Bøger udgivet af Interlink Publishing Group

"Published in Great Britain in 2017 by Profile Books Ltd"--Title page verso.

A timely, redesigned reissue of Rafik Schamis award-winning novel. In the classical Arab tradition of tale-telling, here is a magical book that celebrates the power of storytelling, delightfully transformed for modern sensibilities by an award-winning author. The time is present-day Damascus, and Salim the coachman, the citys most famous storyteller, is mysteriously struck dumb. To break the spell, seven friends gather for seven nights to present Salim with seven wondrous giftsseven stories of their own design. Upon this enchanting frame of tales told in the fragrant Arabian night, the words of the past grow fainter, as ancient customs are yielding to modern turmoil. While the hairdresser, the teacher, the wife of the locksmith sip their tea and pass the water pipe, they swap stories about the magical and the mundane: about djinnis and princesses, about contemporary politics and the difficulties of bargaining in a New York department store. And as one tale leads to another and another all of Damascus appears before your eyes, along with a vision of storytellingand talkas the essence of friendship, of community, of life. A sly and graceful work, a delight to readers young and old, Damascus Nights is, according to Publishers Weekly, a highly atmospheric, pungent narrative.

Some of the greatest glories of Ottoman art are the luxurious ceramic vessels and splendid tiles made to decorate newly founded mosques and palaces by the Turkish pottery at Iznik (ancient Nicaea). Their designs combine purely Turkish motifs with elements ingeniously transposed from imported Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. Over time a more subtle painterly style and complex palette were developed, culminating in the brilliant combination of cobalt blue, turquoise, olive green, magenta, and red that became the internationally recognized Iznik hallmark. Iznik ceramics were highly prized far beyond the Ottoman Empire, and although the factories had passed their peak by the late seventeenth century, their influence lived on through nineteenth-century European imitations by such potters as William de Morgan and Cantagalli.

Ceramic tiles have been produced for over a thousand years in the heartlands of the Islamic world, from Iraq in the ninth century to Turkey in the nineteenth. Superb color photographs and informative text make this book a treasure for anyone Interested in art Venetia Porter is a curator in the Department of Coins & Medals in the British Museum.