The Safavids
Arts
During the same period as the
Mongols and the Timurids, north-western Iran went through a different historical
development. It was here that Turkoman groups fought with each other for power.
The Turkoman Dynasty of the Kara-Koyunlu, or "Black Sheep" (1275-1468) was set
up at Tabriz, and it was later replaced by the Ak-Koyunlu, or "White Sheep"
(1434-1514). However, there was a third dynasty, called the Safavids
(1502-1737), that emerged in Azerbaijan, and had as its leader Shah Ismail
(1487-1524). He successfully conquered a vast territory which extended from
Herat (Afghanistan) to Baghdad (Iraq).
The Safavid dynasty takes
its name from Sheikh Safi-od-Din of Ardabil, who was the ancestor of the Safavid
kings and spiritual leader of the Safavid Sufi order, founded in 1301.
The Safavid order was initially indistinguishable from the many other Sufi
orders in existence in the Muslim world at that time. But Junayd, who became the
head of the order in 1447, transformed it into a revolutionary Shi'ite movement
that aimed at seizing power in Iran. Though the Safavid family itself was of
Iranian origin, the bulk of its supporters were Shi'ite Turkoman tribesmen from
Anatolia, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, and Armenian highlands.
The Safavids were successful
in bringing the whole of the Iranian plateau under unified control, and they
made Iran a "national state" in the modern sense of the word. The height of
Safavid glory was at the time of the reign of Shah Abbas I (1571-1629), who
encouraged contact and trade with Europe and transformed his new capital,
Isfahan, into one of the most magnificent cities of Persia. The presence at the
Safavid court of foreign envoys and the growing number of merchants and
travellers in Iran was later to have a great influence on the arts and
literature in Europe.
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Detail of a silk
carpet from the Safavid period. |
The cultural growth was
accompanied by considerable development in all forms of art. The Persian
carpet, for example was at its finest during the Safavid era. Miniature
paintings, Chinese and Arabic designs had an important influence in
carpet motifs, and carpets became a major Persian export to Europe,
India, and even the Ottoman Empire.
The Safavids adopted
Shi'ism as their state religion, which had an important role in unifying
the Persians against the strict Sunni Ottoman Empire. Two centuries of
intermittent wars followed which produced only minor territorial
changes.
By 1722 the Safavid
rulers had lost much of their power leading to rebellions within the
empire. A small force of Afghans, led by the Ghilzai chief Mahmud, took
advantage of this, invading Khorassan, and capturing Isfahan. |
Arts
The Safavid
dynasty, of Turkish origin, is generally considered to have lasted from 1502 to
1737, and under Shah Ismail's rule the Shi'ite doctrine was imposed as a state
religion. 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.
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From the description of
Western travellers it is known that there once existed wall paintings;
with battle scenes in Shiraz 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.
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. |
Safavid fresco (oil
paint on plaster)
"Attendants at an Outdoor feast".
By Muhammad Zaman
or his atelier, Isfahan, c. second half of 17th century |
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Shah-nama of Shah
Tahmasp
Tabriz, c. 1525.
The scene depicts the death of King Mirdas |
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.
Herat was the great
Iranian miniature painting centre of the Timurid period, but in 1507,
after its capture by the Safavids, the leading artists emigrated, some
to India and some to the Safavid capital, Tabriz, or the Shaybanid
capital, Bukhara.
One of the main
innovations of the Bukhara miniaturists was the introduction of plant
and animal motifs in the margins of their miniatures. It was in Tabriz,
the other chief miniature centre of the period, that in 1522 Shah Ismail
appointed the famous Behzad director of his library. |
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The Characteristic
features of the Tabriz school can be seen in the illustrations for a
manuscript of the Khamsa by Nezami; executed 1539 - 43 by Aqa
Mirak of Isfahan, his pupil Sultan Muhammad, the Tabriz artists Mir
Sayyid 'Ali, Mirza 'Ali, and Muzaffar 'Ali. Tabriz miniatures exploit
the complete colour scale, and their compositions are complex and full
of figures, which fill the space.
Shah Ismail's successor
Shah Tahmasp, himself a painter, expanded the royal atelier. However,
during the latter part of the 16th century, Shah Tahmasp became a
religious extremist, lost interest in painting and stopped his
patronage. This was the beginning of the end for the luxury book.
Many of the best
artists left the court some going to Bukhara, others to India where they
were instrumental in the formation of a new style of painting, the
Mughal School. Those artists who remained turned from the production of
lavishly illustrated manuscripts to separate drawings and miniatures for
less wealthy patrons. |
Khamsa by Nezami
Miniature attributed to Sultan
Muhammad. Safavid, Tabriz, c.
1539-43. The scene shows Sultan Sanjar and the old woman. |
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Painting by Riza 'Abbasi, Isfahan, 1630.
From the end of
the 16th century, the human figure
becomes more important in paintings and the subjects
and treatment are sensuous. Drawings and paintings
have a calligraphic quality. |
Some time
around the end of the 16th century, with the transfer of the
capital to Shiraz (1597), an official deregulation of the traditional
code of book painting took place. Some painters turned to other media,
experimenting with book covers in lacquer work or with full-length oil
paintings.
If
earlier paintings had been about man in his natural environment, the
late 16th and early 17th century is about man
himself. The work of this period is dominated by large scale
representation of seedy dervishes, Sufi shaikhs, beggers, merchants....
with satire as the driving force behind most of these pictures. Some of
the same artists leant their talents to an altogether different genre of
painting - the sensuous and erotic - with scenes of lovers, voluptuous
women, etc. These were extremely popular and were produced mechanically
with the minimum of effort. |
Two main factors influenced
artists between 1630 and 1722; the works of Riza, and European Art. In the
drawings by Riza, the outline of basic shapes is accompanied by an obsession
with pleats and folds, which normally serve to emphasise the sensuous curvature
of bodily form, but on many occasions, reach the point of complete abstraction.
In a country with a powerful calligraphic tradition, writing and drawing are
always interconnected, but at this time the link seems to have been particularly
strong so that drawing takes on the physical appearance of Shikastah or
Nasta'liq1 calligraphy.
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Woman by a fountain
By 'Ali Quli Bayg
Jabbadar, Isfahan, c. 1650-60.
The subject and style of painting here are clearly
influenced by European art. |
A prince on horseback with a courtier and servants. By Muhammad Zaman,
c. 1670-85 |
A youth and an old man
Two drawings
mounted on the same album leaf.
Both by Riza 'Abbasi. Isfahan c. 1620-5 |
By the second half of the 17th
century, when Shah Abbas II sent the painter Muhammad Zaman to study in
Rome, there was awakened a need in artists to find new ways of expression.
Muhammad Zaman himself returned to Persia completely under the influence of
Italian painting techniques. However, this did not lead to a great move forward
in his style of painting; indeed his miniatures for the Shah-nama are in
general banal and lack a sense of balance.
As far as architecture is
concerned, pride of place goes to the expansion of Isfahan, masterminded by Shah
Abbas I from 1598 onwards, which is one of the most ambitious and novel schemes
of town planning in Islamic history.
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In architectural
decoration great importance was given to calligraphy, which was
transformed into an art of monumental inscriptions, a development of
particular artistic merit in the art of kashi.
Detail of enamelled
brick at the Mosque of Sheikh Lutfullah in Isfahan, showing Koranic text
in stylised Kufic characters. |
A view of the eastern
pier of the north iwan of the Imam Mosque, built in Isfahan during the
Safavid period. |
Its chief exponent was
Muhammad Riza-i-Imami who worked in Qum, Qazvin and above all, between 1673 and
1677 in Mashad. The death of Shah Abbas I in 1629 marked the beginning of the
end for the golden age of Persian architecture.
The last decade of the 16th
century saw a vigorous revival of the pottery industry in Iran. Safavid potters
developed new types of Chinese inspired Kubachi blue and white polychrome ware,
due perhaps to the influence of the three hundred Chinese potters and their
families who were settled in Iran (in Kerman) by Shah Abbas I. Ceramic tiles
were produced especially in Tabriz and in Samarkand. Other types of ceramics
include bottles and flasks from Isfahan.
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Early 18th century ewer
Here the Chinese
blue and white export
ware has been imitated in style |
Kubachi earthenware dish with polychrome design of a dancer and a
musician. North-west Iran 17th century. |
Textiles were greatly
developed during the Safavid period. Isfahan, Kashan and Yezd produced silks,
and Isfahan and Yezd satin; Kashan was famous for its brocades.
Persian clothes in the 17th
century often had a floral decoration on a light background and the old
geometric motifs gave way to the depiction of pseudo-realistic scenes full of
human figures.
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Long-sleeved coat, with a pattern of drinking
dandies, from the first half of the 17th century. |
Detail of a Persian hunting carpet from
the early Safavid period, Kashan. |
Carpets occupy the major
position in the textile field, with key weaving centres in Kerman, Kashan,
Shiraz, Yezd, and Isfahan.
There were a great variety of
types such as the hunting carpet, the animal carpet, the garden carpet and the
flower-vase carpet. The strong pictorial character of so many Safavid carpets
owes much to Safavid book painting.
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In metalwork, the
engraving technique developed in Khurassan in the 15th
century retained its popularity well into Safavid times. Safavid
metalwork produced significant innovations in form, design and
technique. They include a type of tall octagonal torch-holder on a
circular plinth, a new type of ewer of Chinese inspiration, and the
almost total disappearance of Arabic inscriptions in favour of those
containing Persian poetry, often by Hafez and Sa'di.
In gold and silver work,
Safavid Iran specialised in the production of swords and daggers, and of
gold vessels such as bowls and jugs, often set with precious stones. |
Brass torch stand.
Western Iran, c. 1579-80 |
Safavid metalwork, like so
many of the other visual arts, remained the standard for subsequent artists in
the Zand and Qajar periods.
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