A classification for development of Persian art
For a long time, historians of Persian art have adhered to a dynastic chronology. Such a classification has a certain justification, for after a large territory had been unified under the control of a single dynasty which then ruled for a century or more, a certain unity of style was in fact created in that state. But a more detailed study of objects and a precise determination of their dates have shown that periods of change in art do not always coincide with the emergence or fate of dynasties.
In 1970, Ernst Grube, a German historian of Islamic art, suggested a new classification for the development of Persian art in the Middle Ages. He distinguished five periods from the appearance of the Arabs to the beginning of the 18th century.
The first three periods, in his opinion, were common to the whole area dominated by Islam.
These are: The period of its establishment (650-850 CE), the first inter-regional style (850-1050 CE) and the second inter-regional style (1050-1350 CE). After this, in Grube’s opinion, art in Islamic countries follows separate lines of development in different regions. As regards Iran, he considers it possible to distinguish two periods: The art of Central Asia and Iran between 1350 CE and 1550 CE and the art of Safavid Iran between 1550 CE and 1700 CE.
Grube sketches only the most general outline of each period’s characteristics without supplying any details. This important work was written years ago and its ideas have not been further developed, as far as we know, either in studies by Grube or those of other authors.
It seems to us, however, that the periodic chronology suggested by Grube is correct. In his research into Iranian metalwork of the 14th-18th centuries, Anatoli Ivanov has come to the same conclusions with regards to the two final periods. In Grube’s classification, the second inter-regional style (1050-1350 CE) is the most interesting. In his opinion it arises in various centres of Central Asia and eastern Iran at the end of the 10th century, and reaches its full development towards the mid-11th century. One of its chief distinguishing features is its attention to the depiction of people. During this period wall-painting becomes very widespread; its style probably originating in eastern Turkestan. Perhaps there was miniature painting in eastern Iran at the time, but no examples have survived.
It is interesting that at this same period depictions of people appear in works of applied art too — in metalwork, ceramics and textiles – although this does not occur simultaneously in the various branches of art.
In his study of 10th- and 11th-century silver vessels, Boris Marshak, an archaeologist and expert on Iranian and Central Asian metalwork, came to the conclusion that the early 11th century formed a certain boundary in the development of art, at least in eastern Iran. He even managed to distinguish two schools of metalwork, based in Balkho-Tokharistan and Khorasan.
In the late 10th and first half of the 11th centuries CE new phenomena were also observed in the manufacture of bronze (brass) ware in the eastern regions of Iran.
This can be clearly seen in a group of six bowls of large dimensions and beautiful workmanship decorated with benedictory Arabic inscriptions and in a few cases signed by the craftsmen. It should be stressed that the very fact that at the end of the 10th and early 11th centuries signatures appear on works evidently attests to the growth of self-consciousness amongst the craftsmen.
This is the first signed bronzeware at present known on Iranian territory (one should also take into consideration a 10th-century ewer by the craftsman Bu Saeed). Later, during the pre-Mongol period, the number of signed items increased.
All the bowls in question are richly decorated with people, birds and beasts and the signs of the zodiac. A bowl from the Kevorkian Collection bears an engraved hunting scene with a crowned rider – a subject drawn from the Sassanid Period.
The above is a lightly edited version of part of chapter entitled, “Persian Art: From Antiquity to the 19th Century”, from a book entitled, “Persian Art, The Lost Treasures”,
written by Vladimir Lukonin and Anatoli Ivanov, published by Parkstone International. The photo was taken from the book.