This history of Islamic art surveys the magnificent achievement of Muslim arists and craftsmen over 1200 years, from the 7th to the 19th centuries AD. Architecture, manuscripts, ceramics and glass, metalwork, textiles and carpets, with their distinctive subtlety of outline and sumptuous decoration, formed the basis of a cultural heritage of extraordinary richness. And yet under different local conditions - in Arabia or Turkey, central Asia or Spain, North Africa, India or Iran - and in the hands of Arabs, Seljuks, Mamluks, Mongols, Timurid and Ottoman Turks, Safavids or Mughals, this shared heritage produced a great diversity of styles, which the author examines region by region. Also considered is the specific character of Islamic art and its influence in the West, as well as modern developments. The book contains a useful glossary of Arabic, Turkish and Persian terms.