Arts of Esfahan

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 a doubt, it is the highest point of Esfahan's long, rich history of art. Architecture and art developed in Esfahan on three main levels: refined, monumental, and 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 the monarch, and the strength of the faith. Bazaars and caravanserais, along with pottery, carpets, and textiles, were created with the purpose of economic advantage. 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.

Ancient Polo In Persia, polo became a national sport, played by the nobility and military men. In the ancient world, cavalry often played a a decisive role in battles.

Miniature

Miniature in Iran went through a long and complicated course of development, reaching its culmination mainly during the Il-Khanid and Timurid periods. From a historical viewpoint, the most important development in Iranian miniature has been the 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. Esfahan 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 color, the elegance of poses, emphasis on details, and vigor of the individual figure are the main characteristics of this style. The bright sky, the beauty of flowers, and human beings dressed in splendid garments create the general atmosphere of Safavid paintings. Another feature of Safavid's paintings is their interest in depicting minor events of daily life.
During the Safavid period, precious manuscripts 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 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 a 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.

Calligraphy

While in the West calligraphy is considered mainly penmanship, in the East it is one of the most important fine arts. Calligraphers were an essential requirement for any self-respecting court, and very often princes and nobles practiced calligraphy themselves. Moreover, the prohibition against figurative art in mosques, and an emphasis put on literacy and knowledge by Islamic leaders imparted further importance to the written word in the Islamic world. Broadly speaking, there were two distinct scripts in the early centuries of Islam: cursive script and Kufic script. For everyday purposes, a cursive script was employed, while Kufic script was used for religious and official functions. Kufic went out of general use about the 11th century, though it continued to be used in the decoration of monumental religious buildings. About 1000 A.D., a new script - Naskh - was established. This has remained the most popular script in the Arab world. The other main styles were Tholth, Reyhan, Mohaqqaq, Towqi, and Reqa. The Arabic script was adopted in Iran soon after the Muslim conquest and was enhanced and developed by the Persians soon after. In the 13th century, the Iranian scribes invented Taliq, and in the next century, Mir Ali Tabrizi, the most famous calligrapher of the Timurid period, created Nastaliq, a combination of Naskh and Taliq. Nastaliq is closely connected to Persian poetry and has played an important role in communicating poetic concepts to readers. Under the Timurid and the Safavid rulers, calligraphy experienced its highest stage of development. By the 16th century, Shiraz was among the forerunners of calligraphic study and production in the Islamic world. In the 17th century, it was followed by Esfahan and then by Qazvin. The most famous calligraphers of the Safavid court were Mir Emad and Alireza Abbasi.

Carpet

While architecture and painting were the main artistic vehicles of the Safavids, the making of textiles and carpets was also of great importance. In the 16th 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 al-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 County Museum.
Shah Tahmasb admired carpets so much that he learned 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 the Rosenberg Castle in Copenhagen. As one would expect, the carpets made for Abbas the Great were large in scale and grandiose in design. The "Vase" pattern, also called Shah Abbasi, contains great palmettes, huge leaves, flower-strewn meadows, and sometimes animals. The so-called "Polonaise" carpets, most of which have found their way to Europe, are enriched with threads of silk, gold-covered silver, and silver. The predominantly geometric themes of earlier Iranian carpets were not abandoned entirely but tended to be replaced by plant, animal, and occasional human themes; medallions and Shah Abbasi flowers are the most usual motifs. The Safavid carpets are also characterized by arabesque tendrils, and margins in colors that contrast with those of the center. Modern Esfahan carpets are characterized by a pale beige or light blue palette. However, sometimes as many as fifteen colors are used for contrast and outlines, including several different shades of red. Both warp and weft are made of wool
and cotton, though silk wefts are also found. Sometimes gold or silver threads are used for small highlights, recalling the early "Polonaise" rugs. Carpets vary in size, though large carpets are quite rare. Modern Esfahan carpets bear mostly the Shah Abbasi designs; patterns are very intricately drawn and precisely executed.
Among other carpets woven in Esfahan are Armanibafs made by Christian Armenians with the Turkish knot, and Esfahan mirs, nomads' carpets from the vicinity of Esfahan, also finely woven with the Turkish knot.

Pottery

Safavid ceramics can hardly stand in comparison with the splendid wares of earlier periods, yet under the Safavids, there was a notable renaissance in pottery. The artists of the Safavid age brought about beautiful tile work that can be observed in the mosques of this period. Shah Abbas the Great is said to have summoned to his capital 300 Chinese potters, and the most characteristic ceramics of his reign show the strong influence, and often the direct imitation, of Far Eastern samples. Beautiful chinaware with Chinese techniques and Persian ornamentation is a remarkable manifestation of the magnificent age of pottery that started with the emergence of the Safavid dynasty. New forms were devised, among them large saucer-shaped rice dishes, little octagonal trays, and long-necked perfume sprinklers. Unfortunately, Iranian potters never achieved true porcelain, and the porcelain-like ware they created did not carry with it the strength of its model. Fired at a lower temperature, Iranian glazes were softer and more fragile than on Chinese pottery and developed extensive crackles more easily.

Metalwork

The elegance of design along 3 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 were 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 an 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 divided into four quarters by the intersection of two principal avenues. Noteworthy examples of this type are Hasht Behesht (pp98-99), Chehel Sotun (pp92-96) in Esfahan, planted during the Safavid period, and Fin Garden (pp196197) 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 every traditional house has its own miniature enclosure that usually includes some shade and a small pool around which people gather when the weather permits. To Europeans, a Persian garden may at first seem disappointing. To best appreciate it, it is perhaps necessary to contrast it with the howling desert that is usually located outside the garden's walls. Isfahan: The city of garden designing

Music

Recorded as a World Intangible Cultural Heritages of Iran
Iranian music is characterized by a subtle organization of melody and rhythm, in which the vocal component often predominates over the instrumental. Performances are generally improvised, similar to the use of melodies in jazz improvisation in the West. Such a performance has the potential of producing hal (inspiration) that can transport both the listener and performer outside the realm of ordinary consciousness.

The classical repertoire of Iranian music encompasses a body of pieces collectively known as Radif. These pieces are organized into twelve groups. Seven of the groups, basic modal structures, are called dastgah, and the other five groups, which have derived from the dastgahs, are called Avaz. The individual pieces in each of the twelve groupings are generally called Gusheh, but each Gusheh has a specific and often descriptive title. A Gusheh is not a clearly-defined musical composition; rather, it represents a modal, melodic, and occasionally, rhythmic skeletal formula upon which the performer is expected to improvise. The flexibility of the basic material and the extent of the improvisational freedom is such that a piece played twice by the same performer in the same setting will be different each time in melodic composition, form, duration, and emotional impact.
Iranian instruments are generally brighter and crisper in tone than many of those used in neighboring cultures. However, a Western listener must set aside ali his ideas of the art, because to an ear trained to the octave, Iranian music may at first sound discordant. The most popular instruments are nay (a vertical reed flute), tar (a fretted lute with six strings and a double-bellied soundbox), setar (a four-stringed, wooden lute), santur (a type of hammered dulcimer), and tombak (a vase-shaped drum open on the bottom and covered with a tightly stretched sheepskin membrane across its larger, upper part). Classical poetry is an integral part of the performance of traditional music, particularly the ghazals of Hafez and Saadi, as well as the Mathnavi of Rumi.