Persian Art
Through The Centuries

INTRODUCTION TO
ISLAMIC ART

The Abbassid
Period

The Arab conquest in the 7^th century AD brought Persia into the Islamic community; however, it was in Persia that the new movement in Islamic art met its severest test. Contact with a people of high artistic achievement and ancient culture made a deep impression on the conquering Moslems.

When the Abbasids made Baghdad their capital (near the former capital of the Sassanian rulers), a vast stream of Persian influences came pouring in. The caliphs accepted the Old Persian culture; a policy also followed at the courts of the relatively independent local principalities (The Samanids, The Buwayhids etc.), which led to a conscious revival of Persian traditions in art and literature.

Wherever possible, the cultural inheritance of Persian art was infused with new life, and customs thoroughly foreign to Islam were retained or newly introduced. Islamic art (paintings, metalwork etc.) was heavily influenced by Sassanian methods and Persian vaulting techniques were adopted in Islamic architecture. Few secular buildings of the early period have survived, but judging from the remains it is probable that they retained many features of the Sassanian palaces, such as the "domed audience chamber" and "the ground plan arranged around a central court".

The main change that this period brought to the development of art was to restrict the depiction of lifelike portraits, or true-life representations of historical events.

As Islam did not tolerate the three dimensional representation of living creatures, Persian craftsmen developed and extended their existing repertory of ornamental forms, which they then rendered in stone or stucco. These provided a common stock on which, artists in other media drew. Many of the motifs can be traced back to the ancient civilizations of the Near East: they include 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.

More tolerant Moslem believers were less stringent to the portrayal of figurative art and in bathing houses, paintings of hunting or love scenes for the entertainment of the patrons seldom aroused objection. However, in religious establishments, only indistinct hints of human or animal forms were tolerated.

The Persians were quick to appreciate the decorative value of the Arabic script and developed every variety of floral and abstract ornament. Persian ornament is usually distinguishable from that of other Islamic countries. The treatment of the arabesque tended to be freer in Persia than elsewhere and usually, though by no means always, retained natural and recognizable plant forms. Palmettes, Frets, Guilloches, Interlacings, and elaborate geometric figures such as the polygonal star also occur.

Calligraphy is the highest art form of the Islamic civilization, and like all forms of art that came into contact with Iran, the Persians enhanced and developed it. Ta'liq, "hanging script" (and its derivative Nasta'liq) was formalised in the 13^th century; although it had been in existence for centuries prior to this, and it is claimed to be derived from the old pre-Islamic Sassanian script. The written page was also enriched by the art of the "Illuminator" and in some manuscripts by that of the painter, who added small-scale illustrations.

The tenacity of Persia's cultural tradition is such that, in spite of centuries of invasions and foreign rule by Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Afghans, etc., her art reveals a continuous development, while retaining its own identity. During Arab rule, the adherence of the local population to the Shi'ite sect of Islam, (which was opposed to rigid orthodox observance), played an important role in their resistance to Arab ideas. By the time orthodoxy gained a foothold, through conquest by the Seljuks in the 11^th century, the Persian element had become so deeply entrenched that it could no longer be uprooted.

Persian Art
Through The Centuries

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Persian History
The Arab Conquest:
The Abbassid Caliphates