Part One
ARTS AND CRAFTS IN TRANSOXANIA AND KHURASAN
(A. A. Hakimov)

The period from the eighth to the sixteenth century was extremely prolific in terms of its contribution to the history of art, and Khurasan and Transoxania participated in the formation and development of a new decorative style. The monumental painting and sculpture of earlier centuries, well represented among the works of these regions in the pre-Islamic period, entered a period of gradual decline starting in the eighth century. A figurative approach gave way to the decorative arts which became one of the dominant features of Islamic aesthetics, shaping the style of artistic craftwork and architectural design. This was to a great extent due to the fact that Islam as the dominant religion, unlike Christianity or Buddhism, declined to make use of painting and sculpture in order to propagate its ideas and that refusal determined their role in Muslim society.

Nonetheless, mural paintings and sculptures were still produced in the various towns of Khurasan and Transoxania almost throughout the period in question. In spite of the unity of the culture of these two regions, particularly in the pre-Mongol period, their schools of arts and crafts were distinguished by stylistic features, technological aspects and differences in the choice of themes and motifs. The present section deals with the development of the most common types of artistic craftwork and the surviving forms of figurative art in Khurasan and Transoxania.