University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Availability restrictions: Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable: 12.00 noon - 2.00 pm Fri (lecture) and either 3.00 pm or 4.00 pm Fri (seminar)

The module surveys Islamic painting (mosaics, frescoes, pottery and especially the arts of the book) between c.700 and c.1500 in the Arab and Persian worlds. Major themes to be explored include the interplay between Islamic and classical (including Byzantine) art; the development of the sacred book - the Qur'an - by means of script and illumination; the vexed question of Islamic iconoclasm; the role of pottery as a vehicle for courtly and popular figural art; the evolution of the frontispiece; and the infiltration of ideas from Europe and especially China into Islamic painting. Students will encounter such texts as the Assemblies of al-Hariri, the Quintet of Nizami and Firdausi's Book of Kings, and will study the interplay of text and image, of iconographic cycles and narrative techniques and how the so-called classical style in Persian painting emerged.

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 2 x 1-hour lectures, 1 x 1-hour seminar (x 11 weeks) 2 x tutor's office hour (x 12 weeks), fieldtrip - 8 hours

Scheduled learning hours: 65

Guided independent study hours: 235

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: 2-hour Written Examination = 30%, Coursework = 70%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 30%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 70%

Re-assessment: 1 x Written Assignment to be agreed by the Board of Examiners

Personnel

Module coordinator: Professor R Hillenbrand
Module teaching staff: Prof R Hillenbrand
Module coordinator email rh52@st-andrews.ac.uk