How Did Persia Influence Islamic Art?
The short answer is: deeply, and at every level — in the monumental architecture of the mosque, in the tilework that covered the walls and domes, in the miniature painting that illustrated the great Persian literary classics, in the calligraphic tradition that turned the Arabic script into a vehicle for Persian poetry, and in the design of the four-fold garden. The Sasanian and Achaemenid models were the foundations on which the artistic traditions of the caliphate, the Samanid, Ghaznavid, Seljuk, Ilkhanid, Timurid, and Safavid states were built. The subject is part of the broader treatment in the Persian Influence on Islam cluster and the Persian Legacy and Influence pillar. The English literature begins with Oleg Grabar’s The Formation of Islamic Art (1973) and Islamic Visual Culture (2006), Robert Hillenbrand’s Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning (1994), and Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom’s The Art and Architecture of Islam (1994).
Sasanian and Achaemenid sources of Islamic art
The Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE) was the immediate source of many of the most characteristic forms of Islamic art. The Sasanian tradition of monumental architecture, exemplified by the great iwan of Ctesiphon, the taq of Khosrow, and the rock-cut chambers of Taq-e Bostan, was the model for the hypostyle prayer halls, the iwan entrances, and the monumental arcades of the great mosques of the Islamic world. The Sasanian tradition of stucco decoration, in which the walls and vaults of palaces and houses were covered with carved and moulded plaster, was the model for the stucco decoration of the Umayyad desert palaces of Syria, the Abbasid palaces of Samarra, and the Samanid palaces of Central Asia.
The Sasanian tradition of silver plate, in which large trays, bowls, and ewers were decorated with royal hunting scenes, investiture scenes, and banqueting scenes, was a major influence on the silver plate of the early Islamic period, and many Sasanian silver objects were reused in the early Islamic courts, sometimes with Arabic inscriptions added. The Sasanian tradition of silk textiles, in which elaborate figural and ornamental designs were woven into luxury silks, was a major influence on Byzantine, Sogdian, and Tang Chinese silk design, and the Sasanian silk designs were imitated and adapted by the early Islamic textile industry.
The Achaemenid tradition of monumental stone architecture, exemplified by the Apadana and the Hundred Columns Hall at Persepolis, was a model for the great hypostyle halls of the early Islamic period, including the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Damascus, the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Córdoba, and the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan. The Persian convention of the processional relief, in which tribute-bearing delegations are depicted in ordered rows, has been compared to the carved stucco and marble decoration of the early Islamic palaces, though the direct lineage to early Islamic palaces is debated; the processional relief convention is more commonly attributed to Hellenistic and Roman sources.
Tilework and the decoration of the mosque
The Persian tradition of tilework, in which the walls, vaults, and minarets of mosques, madrasas, mausolea, and palaces were covered with glazed and carved tile, became a distinctive element of Islamic architecture. The earliest surviving examples of Islamic tilework come from the Samanid, Ghaznavid, and Seljuk periods in Iran and Central Asia, and the tradition reached its apogee in the Timurid and Safavid periods. The famous blue tilework of the Masjid-e Jomeh of Isfahan, the turquoise tilework of the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, the dazzling tilework of the Ali Qapu, and the magnificent tilework of the Timurid mausolea of Samarkand and Herat are among the great achievements of Islamic art.
The Persian tilework tradition was based on the Sasanian and Central Asian traditions of glazed brick and ceramic decoration, in which the surfaces of buildings were covered with patterned glazed bricks, terracotta tiles, and carved stucco. The Samanid, Ghaznavid, and Seljuk builders of Iran and Central Asia developed the kashi tradition of glazed tile, in which the tiles were cut into small pieces and assembled into complex geometric, floral, and calligraphic patterns, and this tradition was the basis of the Timurid and Safavid tilework of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries.
The Persian tradition of muqarnas (stalactite vaulting), in which the underside of an arch, vault, or niche was covered with a complex three-dimensional honeycomb pattern, was a major element in Islamic architectural decoration. The muqarnas of the Sasanian and early Islamic periods was developed into a major decorative form by the Samanid, Ghaznavid, and Seljuk builders, and the tradition reached its apogee in the Timurid and Safavid periods, when the muqarnas of the Alhambra, the muqarnas of the Masjid-e Jomeh of Isfahan, and the muqarnas of the Timurid mausolea of Samarkand became major monuments of Islamic art.
Miniature painting and the Persian visual imagination
The Persian tradition of miniature painting, in which illustrated manuscripts of the Shahnameh, the Khamsa of Nizami, the Masnavi of Rumi, the Gulistan of Saadi, and other literary classics were produced in workshops attached to the royal court, was one of the great traditions of world painting. The Persian miniature, with its high horizon, complex geometry, brilliant colour, and detailed botanical and zoological observation, was imitated in the Ottoman, Mughal, and Indian miniature traditions and, in the twentieth century, influenced the work of European and American modernists.
The Persian miniature tradition emerged in the Ilkhanid period (1256–1335 CE), in which the Mongol Ilkhanids, having conquered Iran in 1258, patronised both Chinese and Persian painting and produced a distinctive synthesis of Chinese, Persian, and Central Asian elements. The Ilkhanid tradition was continued and developed by the Jalairid, Timurid, Turkmen, and Safavid dynasties, and the Persian miniature reached its apogee in the Safavid period (1501–1736 CE), when the royal workshops of Shah Tahmasp and Shah ʿAbbas I produced some of the most famous manuscripts of the Persian tradition, including the great Houghton Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp (c. 1525–1535) and the Khamsa of Nizami of Shah Tahmasp (c. 1539–1543).
The Persian miniature tradition was a major influence on the Ottoman, Mughal, and Indian miniature traditions. The Ottoman miniature, the Mughal miniature, and the Indian miniature all drew heavily on Persian models, and the great illustrated manuscripts of the Ottoman, Mughal, and Indian courts were often produced by artists trained in Persian painting.
Calligraphy and the Persian love of the written word
The Persian tradition of calligraphy, in which the Arabic script was adapted to the writing of Persian and developed into one of the great calligraphic traditions of the Islamic world, was a major element in Islamic art. The Persian calligraphic tradition, which developed the naskh, thuluth, muhaqqaq, rayhani, and nastaliq scripts, was a major influence on the calligraphic traditions of the Ottoman, Mughal, and Indian worlds. The Persian nastaliq script, in particular, became the standard script for the writing of Persian, Urdu, Punjabi, and Pashto, and the great Persian, Ottoman, Mughal, and Indian calligraphers of the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries all worked in the Persian tradition.
The Persian love of the written word, in which the calligraphic inscription was treated as a major form of architectural and artistic decoration, was a major element in Islamic art. The Arabic and Persian inscriptions that adorn the walls, vaults, and minarets of the great mosques, madrasas, and mausolea of the Islamic world are among the great monuments of Islamic art, and the tradition of monumental calligraphy, in which the inscriptions were chosen to express the religious, political, and personal sentiments of the patron, is one of the great achievements of Islamic culture.
Mosque design and the Persian inheritance
The Persian influence on the design of the mosque is also substantial. The hypostyle prayer hall, with its forest of columns, its flat roof, and its orientation toward Mecca, was a Sasanian architectural form that was adopted by the early Islamic builders and that remained the standard form of the congregational mosque in the western Islamic world. The iwan, the vaulted hall open on one side, was a Sasanian form that was adopted by the Seljuk, Ilkhanid, Timurid, and Safavid builders and that became the characteristic form of the Persian mosque. The Persian four-fold garden, the chahar bagh, with its central water channel, four axial paths, and surrounding walls, was the standard layout of the Persian mosque courtyard, and the Persian chahar bagh was the model for the Taj Mahal, the Alhambra, the Generalife, and dozens of other great gardens.