What is Islamic Art

counterpart, the acquisition of a physical craft has spiritual ramifications

and ultimately participates in the creative force of the‘world soul.’^37

The discourses of optics that correlate with the rise of isometric poly-

gonal geometry emerged within debates about broader parameters of truth

in the eighth century (seeChapter 1.1). From author to author, geometry

emerges within a system of similitudes, including the cosmos, music,

brocade, and architecture, that place it in a system of meaning. While

this meaning cannot be interpreted in a consistent semiotic system–an

Figure 25Anonymous,“Example of geometric pattern as constructed with a compass

and ruler,”from“On Interlocking Similar or Congruent Figures.”Bibliothèque

Nationale de France, Paris, MS Persan 169, pp. 121– 122

(^37) El-Bizri and de Gallatay,2018: 161.
280 Mimetic Geometries