The most important feature of this book is the author's immense knowledge and first-hand experience with most of the examples she considers ! it promises to become a standard reference. -- Sheila Blair, writer and researcher on Islamic art and architecture Richly illustrated ... The outstanding result of an immense knowledge that is made accessible to the reader by an impressive apparatus of notes, glossary, bibliography and index ! an indispensable standard work of reference. The most important feature of this book is the author's immense knowledge and first-hand experience with most of the examples she considers ! it promises to become a standard reference. Richly illustrated ... The outstanding result of an immense knowledge that is made accessible to the reader by an impressive apparatus of notes, glossary, bibliography and index ! an indispensable standard work of reference.

• The motifs and their transformations: vegetal motifs - plants and their arabesques; figural motifs - birds and animals; geometric motifs - squares and lozenges, circles, polygons and star patterns; epigraphy. The formation of order. The meaning of ornament. Principles and concepts - concluding remarks.