Persian Paintings and Illustrated Manuscripts, 1300-1650. An exhibition of over 20 outstanding illustrated manuscripts and leaves.
Persian Paintings and Illustrated Manuscripts, 1300-1650
Sam Fogg will present A Princely Pursuit: Persian Paintings and Illustrated
Manuscripts, 1300-1650, an exhibition of over 20 outstanding illustrated
manuscripts and leaves, at his gallery at 15d Clifford Street, London W1,
from Monday 16 April to Friday 4 May 2007. The exhibition is staged to
coincide with Islamic week at the auction houses.
From the Mongol period onwards, the illustrated manuscript was the primary
vehicle for the pictorial arts in the Persian-speaking world. Along with
Persian language and literature, the Persian arts of the book spread over a
vast area that stretched from Anatolia to Central Asia and India,
constituting a visual lingua franca that was understood, reproduced and
embellished upon.
Though the origins of Persian illustrated manuscripts lie as far back as the
12th century, it was under the Ilkhanid Mongol rulers of Iran at the
beginning of the 14th century that the patronage of illustrated books became
an established princely pursuit. Curiously for the Mongol Ilkhans, the work
most frequently commissioned for illustration was Firdausi's national poem,
the Shahnama or 'Book of Kings'. The interest in Firdausi's epic may have
stemmed from a desire on the part of the foreign Ilkhans to identify
themselves with their Iranian subjects' national traditions. An illustrated
leaf in the exhibition comes from one of the earliest of these Shahnamas,
probably made for the Mongol ruler Ghazan in Baghdad around 1300 (fig. 1).
It shows the Iranian prince and commander Rustam, depicted in Mongol dress,
seated in a tent, receiving the commander of the Arab army, Sa'd ibn Waqqas.
Many of the dynastic and artistic concerns of the Mongol rulers were taken
up in the 15th century by the Timurid rulers of Iran, the sons and grandsons
of the Central Asian conqueror Timur. Like the Ilkhans before them, the
Timurids showed a particular interest in commissioning historical works
which sought to give their ruler a sound historical pedigree. Among the most
famous of these was a universal history, the Majma' al-Tawarikh or
'Collection of Histories'. Commissioned by Timur's son, Shahrukh, it was
written in imitation of the Mongol universal history the Jami' al-Tawarikh
and gave an account of the history of the world from its beginning to the
year 1427, encompassing Biblical, Iranian, Islamic as well as Chinese
history. Two leaves from one of the large illustrated copies made in
Shahrukh's reign depicting the Iranian king Gushtasp Enthroned and the
Qur'anic episode of the Destruction of the Tribe of 'Ad are included in the
exhibition (fig. 2). The large dimensions, 42 x 23 cm, are a testament to
the work's imperial ambitions.
During the 15th century, especially at the cultivated courts of rulers like
Sultan Husayn Bayqara, the mystical and lyrical tendencies in Persian
painting and poetry became heightened. Illustrated copies of mystical
romances such as the Khamsa or 'Quintet' by Nizami (fig. 3), or Amir Khusraw
Dihlavi's work of the same name, became popular alongside the traditional
epic and historical subjects. The standards set by the rulers of the 15th
century were perpetuated at the Safavid court of Iran, as well as centres of
commercial manuscript production, the undisputed centre of which was Shiraz.
The exhibition includes several illustrated versions of the Khamsa in the form of leaves from a late 15th century copy in the vigorous 'Turkman' style, as well as two complete
copies from mid 16th century Shiraz. One of these was illustrated by the
most accomplished Shiraz painter of the day, identified by Basil Robinson as
'Artist C' (figs 4 & 5). The illustrated Khamsa is a showpiece for this
artist's love of dazzling tiled interiors and luxurious detail, and his
skill in composition and expressive portraiture. The five beautifully
preserved paintings in a copy of Amir Khusraw Dihlavi's Khamsa are a superb
example of delicacy and lyricism that Persian painting was capable of in the
second half of the 16th century (fig 6). Particularly touching is a
painting from the story of Layla and Majnun, in which Majnun's father is
shown in search of his son whose love for Layla has led him to seek solace
amongst the wild animals in the wilderness.
The 17th century saw new directions in Persian painting and artistic tastes
as single page paintings and drawings became increasingly popular. Shah
'Abbas' new capital at Isfahan, home to pioneering artists and draughtsmen
like the eccentric Riza 'Abbasi, was the centre of these developments.
Despite the popularity of single pages and albums, painting never became
divorced from manuscript illustration. Artists like Mu'in Musavvir, one of
the pupils of Riza 'Abbasi, continued to work on illustrating copies of
Firdausi's Shahnama commissioned by high-ranking patrons. An illustrated
copy of the epic Garshaspnama is a witness to the continued excellence of
manuscript illustration in the 17th century (fig. 7). Dated 1613 and
recording the name of the patron as well as the scribe, the manuscript
contains 22 paintings in the style of Riza 'Abbasi, probably executed by his
outstanding pupil, Malik Husayn al-Isfahani. Among the remarkable aspects
of the fluid and inventive illustrations are the depiction of idol
worshippers in a temple as Europeans and the 'updating' of the battle scenes
to include muskets and cannons.
The spread of Persian language, literature and painting accompanied the
expansion of Islam in India. Though the Mughal emperors themselves did not
commission copies of the Shahnama, illustrated copies of the work were
popular among the Indo-Persian nobility, who probably regarded them as
emblems of status and sophistication. The exhibition includes one of the
earliest Mughal Shahnamas, dated 1603, containing 66 small, bright
illustrations in the 'popular' Mughal style that combined the naturalism of
Mughal painting with the colourism of Hindu painting (fig. 8).
Image: The Destruction of the Tribe of 'Ad Hafiz-i Abru's Majma al-Tawarikh
Herat c. 1425 42.2 x 23.2 cm
Sam Fogg Ltd
15d Clifford Street - London
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9.30 am to 5.30 pm