Wrong Pattern, Wrong Place

Are islamic geometric patterns specific or generic?

Some patterns can be found across the islamic world, across the centuries. Below are some examples of the same (sixfold) pattern appearing in different eras, locations, and materials:

top left & top middle are two paintings by Ludwig Deutsch, showing scholars in Cairo (late 19th & early 20th century). The door panels in both paintings have our ubiquitous sixfold pattern. Top right is a large ceramic panel, now in the Islamic Art Museum in Istanbul. Below left: the same pattern done to a much, much smaller scale on metalwork. Bottom middle: in the Alhambra in Granada. And bottom right, a farsi (bootleg) edition of my book “Islamic Geometric Patterns”

There are other ubiquitous patterns, the only way you would be able to determine era and location would be by seeing the material in which it was made. The pattern on its o…