WilhelmHistory

[WIP] Abbasid Harem

Added 2023-05-14 15:47:06 +0000 UTC

Khalīfah at the Ḥarīm, Samarra, Abbasid Caliphate, mid 9th century

I've worked on this illustration since April because there are so many characters! The main inspiration for this drawing is the colorful murals of the Jawsaq al-Khāqānī palace. The mural depicts the pleasures of court life, including the colorful dresses, bare-breasted dancers, and court girls pouring wine into the bowl. Contrary to the normal belief that Islam completely prohibited the depiction of humans and animals, pre-modern Islamic art was full of living creatures in its entirety. Especially the early Islamic art of the Umayyad and early Abbasid periods is known for its foreign influence and eroticism.

Court art during the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) was highly influenced by Sassanid Persia, which was famous for their lavish, opulent court life. Prominent nudity and sexual themes are well demonstrated in palaces like Qusayr Amra and Khirbat al-Mafjar. Although the Abbasid revolution highly criticized the Umayyads' "material excess", after their ascendance to the throne, the Abbasids (750–1258) continued this glamorous culture, as seen by the murals of Jawsaq al-Khāqānī.

I also used various illuminated manuscripts (especially Maqamat Al-Hariri, Kitab al-Diryaq, and Kalila wa Dimna) of the late Abbasid period to show the more conventional dress of Abbasid ladies. Abbasid woman normally wore qamiṣ (transparent undershirt), sirwāl (pants), thawb (tunic), and qabāʾ (overcoat). They also used various types of overwraps mantles (izār, milḥafa, ridāʾ) and headscarfs (khimār, qināʿ, shaʿriyya etc.), which is also demonstrated in the drawing.