ESFAHAN & ART

ESFAHAN PERIOD IN ART

The “Esfahan period” covers a span of about 125 years from 1598, when Shah Abbas the Great transferred the Iranian capital to Esfahan, to the city’s conquest in 1722 by the Afghans. Without doubt, it is the highest point of Esfahan’s long, rich history of art.

Architecture and art developed in Esfahan on three main levels; the refined, the monumental, and the utilitarian.

The fine arts, particularly painting and the whole arts of the book, were commissioned primarily for private use and were produced mainly for privileged connoisseurs. Great monumental structures—like most of the famed architecture of Esfahan—were designed to convey the glories of the state, the power of monarch, and the strength of the faith.

Bazaars and caravanserais, along with pottery, carpets, and textiles, architecture were created with the purpose of economic advantage and social religion.

Regretfully, there is a disquieting quality about much of Iranian art in this period. Cheaper materials and techniques were employed, and quality and subtlety were often markedly diminished. The artifacts of this period work effectively at a distance but often disappoint when seen close up. However, although technically unsound, the Safavid objects astonish one with the opulence of forms and the diversity of designs.

MINIATURE

Miniature in Iran went through a long and complicated course of development, reaching its culmination mainly during the Mongol and Timurid periods. From of historical viewpoint, the most important development in Iranian miniature has been adoption of Chinese designs and coloring, subsequently blended with the idiosyncratic cultural concepts of Iranian artists.

The most important function of miniatures was the illustration of manuscripts. Miniatures pictured the literary plot, making it more enjoyable and easier to understand. Iran’s great wealth of inspiring literature caused the emergence of many schools of miniature painting, each school having its own unique style.

Esfashan was the seat of the last great school of persian miniature painting, at its height in the early 17th century under the patronage of Shah Abbas I. The purity of colour, elegance of poses, emphasis on details, and vigor of individual figure are the main characteristics of this style. Bright skies, the bautiful flowers, and human being is dressed in splendid garments create the general atmosphere of Safavid paintings.

Another feature of Safavid painting is an interest in depicting the minor events of daily life. During the Safavid period, precious manuscript somewhat declined in number, supplanted in part by a proliferation of single-page drawings that appealed to a less sophisticated audience. Artists serving royalty no longer made their living based on the royal patronage alone. Some sold their works to minor patrons and even to merchants, who carried the pages to the bazaars of India and Turkey. Signed work became the rule, rather than the exception it had been in earlier times. This may be because the connoisseurs of the previous epochs had not needed a signature in order to identify the artist; they could easily distinguish the hand of certain master merely by his artistic individuality.

The leading master of the Esfahan school was Reza Abbasi, and many painters of the Esfahan school imitated his style.

CARPETS

While architecture and painting were the main artistic vehicles of Safavids, the making of textiles and carpets was also of great importance. In the 16^th century, hitherto primarily nomadic crafts were transformed into royal industries by the creation of court workshops. The best known carpets of this period, dated 1539, come from the Mausoleum of Sheikh Safi od-Din Safavid in Ardabil and, in the opinion of many experts, represent the summit of achievements in carpet design. The larger of the two is now kept in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, while the other can be seen at the Los Angeles Museum.

Shah Tahmasb admired carpets so much that he learnt weaving techniques and designed several very refined models himself. Under Shah Abbas, the artists developed the use of gold and silver threads in carpets, culminating in the great coronation carpet now held in Rosenberg Castle in Copenhagen.

METALWORK

Elegance of design along with Persian inscriptions with the names of twelve Shiite Imams are the most distinctive features of Safavid metalwork. Delicate candelabrums of different shapes and engraved censers are the main objects of this period. Jewelry-inlaid dishes of copper, which was whitened to resemble silver, flourished in this era to a great extent. Bronze astrolabes were the other metal objects that were produced abundantly during the Safavid rule. That is not astonishing if one recalls that the Safavid kings were notorious for their belief in astronomical warnings.

Safavid metalworkers also greatly improved the art of steel articulation. Steel doors and windows for sacred places were produced in abundance and exported during this period. The notable symbol of Safavid metalwork is a lion attacking or tearing apart a deer, a motif reminiscent of Achaemenid sculpture.

GARDENS

Most historical gardens in Iran have a mythological background. In fact, the English word “paradise” derives from Old Persian pardis (“ a royal garden”). The traditional Iranian garden is usually devided into four quarters by the intersection of two principal avenues. Noteworthy examples of this type are Hasht Behests, Chehel Sotun in Isfahan, planted during the Safavid period, and Fin Garden in kashan. The finest of the Safavid gardens was Hezar-Jarib, situated at the end of Chahar Bagh Avenue on the south bank of the Zayandeh-Rud; nothing of it, however, remains. There are few true Iranian gardens in Esfahan today, but almost every house has its own miniature enclosure that usually includes some shade and a small pool around wich people gather when the weather permits. To Europians, a Persian Garden may at first seem disappointing. To best appreciate it, it is perhaps necessary to contrast it with the howling desert that it usually located outside the garden’s walls.

Vocabularies

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opulence	(kemewahan)	elegance	(keanggunan)
idiosyncratic	(kekhasan)	distinctive	(berbeda)
vigor	(vitalitas)	Delicate	(halus/ sensitive)
splendid	(amat indah)	engraved	(berukiran)
feature	(keunggulan)	Jewelry-inlaid	(bertatahkan perhiasan)
depicting	(menggambarkan)	resemble	(menyerupai)
proliferation	(penyuburan)	flourished	(mekar)
declined	(merosot)	Bronze	(tembaga/perunggu)
supplanted	(digantikan)	abundantly	(dengan berlimpah)
proliferation	(penyuburan)	astonishing	(ajaib/menakjubkan)
appealed	(dihimbaukan)	notorious	(buruk nama/jahat)
connoisseurs	(pakar)	notable	(patutdicatat/diperhatikan)
epochs	(abad/zaman)	hitherto	(sampai saat ini)
distinguish	(membedakan)	the summit	(puncak)
merely	(semata-mata)	weaving	(kain tenun)
hitherto	(sampai saat ini)	thread	benang/ serabut
the summit	(puncak)	coronation	(penobatan)