Art and Empire in the Persian World
The meaning of art, philosophy, and religion is to direct man’s attention to riddles, secrets, and questions. It sometimes leads to certain knowledge but more often to an awareness of ignorance or to transforming our ignorance of which we are not aware into ignorance of which we are aware. (107)
These are the words of Izetbegovic, author of Islam between East and West, in which he writes about the importance of art, especially in distinguishing culture and civilization. He suggests that the value assigned to art is the awareness it provides in illuminating riddles, secrets and questions of the individual, her goals, her dreams, her inner life. Despite the politics of power involved in commissioning artwork as a source of legitimizing governments and the rule of kings, art does not necessarily serve the needs of the state alone. Even in propaganda images circulated in manuscripts from the 14th through 15th centuries, there is an element of personal illumination and inspiration found in the works of artists themselves. It is the driving effect of art that raises our awareness of the world, and illuminates the riddles, secrets and questions of our time. Specifically, in contrasting the arts of the book from the Timurid and Safavid dynasties in Iran, I show the value of art as a source of individual illumination coincides with the needs of the state for art as a tool of legitimizing authority.
The art of the Persian illustrated book, which included papermaking, calligraphy, illumination, and binding, has long been appreciated and studied in the West. However more attention has been paid to the style of painting than to the styles of writing, given that painters are more known than calligraphers. Islamic art belongs to the category known as the decorative or minor arts, as compared to painting and sculpture (Blair, 2).
It is not by convention alone that Islamic art is categorized as the “minor arts”. There are theological reasons why Muslims have avoided representations of the human form, usually the staple images for western sculpture and paintings, and this marked them as different within the Eurocentric artistic canon. There is evidence from the Hadith, or saying and practices of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that suggests that the production of images is wont to shirk, the association of partners with God. In creating images, people are susceptible to idolatry, which for Muslims is the gravest of sins. The explanation is that God and animate objects cannot be represented because such images easily become the locus of idolatry. However, images of inanimate objects like the Kab’aa are acceptable on textiles and prayer rugs. Part of the Islamic artistic tradition is the transformation of utilitarian objects into works of art. For example, writing itself becomes highly stylized with the development of various kinds of calligraphy. Yet it is not the writing but the images that are of greater interest for art critics.
The Islamic conceptualization of art met its greatest challenge in Persia. The Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century AD brought Islamic ideas about art to a culture that had a rich artistic tradition. When the Abbasids made Baghdad their capital (near the former capital of the Sassanian rulers), Persian influences could not be denied as the caliphs accepted the Old Persian culture and indeed revived Persian traditions in art and literature. For a century, the empire experienced a time of unprecedented cultural, artistic and economic development, particularly during the reigns of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mamun (813-833). Persian scholars and artists played an important role in this intellectual activity; from the very beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate, they had been placed in charge of the highest court functions, and a large number of Iranian customs and traditions were rapidly adopted in Baghdad.
Wherever possible, the cultural inheritance of Persian art was infused with new life, and customs thoroughly foreign to Islam were retained or newly introduced. For example, because Islam did not tolerate the three-dimensional representation of living creatures, Persian craftsmen developed and extended their existing repertory of ornamental forms. These forms drew from a stock of common images including fabulous beasts such as the human-headed sphinx with wings, griffins, phoenixes, wild beasts or birds at grips with their prey, and purely ornamental devices like medallions, grapevines, floral patterns and the rosette. Nevertheless, Persian art continued to flourish.
By the middle of the 10th Century, the Abbassid caliphs at Baghdad had no real political control over Iran. Local dynasties arose like the Tahirids of Khurasan (820 - 873), the Samanids of Khurasan and Transoxiana (819 - 1005) and their offshoot, the Ghaznavids of Khurasan in Afghanistan and northern India (977 - 1186). In 945 the Buwayids, a local dynasty from Gilan occupied Baghdad. During their 110 years of rule, the Buwayids seized all political power from the Abbassid caliphs. During their reign, the miniature was developed and found mainly in manuscripts illustrating either scientific or literary works.
With the establishment of the Seljuk Turks in 1055, there was again a revival of Persian culture Iranian revival, beginning with the publication of Ferdosi's Shah-namah. The Sejuk period constitutes for Persia a period of intensely creative intellectual activity. In addition to advancements in the sciences, there was a flourishing of the arts. Seljuk miniatures, for example, of which few traces remain, because of the widespread destruction by the Mongol invasions, must also have been extremely ornate, like other art forms of the period. The principle center for book painting in the 12th and 13th centuries was Iraq, but this painting had a marked Iranian influence.
The Mongol conquest of the Persian world in the 13th century brought more changes to Persian political leadership. In 1219, Genghis Khan's army attacked the state of Khwarezm, capturing Transoxiana, Samarkand (1220) and Khorassan (1221), while a detachment penetrated as far as Azerbaijan. In 1256, a second expedition led by Hulagu (1217-1265), Genghis Khan's grandson, subdued the whole of Persia. In 1258, Baghdad was captured and the caliph put to death, bringing the Abbasid Caliphate rule to an offical end.
Even the ruthless warrior and brilliant military strategist Ghengis Khan developed the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Herat, Balkh and Mashad. In 1295 when Rashid al-Din was appointed vizier in the Ilkhanid court under the Mongol empire, he became the official chronicler of the Mongol conquests. On June 19, 1295, he recorded that the Mongol emperor and 10,000 of his most loyal followers publicly embraced Islam, the dominant religion of the conquered peoples. Coins were issued bearing Islamic inscriptions, and four years later the Mongol princes formally adopted the turban, abandoning their traditional head-gear with its non-Islamic associations. This was momentous because it marked a decisive break with the Mongol past and the absorption of the conquering race by the dominant Islamic culture. On the other hand, Mongol authority did not wish the national traditions of the Mongol people and the story of their extraordinary conquests to be forgotten. So he ordered Rashid al-Din to archive the conquests of the Mongols using the official history of the ruling family, known as the Altan Debter, or “The Golden Book.” Rashid al-Din recorded the Mongol past and conquest of China. Much work from Rashid al Din at Tabriz in the early fourteenth century was from his scriptorium, where books were calligraphed, illustrated, decorated and bound and “commissioned for political and propagandistic purposes” (Blair, 55). Thus, the manuscripts produced were largely concerned with the ruler’s anxieties of placing himself within history and legitimizing his dynasty’s right to rule.
Even Tamerlane recognized the importance of art in the building of his empire. From 1387, Tamerlane dominated all of Persia. His invasion of Isfahan alone led to more than 70,000 deaths where the heads of his victims were heaped up into pyramids. However, Timur the Lame spared craftsmen and artists from massacre and instead transported them to his capital, Samarkand, where they beautified the palaces with wall paintings depicting Timur's victories. Again, the cultural production of artists was used for the needs of the ruler and the state to establish legitimacy.
Under Tamerlane, two schools of miniature painting developed, one was in Shiraz, and the other in Herat. Under the patronage of Sultan Ibrahim (1414 - 35) the school of Shiraz, basing itself upon the earlier Timurid style, created a highly stylized manner of painting in which bright and vigorous colors like orange were dominant. The compositions were simple and contained few figures. In Shiraz, there also developed a Turkoman style dubbed after the ruling dynasty of western and southern Iran. This style was characterized by the rich dramatic colors, and the elaborate design, which makes all the elements in the painting become part of an almost decorative scheme. This style extended into the early Safavid period but seems to have faded out toward the middle of the 16th century. The most important works of the school are the 155 miniatures of the Khavar-nama by Ibn-Husam, which date back to 1480.
In Herat, miniatures were more like the early Timurid style, which had blossomed at the beginning of the century. Under the patronage of the last Timurid prince, Sultan Hussain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara (1468 - 1506), Herat flourished as never before and many believe that it was here that Persian painting reached its climax. Baiqara created the royal library of the Timurid rulers, where an academy of scholars, calligraphers, and artists codified, copied, and illustrated classical works.
Husayn Baiqara also commissioned Bihzad. (d. 1535), one of the dominant artists to emerge under the Herat school at this time. Baiqara financed the epic Zafarnama, “the Book of Victory” in which he connected himself with his ancestor Timur, the subject of the epic. Prince Baiqara was preoccupied with his representation and wanted to succeed his father. To achieve this end, the illustrations show Timur’s accession to power, four decisive battles and the building of the mosque of Samarqand. The manuscript served to legitimize the Baiqara’s direct lineage from Timur who founded the dynasty, established its territory, and championed Islam. The manuscripts also served as propaganda in that they supported Bayqara’s military conquests in Khurasan. The manuscript was also taken to the Mughal court in India where it became a prized possession of the emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan in India.
His style is distinguished by more decadent colors, an almost incredible precision of detail, perfect unity of composition, striking individual characterization of the human figure, and an utmost sensibility in conveying atmosphere from the solemn to the playfulness of narrative painting. There is even an element of humor in some of the paintings. The great masterpieces of the Herat school that survive include two copies of the Kalila wa Dimna (a collection of animal fables with moral and political applications), the Golestan ('Rose Garden') by Sa'di (1426) and at least one Shah-nama (1429). His lines are very thin, and he sizes his figures according to their importance. For example, the large figure with a turban is a mullah, or teacher, while the smaller figures unadorned and without headgear are servants.
In the time of Shah Rukh and Oleg Begh the art of miniature reached such a degree of perfection that it served as a model for all subsequent schools of painting in Persia. Chinese influences were apparent in the development of the miniature, The most notable feature of the new Timurid style (although derived from the earlier Ilkhan period) is a new conception of space.
In miniature painting, the horizon is placed high so that different planes are formed. Objects, figures, trees, flowers and architectural motifs are arranged on these different planes so that the artist could paint more significant groups with greater variety and spacing, and without overcrowding. The miniature during this time was also characterized by its very thin lines, chinoiserie floral motifs and graceful arabesques (Blair, 69).
After its capture by the Safavids, however, Herat was no longer the great Persian miniature painting center. The Safavid period began in 1501, when Ismacil Safavi gained control of Azerbaijan from the Aq Quyunlu, and in the same year Ismacil was crowned in Tabriz as the first Safavid shah (r. 1501–24). Upon his accession, Shici Islam became the official religion of the new Safavid state. Ismacil's son, Tahmasp (r. 1524–76), who had been trained in painting at an early age, was an active patron of the arts of the book. Artists from the Qara Quyunlu, Aq Quyunlu, and Timurid court studios were brought together and their work helped form a new Safavid style of painting. Drawing inspiration from designs generated in the royal painting workshop, textiles and carpets were manufactured of luxury materials as furnishings for the court. In architecture, the Safavids commissioned mosques, mausoleums, and palace complexes, restored major shrines, and contributed to sites of veneration and pilgrimage.
The Safavids continued the attempts of the Ilkhanids to foster closer diplomatic ties with the European powers, in order to cement alliances against the Ottomans. As a result of this closer relationship, the Safavids opened the door to European influence. This relationship allowed Westerners to travel into the region and note the various images on wall paintings in the city of Shiraz. There were battle scenes showing the capture of Hormuz from the Portuguese, as well as erotic scenes in Julfa, and pastoral scenes at the Hazar Jarib palace in Isfahan. Inside the Safavid palaces pictorial decoration was used alongside traditional decorations in Kashi or ceramics.
During this time, leading artists emigrated, some to India and some to the Safavid capital, Tabriz, or the Shaybanid capital, Bukhara. Artists also took the Timurid style elsewhere so the objects made for Timurid patrons were disseminated into the Islamic world including Turkey and Muslim India.
Early Safavid painting combined the traditions of Timurid Herat and Turkoman Tabriz to reach a peak in technical excellence and emotional expressiveness, which for many is the finest hour in Persian painting. The masterpiece of the age is the Shahnama-yi Shahi (The King's Book of Kings, formally known as the Houghton Shah-nama) with its 258 paintings, which was the most lavishly illustrated Shah-nama recorded in all of Persian history.
The royal court largely sponsored manuscript illustration as a means of status display. Rulers wanted to show the greatness of their court through the cultural artifacts produced. One of the most renowned manuscripts from the period is a copy of the Shahnama epic (1970.301.2). Later known as the Persian "national epic", the Shahnama, or The Book of Kings, written by the poet Firdawsi of Tus (d. 1002 in Eastern Iran), is one of the longest poems ever composed—with nearly 60,000 lines. The poem recounts the history of Iran from the dawn of time to the Muslim Arab conquests of the 7th century AD. The Book of Kings is a cultural artifact that is prized by Persians despite its roots in paganism. In fact, there is no Persian text, in prose or poetry that has been so frequently (and lavishly) illustrated as the Shahnama.
The most distinguished of Safavid rulers and the greatest patron of the arts was Shah cAbbas (r. 1587–1629). His reign was recognized as a period of military and political reform as well as of cultural flourishing. He reorganized the state, and eliminated threats to his leadership, bringing stability to his empire. In 1597–98, Shah cAbbas transferred his capital to Isfahan, in southern Iran, where he built a new city alongside the old one. The centerpiece of his capital was the new Royal Square, which was conceived and constructed initially for state ceremonies and sports. Over the next several decades, major monuments would be erected on three sides of the Royal Square by cAbbas and his successors. Shah cAbbas encouraged trade with Europe. He opened the Persian Gulf to allow for the commerce between the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Spanish and British merchants, all of whom were granted particular privileges. Trades and travel were boosted in all the Empire. Silk was Persia’s main export, in addition to carpets and textiles. The major imports were military artillery from the British.
During his reign, the art of painting continued to flourish, with single-page paintings and drawings becoming more popular than manuscript illustration. Artistic and architectural developments under Shah cAbbas continued into the early seventeenth century.
Bihzad continued to be influential under the Safavid dynasty. One work by Bihzad is titled “Seduction of Yusuf” from the Cairo Bustan. It is the story of the seduction of Yusuf, who is known as Joseph within the Biblical tradition, by Zulayka, the Pharaoh’s wife. The story draws on the poem of Yusuf and Zulaykha by a Tumurid poet Jami five years earlier. Jami describes an allegorical romance story about Zulaykha’s love, which was so great that she squanders her wealth so that she could dedicate herself to loving Yusuf. In the story, when Zulaykha sees his face, all her suffering disappears and they are united as one.
Also according to the back story by Jami, Zulaykha built a palace with seven splendid rooms decorated with erotic paintings of herself and Yusuf. She led the unwary Yusuf from one room to the next locking the doors behind her until they reached the innermost chamber. There she threw herself at Yusuf, but he fled from her grasp through the seven locked doors, which miraculously opened before him. Bihzad illustrates perhaps the most dramatic part of the story in which Zulaykha tries to grab Yusuf. The image draws from the Quranic story and makes it contemporary. According to the The Art and Architecture of Islam , Jami’s text is an allegory of the soul’s search for divine love and beauty. Indeed, Bihzad’s image is an appropriate starting point for mystical contemplation (57). Within such a reading of the painting, the beauty of Joseph becomes a metaphor for the beauty of God. This beauty is a source of fitna, or societal chaos because when the beauty of God is displaced onto one of God’s creatures, people pine for that material beauty instead of contemplating the real beauty that lies with God. The ornate decorative features of the seven doors, each of which is locked except one, through which Joseph flees from Zulaykha represents the notion that only God can open the seven doors to heaven. In many ways, Bihzad offers an interpretation of a Sufi story about the allegorical union between a human being and God. This work is an illumination not only to the story by Jami, but it is also a creative addendum to the Quranic story of Yusuf.
It’s important to note that Bihzad signed his name on an architectural panel over the window in a room on the upper left and dated it 1488. The placement of the signature is interesting because it seems to be a part of the painting, just another decorative feature of the windows, as if the author wanted to draw attention away from himself. In fat, drawing signatures inconspicuously was part of the manuscript tradition. Signatures were placed within the painting on architecture, a book or the foot of a king. Whether the motivation for hidden signatures was for the sake of modesty, one can only speculate.
Bihzad’s style was marked by certain features, examined in five illustrations: one double page frontispiece with a defaced signature, two other paintings which are signed in the architecture, and the other two are signed so unconsciously that the signatures are usually regarded as genuine. The colors are jewel-like and carefully modulated, blues and greens predominant but are tempered by complementary colors, and a bright orange. The figures are lively, often humorous and engage such everyday activities as building, easting and drinking. Composition suggests a delicate balance of the decorative and the realistic. While people seem to be engaged in commonplace activities, people are used as decorative features of the manuscripts, as illustrations for text. Bihzadian interest in daily activities, variety of figural types, intricate composition, and the jewel-like colors cropped up in the artwork of different regions. (Blair, 70)
For the most part, the arts of the book have had extraordinary significance in the Persian tradition. The different dynasties that passed through Persia have developed the manuscript and the arts of the book in different ways The miniature served many different functions including illustration for books of poetry, history, and romances but the art also served to demonstrate the dynastic power. In the period after 1500 in the Safavid court, there is an emergence of distinct artistic personalities such as the Persian painter Sultan-Muhammad. During the Safavid period, the art is described as a self-conscious art form that emphasized the importance of the individual artists because signatures became more common. The emergence of individual artists that signed their names on their artwork is an interesting development that may have risen from cross- cultural exchange between Persia and Europe during the reign of Shah Abbas. Luxury manuscripts were also produced to serve as pedagogical tools, to provide a member of the Timurid family with a basic introduction to Iranian Islamic culture and to establish genealogy. The manuscripts were marked by opulence and lavish colors and details that highlighted the wealth and power of the court. Despite the changing of dynastic power, the art of the book inspired understanding of the human condition.
The meaning of art, philosophy, and religion is to direct man’s attention to riddles, secrets, and questions. It sometimes leads to certain knowledge but more often to an awareness of ignorance or to transforming our ignorance of which we are not aware into ignorance of which we are aware. (107)
These are the words of Izetbegovic, author of Islam between East and West, in which he writes about the importance of art, especially in distinguishing culture and civilization. He suggests that the value assigned to art is the awareness it provides in illuminating riddles, secrets and questions of the individual, her goals, her dreams, her inner life. Despite the politics of power involved in commissioning artwork as a source of legitimizing governments and the rule of kings, art does not necessarily serve the needs of the state alone. Even in propaganda images circulated in manuscripts from the 14th through 15th centuries, there is an element of personal illumination and inspiration found in the works of artists themselves. It is the driving effect of art that raises our awareness of the world, and illuminates the riddles, secrets and questions of our time. Specifically, in contrasting the arts of the book from the Timurid and Safavid dynasties in Iran, I show the value of art as a source of individual illumination coincides with the needs of the state for art as a tool of legitimizing authority.
The art of the Persian illustrated book, which included papermaking, calligraphy, illumination, and binding, has long been appreciated and studied in the West. However more attention has been paid to the style of painting than to the styles of writing, given that painters are more known than calligraphers. Islamic art belongs to the category known as the decorative or minor arts, as compared to painting and sculpture (Blair, 2).
It is not by convention alone that Islamic art is categorized as the “minor arts”. There are theological reasons why Muslims have avoided representations of the human form, usually the staple images for western sculpture and paintings, and this marked them as different within the Eurocentric artistic canon. There is evidence from the Hadith, or saying and practices of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that suggests that the production of images is wont to shirk, the association of partners with God. In creating images, people are susceptible to idolatry, which for Muslims is the gravest of sins. The explanation is that God and animate objects cannot be represented because such images easily become the locus of idolatry. However, images of inanimate objects like the Kab’aa are acceptable on textiles and prayer rugs. Part of the Islamic artistic tradition is the transformation of utilitarian objects into works of art. For example, writing itself becomes highly stylized with the development of various kinds of calligraphy. Yet it is not the writing but the images that are of greater interest for art critics.
The Islamic conceptualization of art met its greatest challenge in Persia. The Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century AD brought Islamic ideas about art to a culture that had a rich artistic tradition. When the Abbasids made Baghdad their capital (near the former capital of the Sassanian rulers), Persian influences could not be denied as the caliphs accepted the Old Persian culture and indeed revived Persian traditions in art and literature. For a century, the empire experienced a time of unprecedented cultural, artistic and economic development, particularly during the reigns of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mamun (813-833). Persian scholars and artists played an important role in this intellectual activity; from the very beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate, they had been placed in charge of the highest court functions, and a large number of Iranian customs and traditions were rapidly adopted in Baghdad.
Wherever possible, the cultural inheritance of Persian art was infused with new life, and customs thoroughly foreign to Islam were retained or newly introduced. For example, because Islam did not tolerate the three-dimensional representation of living creatures, Persian craftsmen developed and extended their existing repertory of ornamental forms. These forms drew from a stock of common images including fabulous beasts such as the human-headed sphinx with wings, griffins, phoenixes, wild beasts or birds at grips with their prey, and purely ornamental devices like medallions, grapevines, floral patterns and the rosette. Nevertheless, Persian art continued to flourish.
By the middle of the 10th Century, the Abbassid caliphs at Baghdad had no real political control over Iran. Local dynasties arose like the Tahirids of Khurasan (820 - 873), the Samanids of Khurasan and Transoxiana (819 - 1005) and their offshoot, the Ghaznavids of Khurasan in Afghanistan and northern India (977 - 1186). In 945 the Buwayids, a local dynasty from Gilan occupied Baghdad. During their 110 years of rule, the Buwayids seized all political power from the Abbassid caliphs. During their reign, the miniature was developed and found mainly in manuscripts illustrating either scientific or literary works.
With the establishment of the Seljuk Turks in 1055, there was again a revival of Persian culture Iranian revival, beginning with the publication of Ferdosi's Shah-namah. The Sejuk period constitutes for Persia a period of intensely creative intellectual activity. In addition to advancements in the sciences, there was a flourishing of the arts. Seljuk miniatures, for example, of which few traces remain, because of the widespread destruction by the Mongol invasions, must also have been extremely ornate, like other art forms of the period. The principle center for book painting in the 12th and 13th centuries was Iraq, but this painting had a marked Iranian influence.
The Mongol conquest of the Persian world in the 13th century brought more changes to Persian political leadership. In 1219, Genghis Khan's army attacked the state of Khwarezm, capturing Transoxiana, Samarkand (1220) and Khorassan (1221), while a detachment penetrated as far as Azerbaijan. In 1256, a second expedition led by Hulagu (1217-1265), Genghis Khan's grandson, subdued the whole of Persia. In 1258, Baghdad was captured and the caliph put to death, bringing the Abbasid Caliphate rule to an offical end.
Even the ruthless warrior and brilliant military strategist Ghengis Khan developed the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Herat, Balkh and Mashad. In 1295 when Rashid al-Din was appointed vizier in the Ilkhanid court under the Mongol empire, he became the official chronicler of the Mongol conquests. On June 19, 1295, he recorded that the Mongol emperor and 10,000 of his most loyal followers publicly embraced Islam, the dominant religion of the conquered peoples. Coins were issued bearing Islamic inscriptions, and four years later the Mongol princes formally adopted the turban, abandoning their traditional head-gear with its non-Islamic associations. This was momentous because it marked a decisive break with the Mongol past and the absorption of the conquering race by the dominant Islamic culture. On the other hand, Mongol authority did not wish the national traditions of the Mongol people and the story of their extraordinary conquests to be forgotten. So he ordered Rashid al-Din to archive the conquests of the Mongols using the official history of the ruling family, known as the Altan Debter, or “The Golden Book.” Rashid al-Din recorded the Mongol past and conquest of China. Much work from Rashid al Din at Tabriz in the early fourteenth century was from his scriptorium, where books were calligraphed, illustrated, decorated and bound and “commissioned for political and propagandistic purposes” (Blair, 55). Thus, the manuscripts produced were largely concerned with the ruler’s anxieties of placing himself within history and legitimizing his dynasty’s right to rule.
Even Tamerlane recognized the importance of art in the building of his empire. From 1387, Tamerlane dominated all of Persia. His invasion of Isfahan alone led to more than 70,000 deaths where the heads of his victims were heaped up into pyramids. However, Timur the Lame spared craftsmen and artists from massacre and instead transported them to his capital, Samarkand, where they beautified the palaces with wall paintings depicting Timur's victories. Again, the cultural production of artists was used for the needs of the ruler and the state to establish legitimacy.
Under Tamerlane, two schools of miniature painting developed, one was in Shiraz, and the other in Herat. Under the patronage of Sultan Ibrahim (1414 - 35) the school of Shiraz, basing itself upon the earlier Timurid style, created a highly stylized manner of painting in which bright and vigorous colors like orange were dominant. The compositions were simple and contained few figures. In Shiraz, there also developed a Turkoman style dubbed after the ruling dynasty of western and southern Iran. This style was characterized by the rich dramatic colors, and the elaborate design, which makes all the elements in the painting become part of an almost decorative scheme. This style extended into the early Safavid period but seems to have faded out toward the middle of the 16th century. The most important works of the school are the 155 miniatures of the Khavar-nama by Ibn-Husam, which date back to 1480.
In Herat, miniatures were more like the early Timurid style, which had blossomed at the beginning of the century. Under the patronage of the last Timurid prince, Sultan Hussain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara (1468 - 1506), Herat flourished as never before and many believe that it was here that Persian painting reached its climax. Baiqara created the royal library of the Timurid rulers, where an academy of scholars, calligraphers, and artists codified, copied, and illustrated classical works.
Husayn Baiqara also commissioned Bihzad. (d. 1535), one of the dominant artists to emerge under the Herat school at this time. Baiqara financed the epic Zafarnama, “the Book of Victory” in which he connected himself with his ancestor Timur, the subject of the epic. Prince Baiqara was preoccupied with his representation and wanted to succeed his father. To achieve this end, the illustrations show Timur’s accession to power, four decisive battles and the building of the mosque of Samarqand. The manuscript served to legitimize the Baiqara’s direct lineage from Timur who founded the dynasty, established its territory, and championed Islam. The manuscripts also served as propaganda in that they supported Bayqara’s military conquests in Khurasan. The manuscript was also taken to the Mughal court in India where it became a prized possession of the emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan in India.
His style is distinguished by more decadent colors, an almost incredible precision of detail, perfect unity of composition, striking individual characterization of the human figure, and an utmost sensibility in conveying atmosphere from the solemn to the playfulness of narrative painting. There is even an element of humor in some of the paintings. The great masterpieces of the Herat school that survive include two copies of the Kalila wa Dimna (a collection of animal fables with moral and political applications), the Golestan ('Rose Garden') by Sa'di (1426) and at least one Shah-nama (1429). His lines are very thin, and he sizes his figures according to their importance. For example, the large figure with a turban is a mullah, or teacher, while the smaller figures unadorned and without headgear are servants.
In the time of Shah Rukh and Oleg Begh the art of miniature reached such a degree of perfection that it served as a model for all subsequent schools of painting in Persia. Chinese influences were apparent in the development of the miniature, The most notable feature of the new Timurid style (although derived from the earlier Ilkhan period) is a new conception of space.
In miniature painting, the horizon is placed high so that different planes are formed. Objects, figures, trees, flowers and architectural motifs are arranged on these different planes so that the artist could paint more significant groups with greater variety and spacing, and without overcrowding. The miniature during this time was also characterized by its very thin lines, chinoiserie floral motifs and graceful arabesques (Blair, 69).
After its capture by the Safavids, however, Herat was no longer the great Persian miniature painting center. The Safavid period began in 1501, when Ismacil Safavi gained control of Azerbaijan from the Aq Quyunlu, and in the same year Ismacil was crowned in Tabriz as the first Safavid shah (r. 1501–24). Upon his accession, Shici Islam became the official religion of the new Safavid state. Ismacil's son, Tahmasp (r. 1524–76), who had been trained in painting at an early age, was an active patron of the arts of the book. Artists from the Qara Quyunlu, Aq Quyunlu, and Timurid court studios were brought together and their work helped form a new Safavid style of painting. Drawing inspiration from designs generated in the royal painting workshop, textiles and carpets were manufactured of luxury materials as furnishings for the court. In architecture, the Safavids commissioned mosques, mausoleums, and palace complexes, restored major shrines, and contributed to sites of veneration and pilgrimage.
The Safavids continued the attempts of the Ilkhanids to foster closer diplomatic ties with the European powers, in order to cement alliances against the Ottomans. As a result of this closer relationship, the Safavids opened the door to European influence. This relationship allowed Westerners to travel into the region and note the various images on wall paintings in the city of Shiraz. There were battle scenes showing the capture of Hormuz from the Portuguese, as well as erotic scenes in Julfa, and pastoral scenes at the Hazar Jarib palace in Isfahan. Inside the Safavid palaces pictorial decoration was used alongside traditional decorations in Kashi or ceramics.
During this time, leading artists emigrated, some to India and some to the Safavid capital, Tabriz, or the Shaybanid capital, Bukhara. Artists also took the Timurid style elsewhere so the objects made for Timurid patrons were disseminated into the Islamic world including Turkey and Muslim India.
Early Safavid painting combined the traditions of Timurid Herat and Turkoman Tabriz to reach a peak in technical excellence and emotional expressiveness, which for many is the finest hour in Persian painting. The masterpiece of the age is the Shahnama-yi Shahi (The King's Book of Kings, formally known as the Houghton Shah-nama) with its 258 paintings, which was the most lavishly illustrated Shah-nama recorded in all of Persian history.
The royal court largely sponsored manuscript illustration as a means of status display. Rulers wanted to show the greatness of their court through the cultural artifacts produced. One of the most renowned manuscripts from the period is a copy of the Shahnama epic (1970.301.2). Later known as the Persian "national epic", the Shahnama, or The Book of Kings, written by the poet Firdawsi of Tus (d. 1002 in Eastern Iran), is one of the longest poems ever composed—with nearly 60,000 lines. The poem recounts the history of Iran from the dawn of time to the Muslim Arab conquests of the 7th century AD. The Book of Kings is a cultural artifact that is prized by Persians despite its roots in paganism. In fact, there is no Persian text, in prose or poetry that has been so frequently (and lavishly) illustrated as the Shahnama.
The most distinguished of Safavid rulers and the greatest patron of the arts was Shah cAbbas (r. 1587–1629). His reign was recognized as a period of military and political reform as well as of cultural flourishing. He reorganized the state, and eliminated threats to his leadership, bringing stability to his empire. In 1597–98, Shah cAbbas transferred his capital to Isfahan, in southern Iran, where he built a new city alongside the old one. The centerpiece of his capital was the new Royal Square, which was conceived and constructed initially for state ceremonies and sports. Over the next several decades, major monuments would be erected on three sides of the Royal Square by cAbbas and his successors. Shah cAbbas encouraged trade with Europe. He opened the Persian Gulf to allow for the commerce between the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Spanish and British merchants, all of whom were granted particular privileges. Trades and travel were boosted in all the Empire. Silk was Persia’s main export, in addition to carpets and textiles. The major imports were military artillery from the British.
During his reign, the art of painting continued to flourish, with single-page paintings and drawings becoming more popular than manuscript illustration. Artistic and architectural developments under Shah cAbbas continued into the early seventeenth century.
Bihzad continued to be influential under the Safavid dynasty. One work by Bihzad is titled “Seduction of Yusuf” from the Cairo Bustan. It is the story of the seduction of Yusuf, who is known as Joseph within the Biblical tradition, by Zulayka, the Pharaoh’s wife. The story draws on the poem of Yusuf and Zulaykha by a Tumurid poet Jami five years earlier. Jami describes an allegorical romance story about Zulaykha’s love, which was so great that she squanders her wealth so that she could dedicate herself to loving Yusuf. In the story, when Zulaykha sees his face, all her suffering disappears and they are united as one.
Also according to the back story by Jami, Zulaykha built a palace with seven splendid rooms decorated with erotic paintings of herself and Yusuf. She led the unwary Yusuf from one room to the next locking the doors behind her until they reached the innermost chamber. There she threw herself at Yusuf, but he fled from her grasp through the seven locked doors, which miraculously opened before him. Bihzad illustrates perhaps the most dramatic part of the story in which Zulaykha tries to grab Yusuf. The image draws from the Quranic story and makes it contemporary. According to the The Art and Architecture of Islam , Jami’s text is an allegory of the soul’s search for divine love and beauty. Indeed, Bihzad’s image is an appropriate starting point for mystical contemplation (57). Within such a reading of the painting, the beauty of Joseph becomes a metaphor for the beauty of God. This beauty is a source of fitna, or societal chaos because when the beauty of God is displaced onto one of God’s creatures, people pine for that material beauty instead of contemplating the real beauty that lies with God. The ornate decorative features of the seven doors, each of which is locked except one, through which Joseph flees from Zulaykha represents the notion that only God can open the seven doors to heaven. In many ways, Bihzad offers an interpretation of a Sufi story about the allegorical union between a human being and God. This work is an illumination not only to the story by Jami, but it is also a creative addendum to the Quranic story of Yusuf.
It’s important to note that Bihzad signed his name on an architectural panel over the window in a room on the upper left and dated it 1488. The placement of the signature is interesting because it seems to be a part of the painting, just another decorative feature of the windows, as if the author wanted to draw attention away from himself. In fat, drawing signatures inconspicuously was part of the manuscript tradition. Signatures were placed within the painting on architecture, a book or the foot of a king. Whether the motivation for hidden signatures was for the sake of modesty, one can only speculate.
Bihzad’s style was marked by certain features, examined in five illustrations: one double page frontispiece with a defaced signature, two other paintings which are signed in the architecture, and the other two are signed so unconsciously that the signatures are usually regarded as genuine. The colors are jewel-like and carefully modulated, blues and greens predominant but are tempered by complementary colors, and a bright orange. The figures are lively, often humorous and engage such everyday activities as building, easting and drinking. Composition suggests a delicate balance of the decorative and the realistic. While people seem to be engaged in commonplace activities, people are used as decorative features of the manuscripts, as illustrations for text. Bihzadian interest in daily activities, variety of figural types, intricate composition, and the jewel-like colors cropped up in the artwork of different regions. (Blair, 70)
For the most part, the arts of the book have had extraordinary significance in the Persian tradition. The different dynasties that passed through Persia have developed the manuscript and the arts of the book in different ways The miniature served many different functions including illustration for books of poetry, history, and romances but the art also served to demonstrate the dynastic power. In the period after 1500 in the Safavid court, there is an emergence of distinct artistic personalities such as the Persian painter Sultan-Muhammad. During the Safavid period, the art is described as a self-conscious art form that emphasized the importance of the individual artists because signatures became more common. The emergence of individual artists that signed their names on their artwork is an interesting development that may have risen from cross- cultural exchange between Persia and Europe during the reign of Shah Abbas. Luxury manuscripts were also produced to serve as pedagogical tools, to provide a member of the Timurid family with a basic introduction to Iranian Islamic culture and to establish genealogy. The manuscripts were marked by opulence and lavish colors and details that highlighted the wealth and power of the court. Despite the changing of dynastic power, the art of the book inspired understanding of the human condition.
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