Rivers of Paradise. Water in Islamic Art and Culture

A diverse spectrum of scholars covers a wide range of topics: from the revelation of Islam in the 7th century to today’s conservation and development issues, from watering oases in the Moroccan desert to the flooded plains of Bengal. Copiously illustrated with beautiful color photographs and newly drawn plans and maps, this book will provoke readers to appreciate and acknowledge the essential, if often invisible and transitory, roles that water played in the arts of the Islamic lands and beyond.

Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom have shared the Norma Jean Calderwood University Professorship in Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College since 2000 and the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair of Islamic Art at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2006. Their publications include Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power, The Art and Architecture of Islam, and The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture.