9 Mimetic Geometries
Probably no form is more readily associated with Islamic art than the
intertwined polyhedral isometric (evenly spaced) geometry embellishing
diverse objects, from the intricate mother-of-pearl inlay on a backgammon
board to the colorful tilework of Central Asian tombs. Such geometries
have been commonplace from Spain to India, Central Asia to Africa from
approximately the eleventh century into the modern era; they remain
ubiquitous today as the signal of Islamicity, whether in the design of the
Aga Khan Museum in Toronto or at Rabat Airport. While the media and
decorative treatment of geometric pattern changed across time and place, it
has remained a central element in Islamic arts and architecture for
approximately a millennium. But what is geometry, and how does it
express meaning? Is it simply a signal of Islamic hegemony? Does it
come from habit? Is it religiously Islamic? Is geometry a mimetic practice?
Without directly decoding the symbolism of geometry, Islamic dis-
courses suggest an implicit understanding of geometry as an agent of
meaning without a semiotic structure of signifier and signified. Geometry
does not re-present; it presents. As such, its religious significance has
everything to do with perception and little to do with intention. In putting
forth its own quiddity, geometry induces the subject to infinitely reaffirm
his or her own transience. This infinitely shifting subjectivity both enacts
and contrasts the doctrinal absoluteness of God, the one constant of
diversity that constitutes Islam.^1
Despite its visual ubiquity, this geometric agency has been largely absent
from histories of Islamic art.^2 Unlike in the Christian tradition, where the
symbolism of cruciform geometry is articulated through both icono-
graphic images and ritual (such as the cruciform gesture over the body),
the symbolism of Islamic geometry is articulated neither in theological
texts nor in everyday practice. Unlike the post-Renaissance European
tradition of perspective, there is no theorization of the geometric structure
as a mimetic device. The absence of such discourses has left Islamic art
historians tentative in attributing meaning to geometry. This leaves(^2681) Vilchez, 2017 : 54.^2 Necipoğlu,2017a: 13.