This volume, lavishly illustrated with many images previously unpublished in colour, features articles by Bernard O'Kane on a wide range of topics in medieval Islamic art. Controversial subjects such as the Siyah Qalam album paintings are examined in detail, as well as major masterpieces of illustrated manuscripts, both Arab and Persian. Egyptian and Iranian examples of decorative arts, including woodwork, textiles, ceramics and metalwork are analysed, from large-scale minbars to ivory boxes. And epigraphic developments in Persian and Arabic, from the 10th to the 15th centuries in Egypt and Iran, are explored.