Editing Islamic art (section)

=== Silk ===
Despite ''[[Hadith]]'' sayings prohibiting the wearing of silk, the Byzantine and Sassanian traditions of grand figured silk woven cloth continued under Muslim rule. Some designs are calligraphic, especially when made for palls to cover a tomb, but more are surprisingly conservative versions of the earlier traditions, with many large figures of animals, especially majestic symbols of power like the lion and eagle. These are often enclosed in roundels, as found in the pre-Islamic traditions. The majority of early silks have been recovered from tombs, and in Europe [[reliquaries]], where the relics were often wrapped in silk. European clergy and nobility were keen buyers of Islamic silk from an early date and, for example, the body of an early bishop of [[Toul]] in France was wrapped in a silk from the [[Bukhara]] area in modern [[Uzbekistan]], probably when the body was reburied in 820.<ref>Arts, 65–68; 74, no. 3</ref> The [[Shroud of St Josse]] is a famous [[samite]] cloth from East Persia, which originally had a carpet-like design with two pairs of confronted elephants, surrounded by borders including rows of [[camel]]s and an inscription in [[Kufic]] script, from which the date appears to be before 961.<ref>[http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice_popup.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226262&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226262&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500781 Louvre, Suaire de St-Josse] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623185919/http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice_popup.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226262&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226262&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500781 |date=2011-06-23 }}. Exhibited as no. 4 in Arts, 74.</ref> Other silks were used for clothes, hangings, altarcloths, and church vestments, which have nearly all been lost, except for some vestments.

[[File:Batik Indonesia.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Javanese culture|Javanese]] court [[batik]]]]
Ottoman silks were less exported, and the many surviving royal [[kaftan]]s have simpler geometric patterns, many featuring stylized "tiger-stripes" below three balls or circles. Other silks have foliage designs comparable to those on Iznik pottery or carpets, with bands forming ogival compartments a popular motif. Some designs begin to show Italian influence. By the 16th century Persian silk was using smaller patterns, many of which showed relaxed garden scenes of beautiful boys and girls from the same world as those in contemporary album miniatures, and sometimes identifiable scenes from Persian poetry. A 16th-century circular ceiling for a tent, 97&nbsp;cm across, shows a continuous and crowded hunting scene; it was apparently looted by the army of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in his invasion of Persia in 1543–45, before being taken by a Polish general at the [[Battle of Vienna|Siege of Vienna]] in 1683. Mughal silks incorporate many Indian elements, and often feature relatively realistic "portraits" of plants, as found in other media.<ref>Arts, 68, 71, 82–86, 106–108, 110–111, 114–115</ref>