Safavid art

In 1500, his 7000 soldiers defied the Turmken troops, 30,000 men strong, and in 1501, Shah Ismail entered Tabriz in 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.

This scorched earth policy led to the loss of 30,000 Ottoman troops as they made their way through the Zagros Mountains and Suleiman decided to abandon his campaign.

These fully loyal converted slave soldiers of ethnic Circassian, Georgian and Armenian origin had been deported to Persia en masse since the time of Tahmasp I.

[8] These measures, including the heavy European reforms of the army, thanks to the British brothers Shirley, allowed the Shah to easily defeat the Uzbeks and to retake Herat in 1598, then Baghdad in 1624, and the whole Caucasus, and beyond.

The period after the death of Shah Abbas was a long decline, partly due to the harem system, which encouraged intrigue and manipulation, often by the same new Caucasian layers in the Persian society.

Disintegrated by feuds, civil strife, and foreign interference of most notably the Russians, Dutch, and Portuguese, a rebellion of Afghans would be enough in 1709 to lead the dynasty eventually to a fall in 1722.

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.

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.

[11] 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.

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.

Tall in measurement, it contains three small superposed cupolas, and flaunts a ceramic decor divided into numerous registers to avoid monotony.

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.

A rather tall building, opening on one side onto the meydan and on the other onto the Chahar Bagh, the Ali Qapu pavilion was no doubt built in two stages, according to Galieri, who long studied it.

The plan of this mosque is rather unusual, with a winding, intentionally dim entrance which leads to a prayer room completely covered by a dome and open to a grand portal.

The decor, highly geometric, is on the other hand a little different from that of the 17th century, with a palette dominated by yellow, green and gold, and a denser network of vegetation than that in the Shah's mosque.

Canteens can be noted with very small necks and bellies that are flat on one side and very rounded on the other: an example is found at Victoria and Albert Museum, another at Winter Palace.

This new destination led to wider use of Chinese and exotic iconography (elephants) and the introduction of new forms, sometimes astonishing (hookahs, octagonal plates, animal-shaped objects).

Metallic art underwent a gradual decline during the Safavid dynasty, and remains difficult to study, particularly because of the small number of dated pieces.

Under Shah Ismail, metalwork continued the shapes and decorations of Timurid inlays: motifs of almond-shaped glories, of shamsa (suns) and of chi clouds are found on the inkwells in the form of mausoleums or the globular pitchers reminiscent of one by Ulugh Beg'.

Hardstone serves also to make jewels to inlay in metal objects, such as the great zinc bottle inlaid with gold, rubies and turquoise dated to the reign of Ismail and conserved at the museum of Topkapi in Istanbul.

These workshops produced carpets for the palace and mosques of the Shah, but also to be offered to neighbouring monarchs or to foreign dignitaries, or pieces made on order for the nobility or ordinary citizens.

The village of Kashan for its part was distinguished by a very particular production of relatively small carpets entirely of silk, with a blue or red base, showing fights between fantastic animals borrowed from the Chinese (kilins, dragons, phoenixes).

This last is undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces of Safavid painting, which shows the strong prominence of Turkmen art in the treatment of very dense vegetation, like a carpet, and in the messing up of perspective.

Other patrons employed artists of the royal ketab khaneh: prince Braham Mirza (1517–1549) had an album or muraqqa) made for him by the painter Dost Muhammad.

The artists were always the same as those employed by the Ak Koyunlu, and produced volumes in small formats, copies of the Qur'an and of grand poetic texts, destined for the most part for commerce with the Ottoman Empire (Syria, Egypt).

With the transfer of the capital from Tabriz to Qazvin in 1548, the khetab khaneh was in large part dismantled, following edicts of repentance published by the Shah for religious and economic reasons.

In manuscripts, most often the paintings were double pages with no connection with the text, but images of servers of drinks, young women, princes, and dervishes filled the albums (muraqqa).

A great activity of calligraphy and illumination was put into practice, with a true regrowth of interest for the former and an abundant style, very fine and rich in plant elements for the second.

Thanks to them, in present-day Iran a new art is taking flight, particularly notable in urbanism: Ali Qapu, Chehel Sutun have their treasure-troves in verdant parks laid out according to precise perspectives, such as the monumental boulevard of Tchehar Bagh (or avenue of the four gardens) which crosses the city of Isfahan in a 3-kilometre stretch.

Guardians of the ancient Iranian artistic tradition more than innovators, they carry out a refined and sumptuous art of the court, with an affected manner filled with great poetic charm.