n.p.</ref> Al-Waiti's illustrations served as an inspiration for the 20th-century modern Baghdad art movement.<ref name="Wijdan, A. 1989, p.166">Wijdan, A. (ed.), ''Contemporary Art From The Islamic World,''Scorpion, 1989, p.166</ref>