Deborah,
The 3 vol. set The Grove encyclopedia of Islamic art and architecture / 
edited by Jonathan M. Bloom and Sheila S. Blair, has a nice bibliography 
in v.3 under the heading "subject matter" ( referred from 
iconography!).  There is the following section on p.246-247.: VIII: The 
Natural World; and in the bibliography a section on "Nature, Landscape, 
& Animals", p. 251.

While I did not consult the following titles, all have an added subject 
heading of islamic art and symbolism:

Image and meaning in Islamic art / edited by Robert Hillenbrand.  London 
: Altajir Trust, 2005.

Barry, Michael A., 1948-  Figurative art in medieval Islam : and the 
riddle of Bihzâd of Herât (1465-1535) /  Paris : Flammarion ; [New York] 
: Distributed in North America by Rizzoli International, 2004.

Splendors of Islam : architecture, decoration, and design / by Dominique 
Clevenot.  New York : Vendome Press, 2000.

 1400 years of Islamic art : a descriptive catalogue / Géza Fehérvári & 
Yasin H. Safadi. London : Khalili Gallery, 1981.

And from Art Abstracts:
When Is a Bird a Bird? Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 
v. 153 no3 (September 2009) p. 247-53 Journal Code: Proc Am Philos Soc. 
Abstract:The writer discusses representation and abstraction in the 
history of Islamic art. Focusing on artefacts in which bird-like forms 
and patterns can be discerned, he attempts to provide a cultural 
explanation for an apparent shift in Islamic art from specific 
representation to abstraction and then back to representation during the 
eighth to tenth centuries. He also considers the possibility that the 
discernment of representations of birds and other living things in 
Islamic art may have more to do with the viewer's intentions than it 
does with those of the artist.

Also there is a great web site: Discover Islamic Art (Museum with No 
Frontiers) http://www.discoverislamicart.org/index.php.  You can search 
the database by birds to retrieve images and documentation. Whether the 
documentation goes into matters of iconography or symbolism, I can't 
say.  The item I happened to look at did have a long essay with 
bibliographic references.  But I didn't read it for content.

Jet Prendeville, Art/Architecture Librarian
Brown Fine Arts Library, Fondren Library
Rice University, Houston, TX
[log in to unmask]

Debby Aframe wrote:
>
>      
>
>     A student doing a project on Islamic art is looking for the 
> symbolism of birds in Islamic Art. We have many resources for 
> symbolism in Chinese and Japanese art, but nothing for Islamic art.  
> Does anyone know of any good resources?  Thank you in advance for your 
> collective wisdom!
>
> Debby
>
>  
>
> /Deborah Smock Aframe/
>
> /Librarian/
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> / /
>
> WORCESTER ART MUSEUM
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