From jacket flap:
This magnificent book is a pictorial survey of some of the most important artistic pieces surviving from the Islamic world of the period between the tenth and eighteenth centuries. Work from many countries is represented, but throughout the period there is a strong unity of artistic feeling and craftsmanship. The art of the Hellenistic world and the ancient civilisations of the Near East contributed to the formation of Islamic art, and China and Europe played their part in its development. Nevertheless, the Islamic people transformed these diverse elements into an art that is simple and direct as well as original.
From Persia there come pottery, silk fabrics, carpets, and two famous miniatures; from Turkey pottery, textiles and carpets; from India a richly-woven carpet; from Egypt and Syria pottery; from Spain ceramics and Hispano-Mauresque pottery and textiles. The plates portraying these beautiful objects are printed in four and five colours, as near facsimile to the originals as possible.
