Emma Cooper The Rise of Islamic Art Seminar 9: Early Arab Painting Summary of Pre-Islamic Painting of the Iranian

n Peoples and its sources in sculpture and the decorative arts by Boris I. Marshak In Eleanor Sims. 2002. Peerless Images. Persian Painting and its Sources. In this chapter Marshak gives us a break-down of the sources of influence on the painting of the Iranian peoples before the advent of Islam. He goes about this in a chronological manner examining what happens to art in Iran as leadership changes hands between different groups and dynasties starting from around the 9th century BC. He progresses through the early dynasties to the two main contributing traditions, which he examines in greater detail: the Sasanian dynasty from the third to seventh centuries AD and the civilisation of Central Asian Sogdiana from the fifth to the eighth centuries AD. He also examines the interaction of the different groups of Iranian peoples with nomadic tribes who roamed the borders of Thrace, the Balkans and the frontiers of China and East Asia. In order to understand the influences on the Iranian painting tradition Marshak begins by looking at the figural art of the nomad Scythians, who along with the Medes and the Sakas made up the earliest Iranian peoples. The images produced under this group were largely of animals applied to objects such as weaponry, harnesses and other items used primarily by warriors or hunters. It was believed that specific animal motifs would embody certain magical powers and grant them to the owner of the object. For example, the stag would bring swiftness, the panther strength and the boar fury. And thus it would bring the wearer victory in battle and wealth in hunting. In some cases there were combinations of several animals to bring several powers to the owner. These images were very dynamic, and usually made in gold. In the 6th century BC Achaemenid rule was established in Iran and with this came the art from the ancient traditions of Near Eastern monarchies. The images produced in this period typically were to serve the purpose of glorifying the ruler and emphasising their power over the state and thus were very ceremonious and static in nature. They came mainly in the form of reliefs decorating palaces and tombs and were of formal occasions such as the king and his subjects, or were symbolic scenes of the king in combat with a monster or lion, or a lion fighting a bull, which were some of the most enduring in Iranian art. However, there are no known surviving examples of painting from this period. All that is known about painting is from a testimony from Chares of Mytilene in the 4th c. BC, that we know of from a later account in the 2nd/3rd c. AD by Atheneus. According to this source, there were depictions in temples, palaces and private houses of the famous love story of Zariades and Odatis . Different versions of this story were told for centuries in Iran and a variant of it in the Book of Kings (10th c.) became one of the most illustrated works of Classical Persian literature. Although there have been no pictures found resembling this account of Chares, there is evidence of decoration in housing in the later Sogdian town of Panjikent in west central Asia. In the 4th c. BC Alexander the Great conquered Iran bringing Greek craftsmen to Iran and Bactria and thus Greek influence to the art of the area. Also, before the 4th c. Iran didnt really have a type of cult statuary or iconographical tradition. This changed drastically with Greek input when statues of Greek gods began to appear throughout the country and Iranians began to identify them with their own deities.

Emma Cooper The Rise of Islamic Art Seminar 9: Early Arab Painting When Greek rule ended, Iran came under the rule of the Parthian Arsacid dynasty in the late third to second century BC. But Greek influence did not stop with this as the Parthian monarchy highly valued Greek workmanship. Palaces continued to be decorated with Greek marbles and statues and paintings were still made in a Greek style, for example at the Arsacid palaces of Nisa. Arsacid reign lasted approximately 500 years, until the third century AD and in terms of art, very little is known about it in Iran proper. By the assessment of Parthian art new materials, such as stucco carving and wall painting have been discovered. And also new themes the banqueting king or dignitary, the heroic hunt, and scenes of combat with heavenly armed horsemen all characteristic of the Parthian period. Objects with similar themes were widely diffused and appear combined with nomadic features such as buckles with fighting or hunting scenes to bring good fortune to the warrior or hunter. From the first to the third century AD the powerful state of the Kushans from NW India was established in Bactria. They built cities, formed new religious cults, built temples, created new coinage, and built statues of monarchs and ancestors and of gods. This was when Iranian images of deities first evolved, as Kushan gods were portrayed as Iranian noblemen, similar to Indian deities. From this time Indian motifs started to become common in Central Asia and were imitated in Central Asian art. In 226 AD the Sasanid dynasty established rule over Iran, which lasted over 400 years. The Sasanian kings were the first to establish themselves as King of Kings and thus their art is of a royal and proclamatory nature, and could be considered as a renaissance of Achaemenid art in the sense that it begins to be reused as a propaganda tool. However, the themes depicted, the devices and almost all the images are original. One particular feature of Sasanian art, which is prevalent in the sculpture of the period, is monarchocentrism the idea that the king is at the centre of everything. In the sculpture of the time of King Ardashir I, and also in coins, the king is depicted identically to the deity. His political formula was, The throne props up the altar and the altar props up the throne. He wanted to show an alliance between the two powers that maintained world order. Under the rule of his son, Shapur I, new themes emerged in art such as the king and his court and the kings triumphs which showed the Kings distinctive charisma known as farr (a Zoroastrian belief). This farr was also manifested in hunting scenes. One site where there are surviving hunting relief scenes is at Taq-I Bustan where there is a pair of vaulted niches cut into the rock decorated with high relief statues and low relief friezes. The styles of these reliefs are very classical in terms of sculptural technique and use a conventional method of conveying space and time. In a site known as Dar Gaz, at Khurasan, excavated in 1994, stucco reliefs have been found dating to around 420-440 AD in a manor type house, which depict the life of the Sasanian aristocracy. This includes portraits of the inhabitants, worshippers, battle, hunting and feasting scenes illustrating the habits of the nobility. An important point, Marshak notes is that in the examples of art found, there is almost a complete exclusion of historical or literary subject matter. In terms of Sasanian painting, very little is known of in Iran. There is a written source from the 4th century by Ammianus Marcellinus explaining that the usual subjects in Persian painting were of war and killing of animals. There is a very fragmentary example of this in Susa a 4th century mural of a hunter on horseback against an ultramarine background. It only seems to be large scale works which

Emma Cooper The Rise of Islamic Art Seminar 9: Early Arab Painting remain, even in a fragmentary state. On a smaller scale, all that is known is from documentary evidence, the clearest of which from a person named Mani the founder of a new religion in the 3rd century and also a well known painter of the time. He was said to have illustrated his own doctrine; the Arzhang but only a small series of later manuscript fragments from Chinese Turkestan which would have been similar to the Manichean illustrated texts have been found. There is also documentary evidence about the illustration of a set of animal tales of Indian origin which were translated into Arabic in the mid-8th but at this point it seemed that the tradition of illustrating books was still in the earliest stages. The best examples of surviving Sasanian painting tend to be found on painted objects, which still seem to have quite a classical nature to them in terms of subject and stylistic features. The best known examples of Sasanian art, of which there is a large number, is silverware, on which figural compositions were an essential feature. Typically these would be in the form of shallow bowls with compositions in relief mostly of hunting scenes. As there are so many examples of these dishes, it is unlikely that they were all for us in the Kings palace and it is probably that they were given as gifts to bring good fortune and happiness to the owner. The differences in the styles of these dishes are therefore due to different schools of craftsmen in different areas where they were made. Therefore there were not many alterations in style from the 3rd to the 5th centuries as the workmanship was handed down from craftsman to craftsman in a continuous renewal. In later Sasanian times, the royal hunting dishes become less common and more allegorical and symbolic compositions on dishes, bowls and ewers become more frequent and more complicated. All the images were intended to glorify the ruler in some way and bring him good fortune. At this time we also see one unusual example of an invented literary narrative being illustrated that we do not see in previous times. This is the story of the 5th c. legendary hero, Varahran V known as Bahran Gur and his concubine Azada which became especially popular after 628 AD when the Sasanian dynasty was suffering and the Iranians wanted to look back to their glorious past instead of concentrating on the troubles of their times. The lands to the east of Iran, the Kushan Empire, came under Iranian cultural influence in the 3rd c. when the Sasanian King vanquished the empire. However, in the 4th c. it was turned into a vassal state and became an appenage of the Sasanian princes. The Kushano-Sasanian art that developed from this was often of deities depicted as enthroned Sasanian kings on coinage and dishes. However, in the 4th or 5th c. the Sasanians lost the Kushan lands to the nomad tribes and for the following few centuries there was a continuing power struggle between the nomads, the Iranian forces and the Turks but by the 7th c. the Turks occupied all the lands east of Iran up to the Indian borders. From the 4th to the 7th c. the art that evolved combined elements of Kushan, Greco-Bactrian, Guptan Indian and Sasanian elements. An example of this is a type of silverware known as Bactrian which was a silver bowl shaped like a segment of a sphere which was decorated on the exterior. The relief style generally traced back to Greek models but always incorporated a feature of Kushan, late Roman or Sasanian art. Marshak also looks briefly at Buddhist-influenced art of Iran. Buddhist influence came into Iran along the silk route, which connected Central Asia, China and India with Iran and the west. Along this route Buddhist monastic communities built caves and sanctuaries with wall paintings. In these, the Buddha and holy beings were usually represented in conformity with the canonical iconography of Indian origin but the local participants depicted were generally done in a local style. In

Emma Cooper The Rise of Islamic Art Seminar 9: Early Arab Painting Buddhist areas taken over by the Iranians such as Tokharistan, the representation of deities was plentiful as the worship of images was common practice. Greek deities were modified under the influence of the Sasanian mode of representing monarchs. Unlike in earlier Sasanian art, there was no god-king partnership in these local cults but instead the deities were represented as sovereigns. This art was characterised by the presence of Sasanian techniques and details but the ideas inspiring the patrons and artists was very un-Sasanian in nature with the idea of monarchocentrism being absent and a strong emphasis on deity worship. The other main cultural influence of Iranian art was that of the civilisation of Sogdiana, which is often mistakenly regarded as a variant of Sasanian art. In the second half of the 6th c. Sogdiana was part of the Achaemenid Empire but local traditions were deep rooted and so Iranian cultural influence failed to affect the area deeply. The Sogdians held much closer ties with Bactria and Khuwarazm. In the 4th c. Sogdiana, and its capital Samarqand were occupied by Alexander the Great which was frequently attested by popular rebellions which were time and time again overwhelmed and so Sogdian emigrants settled further and further east. By around 300 AD Sogdian merchants controlled the silk route and Upper Indus pathways. When nomadic tribes, such as the Huns, seized Sogdian power in 4th c. the affluence still managed to continue despite the constant changes of power until 658 when Sogdiana recognized Chinas protectorate but gained there own independence. Soon after this, the Arabs mounted offensives against Sogdian domains and were revolted several times and thus the pace of Islamicisation was a slow one, until conversions began in the mid 8th century. Prior to this, Sogdiana had never been a strong military power and had always been divided in to several city states and so in terms of art the patronage did not come from wealthy monarchs like in Sasanian areas, but in the form of landlords, landowners and city partricians and so were on a smaller scale. In the late 4th to 5th century the rapid development of Sogdian art began, with painting and sculpture generally quite Hellenistic in style and architecture continuing the ancient Near Eastern tradition. Specifically the development is traced from the erection of the temple at JarTepe. The surviving painting from this site starts with the faade wall which comprises a niche with a repeat tulip design within lozenges which perhaps contained a sculpture with worshippers painted on either side who are frontal with profile heads and Parthian or Kushan clothes. Below them is an ornamental frieze the only classical element. On the interior there are two entrances to the cella for the two resident deities who are a god and goddess on the back wall seated on thrones with lions as supports. Around them are images of the donor couple, and standing and dancing figures with hunters below. The throne is the only Hellenistic image, and the general theme of music, dancing and hunting continues the old idea of good fortune and happiness perhaps in this case as rewards from the gods. The subsequent development of Sogdian painting can be traced from the city of Panjikent founded in the 5th century and abandoned in around 780, which is about 60 km east of Samarqand. Although it was small in comparison with other central asian cities, it included a citadel, two temples, bazaars and private housing. A 5th c. painting of a goddess seated on a throne with several donors resembles the murals from Jar-Tepe but in this case the workmanship is much finer. The way volume is conveyed, the colour scheme and the ornament of the lower frieze is Hellenistic in style but the posture of the goddess and the throne relate to Kushano-Sasanian standards. In the early 6th century the colour schemes become warmer, perhaps using

Emma Cooper The Rise of Islamic Art Seminar 9: Early Arab Painting an Achaemenid prototype typified by the woven parallel of the Pazyryk carpet. Also Indian features begin to be found in a mixture of Greek and Sasanian figural elements that characterized Sogdian art at this time. From the 6th to the 8th centuries painted scenes of worship of different gods appear in temples, palaces and dwellings in cities such as Panjikent and Samarqand. These borrow from existing images as well as creating new iconography which draws on motifs and schemes from Greek, Indian and Sasanian art. Theatrical figures of musicians, actors and dancers are frequently portrayed and scenes of feasting and worshippers are only shown in the proximity of deities. In the 7th century the populace of Samarqand demanded reverance for gods from its neighbours and the cults of specific deities began to grow resulting in an extensive array of painting in both palatial and modest housing and by the 8th c. a third of dwellings were decorated with murals. In Panjikent, Markash has divided the paintings discovered into three categories. The first category is typical of Sogdian and Tokharistan painting and are the largest paintings of around 3m high, primarily of gods. The second category is generally of heroes, noblemen and city partricians about 1m high. The third category comprises the smallest paintings and is exclusive to Panjikent, which depicts fables and tales, usually with animals as the primary characters. Especially in terms of the second and third categories, Marshak suggests that these wall paintings were perhaps book illustrations transferred to the walls. For example, some of the category II paintings were of Sogdian legends of heroes, or of heroic tales from classical literature. The third category were not epic scenes but were of well known fables such as the fables of Aesop and of Iranian folklore and it is quite likely that these would have been illustrated in books or painted scrolls used for recitations and performances. The main problem with this theory however is that there are no existing or surviving illustrations before the 12th century except in Sogdiana. Markash suggests that perhaps it was only appropriate for wall decoration there but it is still a relatively unanswered issue. The painting we do know of in Iran is primarily associated with official propaganda and is not in middle class settings such as in Sogdiana, which is where the key difference lies between Sasanian and Sogdian painting. Unlike Sasanian art, Sogdian art doesnt include portraits of reigning Kings and images of gods are intended for feasting as opposed to being donations for temples. With the advent of Islam, god images disappear from Sogdian painting but later manuscript illustrations of Persian classical literature should be considered heirs of non surviving or undiscovered Iranian illustrative painting if we are to take Marshaks view. Before Islam there was a clear affinity between all Iranian cultures in the early medieval period and many different styles were used from the east to the west and vice versa. From the early Iranian cultures to the huge and seemingly differing traditions of the civilisations of the Sasanian dynasty and of Sogdiana we see a range of artistic ideas, many of which are carried through up until the introduction of Islam when figural images were prohibited and art would change drastically.