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History of Persian Art
Pre-modern   Safavid art 1781–1925 Qajar art 1501–1722 / 1736   Modern Iranian Modern Art

Safavid art refers to art in Persia (Iran) during the dynasty of the same name (1501-1722), a high point for the art of the book and architecture, while minor arts such as ceramics, metal and glass had more or less a tendency to decline. While of course nourished by Persian culture, the Safavid art was strongly influenced by Turkmen culture (having due regard to the origins of the dynasty), as well as Chinese, Ottoman and Western cultures.

Contents 1 Historical context 2 Architecture and urbanism 2.1 Under Shah Ismail 2.2 Under Shah Tahmasp 3 See also 4 References

The Safavid dynasty had its roots in a brotherhood called Safaviyeh which appeared in Azerbaijan around 1301, with Sheikh Safi Al-Din who gave it his name. The Safavids have greatly contributed to the spread of the Twelvers branch of Shia Islam, those who consider the twelfth imam hidden like his leader.

It was however not until 1447 that the Safavid dynasty began to show its political ambitions, with the seizing of power by Sheikh Djunayd. A system of battles and alliances with the Turkmen tribes began, leading to the extinction of the dynasty of the Kara Koyunlu who reigned up to that time over the region of Tabriz, across from those of the Ak Koyunlu installed in Anatolia. Haydari, the successor of Djunayd, was quickly killed, and Shah Ismail, then 12 years of age, took his place as leader of the movement in 1499. A vigorous propaganda was soon put in place, allowing an army to be recruited. In 1500, his 7000 soldiers defied the Turmken troops, 30,000 men strong, and in 1501, Shah Ismail entered Tabriz at the north-west of Iran, proclaimed the rite of imamism (Twelvers) to be the religion of state and had the first coins struck in his name.

The territorial expansion accelerated towards Bagdad and the Ottoman empire, but the arrival of Selim I at the head of the Ottoman empire, which forbade the Shiah religion, and the battle of Chaldiran (August 22, 1514), marked a stopping point. The Safavid army, unfamiliar with firearms,^[1] suffered a painful defeat. Selim I entered Tabriz -- from which he withdrew several months later because of internal quarrels -- and annexed a large part of the Safavid territory. Shah Ismail, whose divine ascendance had been definitely set aside, withdrew from political life, while relations with the Qizilbash Turkmen deteriorated. The settlement of the Portuguese at the Strait of Hormuz sparked a flourishing commerce with Europe.

After the death of Shah Ismail, his 10-year-old son Shah Tahmasp came into power. Not very smart with military plans, he ceded the city of Baghdad to Suleiman the Magnificent, transferred his capital to Qazvin in 1548 and finally signed in 1555 the treaty of Amaziya, which assured an eduring peace. His reign, the longest in all the history of Persia, was marked by the signing around his twentieth year of an "edict of repentance", which introduced an authoritarian religion, forbidding music, dance, alcohoic drinks and hashish.

Twelve years of confusion followed the death of Tahmasp in 1576, and it was not until the arrival of Shah Abbas that relative calm was restored. He quickly signed an unfavourable peace with the Ottomans, to give himself time to establish an army of Ghulams (Caucasian mercenaries, Armenians and Georgians.) The Ghulams were also integrated into the centralised administration, occupying the places of Turkmen judged too contentious.^[2] These measures allowed the Shah to defeat the Ouzbeks and to retake Herat in 1598, then Baghdad in 1624. This reign, the highlight of the dynasty, supported flourishing commerce and art, notably with the construction of the new capital of Isfahan.

The period after the death of Shah Abbas was a long decline, partly due to the harem system, which encouraged intrigue and manipulation. The reign of Shah Safi (reigned 1629-1642) was notable for its arbitrary violence and territorial retreats; that of Shah Abbas II marked the beginning of religious intolerance towards the Dhimmis and particularly the Jews,^[3] a situation which continued under Shah Suleiman and Shah Husayn. A rebellion of Afghans in 1709 led eventually to the end of the empire in 1722.

While the first Safavid Shah followed a rather intensive policy of restoration and conservation of the great Shiah places, such as Karbala (1508), Najaf (1508) and Samarra in Iraq and Mashhad in the east of Iran, etc., thus perpetuating the Timurid and Turkmen traditions, on the other hand his participation in architectural construction was almost nonexistent, no doubt because the Safavid conquest was carried out without major destruction. Thus, at Tabriz, the new capital, all the surviving Turkmen monuments cater largely to the needs of the Shah and his court. It was nevertheless Ismail who made the city of Ardabil (northern Iran) into a dynastic centre and place of pilgrimage, embellishing the complex surrounding the tomb of Shaykh Safi and interring there the remains of his father in 1509. He is responsible in particular for the construction of Dar al-Hadith, a hall dedicated to the study of the Hadiths, similar to the old Dar al-Huffaz, which served for reciting the Koran.^[4]. It was no doubt also he himself who designed his own tomb, even though it was created shortly after his death. One can also credit Ismail with the restoration of the jasjed-e Jameh de Saveh, in 1520, of which the exterior decoration has disappeared, but of which the mihrab combines a use of ancient stucco and a delicate decor of arabesques in ceramic mosaic. Another mosque of Saveh, the Masjeh-e meydan, received a similar mihrab, dated by inscriptions to between 1510 and 1518.

Durmish Khan Shamlu, brother-in-law of Ismail, partially compensated for this lack of construction beginning in 1503. This governor of Isfahan, who lived more often at the court of Tabriz than in his city, left the reins to Mirza Shah Hussein Isfahani, the greatest architect of the period, who built there in particular the tomb of Harun-e Vilayat in 1512-1513.^[5] Described by a western traveller as a great place of "Persian pilgrimage" (as much for Muslims as for Jews and Christians), this monument is composed of a square chamber under a cupola, a completely traditional design. The cupola rests on a high drum, the muqarnas filling the octagonal passageway. Two minarets, now gone, magnified the great porch, while the decor of hazerbaf and the ceramic mozaic, concentrated on the facade, stayed in the Timurid tradition. The facade, punctuated by blind arches, is thus unified by basic decor, as was already the case at the mosque of Yazd. One must add to this tomb the nearby mosque masjed-e Ali, completed in 1522 under the order of the same commander.

Like his predecessor, Shah Tahmasp, at the beginning of his reign (1524-1555) stayed rather inactive in architectural matters, contenting himself with restorations and embellishments, always along the lines of the dynasties which preceded him. In particular, the great mosques of Kerman, Shiraz and Isfahan, and the sanctuaries of Mashhad and Ardabil benefited from his attention. In the latter place, one can cite the funeral tower of Shah Ismail, possibly ordered by this one, but which was undoubtedly created during the first years of the reign of Shah Tahmasp, even though no date is mentioned. It is situated right next to the funeral tower of the founder of the dynasty and, because of this proximity, has a restrained diameter. It looks therefore a little diminished by its neighbouring monument. Tall in measurement, it contains three small superposed cupolas, and flaunts a ceramic decor divided into numerous registers to avoid monotony. The yellow colour of the decorative ceramic is, however, a totally new element. Also at Ardabil is attributed to Shah Tahmasp the Jannat Sara, an octagonal building with accessories and gardens much degraded in the 18th century (and greatly restored). Situated at the north-east of the tomb, it dates, according to Morton, to the years 1536-1540.^[6]. Its main use is still debated, because it's mentioned as a mosque in European sources, but not in Persian ones, which raises certain questions. Was it planned to place here the tomb of Shah Tahmasp, actually interred at Mashhad? From this place come the famous carpets of Ardabil (see below).

Also credited to Shah Ismail is a palace at Tabriz, his capital until 1555, of which nothing survives except a description by the Italian traveller Michele Membre, who visited Tabriz in 1539. According to him, it was composed of a garden surrounded by walls of stone and earth with two gates of a great meydan at the east, and of a new mosque.

At the end of his reign, Tahmasp organized the gardens of Sadatabad. This, like all Persian gardens, is divided in four by two perpendicular alleys and bordered by a canal, an arrangement found particularly in the tapis-jardins (literally carpet gardens) of the same period. It contains baths, four covered walkways and three pleasure pavillions: the Gombad-e Muhabbat, the Iwan-e Bagh and the Chehel Sutun. The name of the latter, built in 1556, means "palace of forty columns", a name which is explained by the presence of twenty columns reflected in a pond. In the Persian tradition, the number forty is often used to mean a large quantity. This little construction at one point served as a place of audience, for banquets and for more private uses. It was decorated with panels painted with literary Persian scenes, such as the story of Farhad and Shirin, as well as hunting scenes, festivals and polo, etc. Floral bands surrounded these panels, based on models of Shah Tahmasp himself, to paint at his hours, or again of Muzaffar Ali or Muhammadi, thus used in the royal library.

• Qajar art

1. ^ Article « Çaldiran », Michael J. McCaffrey, Encyclopædia Iranica
2. ^ Article « Abbas I », R. M. Savory, Encyclopaedia Iranica
3. ^ Article « Abbas II », R. M. Savory, Encyclopædia Iranica
4. ^ Researchers are divided about the attribution of Dar al-Hadith to Shah Ismail, but Sussan Babai notes the mention, in 1570, of an inscription with the titles of Shah Ismail on the facade. S. Babaie, “Building on the past: the shaping of Safavid architecture, 1501–1576”, in Hunt for paradise…, p. 32.
5. ^ Dating of the tomb is possible due to an inscription.
6. ^ A. H. Morton, « The Ardabil Shrine in the Reign of Shah Tahmasp I », Iran 12, 1974, pp. 31-64, 13, 1975, pp. 39-58.