Art & Culture Prelims Question

The Deccani Style of Art originated from two different strands. One derived from local craftsmen, including descendants of the Delhi craftsmen, who had moved south at the insistence of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. The second was derived from the foreign Islamic population of the Deccan that included Turks, Persians, Arabs and Africans (the afaqis or new comers).
Skilled craftsmen, who arrived from the Persian Gulf in Arab ships that docked at the ports along the west coast of India, contributed towards the novel aesthetic sense seen in the arts of the Deccan. One outstanding innovation that seems to have arrived was the application of brilliantly coloured tiles to the surfaces of the buildings - in some cases covering the entire monument like a mantle, an effect characteristic of Persian art.
The resilience of the Persian tradition in India is illustrated by a madrasa built by Mahmud Gawan, a scholarly Persian minister of the Bahmani Sultan in Bidar, in 1472.
The madrasa was decorated with glazed bricks and tiles. Complete with lecture halls, library, mosque and accommodation for both students and professors, it is a replica of madrasas erected in the Iranian cities and was probably the creation of an immigrant architect. The main façade of this three storeyed building has tall minarets at either end. The surface treatment turned it into a blaze of colour, now sadly faded by damp weather, since the façade was completely covered with glazed tiles, chiefly designed as Arabesques, but also with calligraphic writing in which each letter is about 90 cm high.

The Deccani Style of Art originated from two different strands. One derived from local craftsmen, including descendants of the Delhi craftsmen, who had moved south at the insistence of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. The second was derived from the foreign Islamic population of the Deccan that included Turks, Persians, Arabs and Africans (the afaqis or new comers).
Skilled craftsmen, who arrived from the Persian Gulf in Arab ships that docked at the ports along the west coast of India, contributed towards the novel aesthetic sense seen in the arts of the Deccan. One outstanding innovation that seems to have arrived was the application of brilliantly coloured tiles to the surfaces of the buildings - in some cases covering the entire monument like a mantle, an effect characteristic of Persian art.
The resilience of the Persian tradition in India is illustrated by a madrasa built by Mahmud Gawan, a scholarly Persian minister of the Bahmani Sultan in Bidar, in 1472.
The madrasa was decorated with glazed bricks and tiles. Complete with lecture halls, library, mosque and accommodation for both students and professors, it is a replica of madrasas erected in the Iranian cities and was probably the creation of an immigrant architect. The main façade of this three storeyed building has tall minarets at either end. The surface treatment turned it into a blaze of colour, now sadly faded by damp weather, since the façade was completely covered with glazed tiles, chiefly designed as Arabesques, but also with calligraphic writing in which each letter is about 90 cm high.

Options

Explanation

Share

Related prelims questions

Options

Explanation

Share

Related prelims questions