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[continued]

‘Iran: The Safavid period (1502-1730).

It is a paradox that the rapid conquest of Iran by Shah Ismail Safavi, 1502-14, should appear as a great national revival, for the army of the religious leader was drawn almost entirely from the Turkoman tribes of Anatolia and Azarbayjan and the ruling elite remained Turkish-speaking and with strong tribal affiliations at least until the accession of Shah Abbas I in 1587. In the cultural field the rise of the new dynasty did not make for an immediate break:* both in letters and in art there was a steady development in the centres previously dominated by the Aqqoyunlu in the West and South and by the last Timurids in the east. The wholesale adoption of the Shia faith** tended towards isolation of the country from their [sic] neighbours, the Ottoman Turks to the west and the Uzbeks to the north, both strong supporters of Orthodox Sunni beliefs.’

***

*(See [next ts journal entry,] 175)

**cf European Reformation, c[irca]15thC[entury]ff

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:] 458

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{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period [continued (8)]}[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

*All this* raises acutely – both for comparative arts and for comparative cultures – the question of why some cycles dissolve around G~-C and some ‘harden’ into a kind of paralysis of function. I suspect that the answer is to be found right back at what happened around C-M~.***

*{(re [[Redbook9:171][19910421:1410ss]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period [continued (3)]}[21st April 1991],] 171}

**[Presumably, [Redbook9:170][19910421:1410qq]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period}[21st April 1991]ff, to last previous ts journal entry]

***[&/or perhaps to the influence of neighbouring cultures on the culture which has reached the G~-C quarter?]

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[continued]

*‘Very different has been the continuing vitality of the best-known in the West of all Turkish arts, that of the carpet, widely exported since the 15^th century [ce].’**

‘The strong coloring and vigorous sweeping designs seen in Ottoman textiles and ceramics witness to*** the confident spirit of their classic age, the 16^th and early 17^th century,**** when their Empire was at its height and they had assumed the leadership of the Muslim world.’

#

*{cf [[Redbook9:116][19910415:0840j]{[Islamic Art –] The Word (2) [continued (28)]}[15th April 1991],] 116}

**ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3: 457]

***[sic]

****2048G~1536[ce]

# – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:] 458

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[continued]

‘After 1700[ce]* Western influence, mainly French, increasingly affected all Turkish art but especially architecture, and Baroque and later Rococo forms and decoration were favoured. As applied to such buildings as public fountains for drinking water, with taps not sprays, charming effects were achieved; but when this style extended to the Sultan’s palaces on the Bosphorous it became no more than a pastiche of the Western. So with painting the work of Levni (ob. 1732) ** illustrator and portraitist, a certain native vigor of folk origin still informs his costume studies; whereas the flower paintings in the Sunbulnama of 1736 (Topkapi Saray Library, Istanbul), charming as they are, are again pastiches of Western flower books, by Ismail, Ali and Husayn. Hitherto the Turkish school of miniature painting had represented a vigorous off shoot from the Persian school, to which it added fresh genres in extensive treatment of history, and the court ceremonies and processions of the late 16^th century. In these and some astronomical works the Turkish interest in the world as observed lent a vitality to a new sort of historical and topographical art which preceded the Mughal School of India. But this school faded in the early 17^th century.’***

****

*{2048GR~1664}

**(sic)

***{2048GR~1664[ce]}

**** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:] 457

[Paragraphing per ts]

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[continued]

‘The Sultan Ahmet Mosque [(1609-1617)]* is the last major work of the classic age....’

**

*[Square brackets per ms]

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:] 457

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{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period [continued (4)]}[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

‘Mehmet’s successor Bayazid II (1484-1512[ce]) built two great endowed complexes, one outside Istanbul of a hexagonal hospital, medical school, mosque, and lodging house for dervishes – in all providing for 167 persons; the second foundation was of schools of music, theology and cosmography attached to a mosque at Amasya built 1481-6[ce].[’]

*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3: 454]

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{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period [continued (3)]}[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

I am a bit puzzled by all this.* It is, I think, fair to say that the Ottomans did not so much conquer Byzantium as encourage its collapse and occupy the vacuum. But that is not the whole answer.**

*[Ref last two previous ts journal entries, [Redbook9:170][19910421:1410qq]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period}[21st April 1991]&f]

**{See [[Redbook9:173][19910421:1410xx]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period [continued (8)]}[21st April 1991],] 173}

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[continued]

‘At the same time there were other forces behind Ottoman culture which affected the visual arts, especially the power and prestige of the mystical orders, in particular of the Bekhtashi. Founded in the second half of the 13^th century,* this order spread rapidly among the nomads and peasants and became identified with the Janissary corps, the Imperial guard formed from Christian boys. The Bekhtashi founded tekkes or monastic houses and propagated a cult combining old Turkish shamanism with Shia and Sufi mysticism.

Another powerful cultural influence was from the Mevlevi** order of dervishes whose patron saint was Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1267-73[ce]).*** With its headquarters in Konya it propagated a more extreme form of mysticism especially among the intellectual and governing classes.

Further cohesion was brought to the urban societies by the Zariye or clubs of artists calling themselves ahi or “brotherhoods of virtue”, a kind of cooperative or guild with pooled income. They were formed of men of different trades and operated to preserve traditions of skill. Thus local methods of craftsmanship survived.’

****

#

*2048J~1280[ce]

**[See [Redbook9:122-123][19910415:0840w]{[Islamic Art –] Dance and Theatre [continued (4)]}[15th April 1991];

[Redbook9:121][19910415:0840u]{[Islamic Art –] Dance and Theatre [continued]}[15th April 1991]]

***{2048AJ~1152|J~1280[ce]}

[See [Redbook9:109-110][19910414:1104w]{[Islamic Art –] The Word (2) [continued (14)][Rumi]}[14th April 1991]]

**** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3: 454]

[Paragraphing per ts]

#{Note the balance of M~#↑↑* & G~↑#**}

#**[See last previous ts journal entry]

#**[See above, this ts journal entry]

[& See next ts journal entry]

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{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Late Period}[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

‘The Ottoman Period (1326-1922[ce]. From a modest nucleus in west central Anatolia the Osmanli or Ottoman Turks developed rapidly first a central state by absorbing the other successors to the Seljuks and then from the early 16^th century, an empire which stretched from the Atlantic to the border of Iran and Arabia. Even before the final capture of Constantinople in 1453[ce]* they had absorbed the greater part of the Balkans, much indeed before 1402. The Osmanli or House of Osman were for some 300 years an exceptionally able and vigorous ruling line which persisted until the end of the Empire at the close of the 1914-18[ce] war. Their subjects included people of many different races and traditions but the Turks remained a governing class. Thus Ottoman art is an imperial art in which craftsmen and artists might come from many different races but, in a strong centralised state, the direction** of the court and the capital was decisive. There were regional differences in materials and village crafts like carpet weaving or embroidery, but the main line of development was set by the court and its styles were copied everywhere. Thus, Ottoman-style mosques were built in Cairo and Damascus, and their decoration followed the designs laid down for Iznik kilns for tiles or pottery vessels.’

***

*{2048JR~1408[ce]}

**[sic]

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:] 454

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{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] Late arts of the book (1) [continued (4)]}[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

‘Yaqub was a major patron and under him the style of miniature art became increasingly exuberant and colorful, trees and plants forming a tapestry-like ensemble for the richly dressed figures of his court.

‘This style, though originally based upon the Herat school, contrasted with the contemporary work in Herat where Sultan Husayn Bayqara, the last Timurid ruler of note, presided for 35 years, until 1506[ce],* over a court at which the arts of the book reached their peak.** The calligrapher Sultan Ali Mashadi and the painters Mirak and Bihzad shone in the circle dominated by the poet and mystic Jami#** (1414-92[ce]) who composed biographies of the Sufi saints and a collection of stories about them in the Baharistan*** or Spring Land,*** the Haft Aurang of seven poems with allegorical meaning, as well as lyrical poems (ghazals).*** His dominance does not mean that the earlier poets Sa‘di, Nizami, or Amir Khusran were neglected and indeed and indeed the best attested work Bihzad illustrates these poets. It follows that the central point of the work of his school was man [sic]; **** but men in quiet relation to one another rather than in action. Architecture too plays its part as a support for the brilliant blue-dominated harmony,# conveying an ideal picture of life.’

#*

*2048G~1536[ce]

**cf [[Redbook9:134][19910420:0953i]{Art Cycles (2 [continued])}[20th April 1991],] 134,

[[Redbook9:175-179][19910421:1410aaa]{[Islamic Art –] Late Arts}[21st April 1991],] 175

***[Italics per text source]

****m~?

#m~

#*– ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:] 453-454

#**[[Redbook9:113][19910415:0840]{[Islamic Art –] The Word (2) [continued (19)]}[15th April 1991];

[[Redbook9:177][19910421:1410eee]{[Islamic Art –] Late Arts [continued (5)]}[21st April 1991]]

<20241015nyp>

[continued]

{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] Late arts of the book (1) [continued (3)]}[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

‘About 1440[ce] a Shah-nama* manuscript, now in the keeping of the Royal Asiatic Society of London, was prepared for him** with 31 miniatures, which reach the highest pitch of romantic feeling*** in their ethereal landscapes and chivalrous battle scenes.’

****

*(Book of Kings)

**Muhammad Juki

***G~

**** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:453]

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{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] Late arts of the book (1) [continued]}[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

‘The miniatures,* particularly that of Iskander watching the Sirens swimming,** have an intimate charm....’

***

*for Shah Rukh, 1431[ce]

**{An old theme of G~-R~}

[See earlier Vols, eg ? II, III]

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:453]

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{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] Late arts of the book (1)}*[21st April 1991]

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[continued]

‘Shiraz had been a pioneer in the introduction of elegant floral decoration into illumination in the final decades of the 14^th century;** now there were added numerous Chinese motifs – dragon and phoenix, lions playing with ribbons, ducks and wild geese.’

***

*{ref [[Redbook9:134][19910420:0953i]{Art Cycles (2 [continued])}[20th April 1991],] 134}

{+ [[Redbook9:166][19910421:1410ii]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] Invasion and Migration [continued (3)]}[21st April 1991],] 166}

**{2048J~1408[ce]}

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:453]

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[continued]

It must also be borne in mind* that two critical factors in the success of a military campaign are the condition of the aggressor and the condition of the defender. M~ is the side of concentration, G~ of dissolution: so that although in theory M~ favours the determined actor, this is counterbalanced by the tendency towards dissolution around G~. Presumably dissolution is worse news for stable** societies than for nomadic ones, in whom it is even more likely than in the former to take the form*** of a tendency towards outward migration: ‘The great destructive sweep of the Mongol hordes through Iran...’.**** In other words, outward emigration is bad# for cities and agricultural economies, but good for nomadic peoples; it may look like a concentrated military invasion typical of M~, and will probably have elements of that on some scale, but it is essentially quite different.

*[re last two previous ts journal entries, [Redbook9:167][19910421:1410jj]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] Invasion and Migration [continued (4)]}[21st April 1991]&f]

**[ie settled? – physically]

***(as in the last 3 centuries in Europe)

**** – [[Redbook9:162][19910421:1410w]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] Periods of Islamic Art [continued 14) – ]{... and the Zodiac [continued (5)]}}[21st April 1991],] 162 above

(quoting ibid [Encyclopaedia of Visual Arts 3:] 445)

#or at least potentially weakening

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