The Umayyad arts, like Umayyad architecture, can be seen as a continuation of the traditions that came before, with a gradual imposition of a unique Islamic identity on the forms inherited from the late Antique world. This process was reflected, for example, in Umayyad coinage: the first coins struck for the Umayyad caliphs that simply copied Byzantine or Sassanian models, soon gave way to the use of strictly aniconic, textual designs.

A remarkable aspect of Umayyad art is its adoption of figurative themes from late Antiquity. Thus at the Umayyad palace of Mushatta we find a sculpture of a lion, and at al-Fudayn a brazier was discovered which features erotic scenes taken from the Dionysus myth. Some objects are quite eclectic, combining a variety of motifs from late Roman, Byzantine and Sassanian art in new and ingenious ways.

Of particular importance for the formation of Islamic art in the Umayyad period was the aesthetic of stylised vegetation which had been increasingly popular in the late Antique world. Designs incorporating endlessly scrolling tendrils sprouting leaves and flowers provided the new civilisation with an ideal decorative scheme, one which avoided potential theological objections to figurative representation while also evoking the verdancy of Paradise. Its flexibility meant that it could be applied to all shapes and sizes, from large wooden panels to small ivory boxes.