“Art has to endow all the objects with which man naturally surrounds himself – a house, a fountain, a drinking vessel, a garment, a carpet – with the perfection each object can posses according to its own nature. Islamic art does not add something alien to the objects that it shapes; it merely brings out their essential qualities.”

 This quotation is taken from an explanation of Islamic art that I read here.  I discovered it through Stratford Caldecott’s blog.