Islam and the West. Arabic inscriptions and pseudo inscriptions

Book excerpt: This volume contains four essays on inscriptions and/or pseudo inscriptions made with letters of the Arabic alphabet or with characters deriving from the latter, used in artifacts produced in the West (and especially Italy) during the medieval and Renaissance period. Maria Vittoria Fontana is Full Professor of Islamic Archaeology and History of Art at the Department of Science of Antiquities of Sapienza University in Rome; previously, she held the same role at “L’Orientale” University of Naples. She has carried out excavations in Iran, Jordan and Yemen. The last excavation was at Istakhr and the final report was published in the volume Istakhr (Iran) 2011-2016: Historical and Archaeological Essays (Quaderni di Vicino Oriente XIII), Rome: Sapienza 2018. She is also the author of numerous scientific articles and monographs on both archaeological and iconographic subjects, the latter concerning Islamic productions as well as Western ones that have come into contact with Islam.