PART 4 PALACES OF THE MONGOLS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS (THIRTEENTH-EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES) THE ILKHANID PALACE BY SHEILA S. BLAIR THE PALACES ERECTED IN IRAN UNDER THE ILKHANIDS, No Ilkhanid palace stands, but part of one has the Mongol dynasty that ruled from 1258 to 1353, been uncovered at Takht-i Sulayman, southeast continued using well-established prototypes for of Lake Urmiya in northwestern Iran. German their form and decoration. What is new and excavations there in the early 1960s uncovered interesting about them is the wide variety of the ruins of a large and elaborately decorated documentation for them. The range of sources, hunting lodge built by the Ilkhanid Abaqa (r. from archaeological evidence to texts and con- 1265-82) directly on the foundations of the Sasa- temporary illustrations, is useful for methodolog- nian sanctuary of Shiz, the site where Sasanian ical reasons, as the various sources can be mea- emperors were crowned.4 The palace at Takht-i sured against one another to check the accuracy Sulayman is remarkable for the quality and abun- of textual variants and to verify and understand dance of the architectural decor, including carved the limits of two-dimensional representation with- marble, luster and lajvardina tiles, and carved in the conventional system of Persian painting. and molded stucco. Iranian excavations at Sul- The range of sources also enables one to move taniyya, Uljaytu's new capital 120 kilometers north- beyond the description of a single extant exam- west of Qazvin on the road to Tabriz, were begun ple, which may be an accident of survival and may in the 1970s, but only preliminary reports have or may not be typical, to the delineation of an been published.5 ideal type. Following a brief review of the sources, Juxtaposed to the rather paltry remains is a then, I will sketch a typical Ilkhanid palace, first in plethora of contemporary documentation in texts, terms of plan, then the materials and techniques both written and pictorial. One source is contem- of decoration, and finally the subjects and themes porary history. The Ilkhanid period is generally depicted, in order to show what spatial and visual regarded as the best for Persian historical writing, means Ilkhanid rulers used to project the stan- and although one may quibble about quality, dard message of dynastic legitimation and impe- there is no such argument about quantity. 6 Un- rial power. doubtedly the senior historian of the times, and Like manyIranian dynasties, the Ilkhanidswere one of the most remarkable historians of all time, transhumanists who migrated annually between was Rashid al-Din (d. 1318). Born ca. 1247 at winter and summer quarters.' They usually win- Hamadan, he was trained as a physician and tered in warmer climes, such as Baghdad, and converted from Judaism to Islam at the age of summered on the grassy plains of Azerbaijan. thirty. From 1298 until the end of Uljaytu's reign The royal entourage formed a giant tent-city, and in 1316, he was the principal statesman of Mon- the tents for the royal family were particularly gol Persia, but was executed soon thereafter. large and splendid. On his victorious campaign Rashid al-Din wrote on a wide range of topics, across Iran, Hulagu, for example, is said to have from theology to history, but his magnum opus ascended the throne near Balkh in a tent at- was the Jami' al-Taviiikh (Collection of Histo- tached by a thousand gold nails and made of ries), the first known history of the world.7 It is gold-on-gold material. It included an elevated unmistakably "official history," for Rashid al-Din pavilion and a magnificent audience hall deco- began it at the request of Ghazan and wrote it "to rated with gold and silver gem-studded vases.2 preserve the memory of the extraordinary Ghazan's summer palace at Ujan in Azerbaijan events."8 was a tent of golden tissue which took two years to Rashid al-Din collected an assortment of histo- make. It comprised an audience hall with several rians around him in the court bureaucracy. They appendages and took a month to erect.3 Beyond included the scribe Abu'l-Qasim Kashani, who mention in contemporary texts, nothing remains wrote the official biography of Uljaytu and who is of these tents, and hence I concentrate here on the closest source for the city of Sultaniyya.9 more durable constructions of brick, stone, and Abu'l-Qasim belonged to the renowned family of wood. luster potters from Kashan: one of his brothers 240 SHEILA S. BLAIR followed their father as the leading potter of his few details about palaces per se, for most of the generation; another brother was a Sufi shaykh at travelers did not receive official audiences. the Suhrawardiyya khanaqah at Natanz. Abu'l- As well as written sources, there are pictorial Qasim's upbringing and family connections gave ones, for palaces and palatial rooms are depicted him an interest in artistry, but his long internally in illustrated manuscripts from the period. One rhyming phrases are often metaphoric asides must be careful, however, to distinguish catego- rather than factual observations. His florid style is ries of illustration. The paintings in manuscripts matched by that of 'Abdallah b. Fadlallah al- produced for the market usually show a schema- Shirazi, commonly known as Wassaf ("the pane- tized view of a generic palace rather than an gyrist") or Wassaf-i Hadrat ("the court panegy- accurate depiction of a specific building. More rist"). ° In addition to these two scribes, several useful are the large luxury manuscripts associat- other historians and geographers were active in ed with court patronage and thought to have the period. Many of these sources give occasional been made for a specific patron and purpose. details about palaces, but since all the authors These are mainly illustrated copies of the were employed in the state bureaucracy, they Shahnama, the Persian national epic.14 As the were predisposed to describe their patrons' ac- illustrations are thought to depict historical events complishments in glowing terms." in contemporary guise, they can be used as doc- Contemporary Mamluk historians in Cairo also umentation for the artistic practices of the II- reported what their rivals in Iran were building. khanids. Although some illustrations in these Many of the artistic innovations of the day, in- large luxury manuscripts show generic palaces, cluding such decorative techniques as carved others show specific details of decoration which stucco and glazed tile revetment, were imported confirm the evidence from excavations and the from Iran to Egypt during the early fourteenth descriptions in texts. century, and these Arabic authors sometimes The variety of sources allows us to reconstruct provide useful details about architecture, as in the typical plan of an Ilkhanid palace as a court the descriptions of the founding of Sultaniyya with iwans on sides. The palace at Takht-i Sulay- given by al-Nuwayri and al-Yusufi.12 In contrast to man, for example, is centered on a large court the official Persian historians, Mamluk historians (125 x 150 meters), which is oriented on a north- were more willing to credit pejorative reports and south axis and encompasses an artificial pond. offer a balanced view. Unlike their Iranian con- The court was surrounded by porticoes and had temporaries, however, they had not usually visit- iwans on the four sides. Behind the north iwan ed the cities they described, so what they report is was a domed room, which was built on the site of hearsay. the Sasanian fire temple and probably served as A third type of written source about Ilkhanid the Ilkhanid audience hall. It was two-storied; a life in general is the travel account, for this was a monumental stone stair led to a balcony support- period of remarkable cultural efflorescence and ed on wooden columns, affording a fine view of artistic achievement in which cultures from Eu- the lake. Behind the west iwan was a transverse rope to the Orient were bound together in a hall flanked by two octagonal kiosks; this section world economy which preceded European hege- of the palace had served as the Sasanian throne mony. 3 Such merchants as Marco Polo recorded room, and its lavish decoration suggests that it what people made, what they traded, and what became the official quarters of the Ilkhanid sov- had commercial value. Religious envoys were ereign. sent by Christian leaders in Europe to secure an Written sources confirm the use of a similar alliance with the Mongols against the rising plan for other Ilkhanid palaces. Uljaytu's palace threat of the Mamluks in the Mediterranean. at Sultaniyya has been destroyed, but the descrip- PopeJohn XXII established an archbishopric at tion by the Timurid historian Hafiz-i Abru (d. Sultaniyya in 1318, and archbishops were ap- 1430) says that the palace (Pers. saray) had a pointed there until 1425. The mendicant Friar square court (sahn) paved with marble and mea- Odoric of Pordenone passed through Iran en suring 100 x 100 [gaz].' 5 Assuming his standard route to India and China. While these travel gaz of 42 cms, 6 then the court measured 42 accounts can help reconstruct the life that went meters square. The court was surrounded by a on in such cities as Tabriz, called by Marco Polo huge iwan like the one at Ctesiphon and twelve the finest emporium in the Middle East, they give smaller saraycha, each with a window overlooking THE ILKHANID PALACE 241 the court. The palace also had an audience hall and it is no surprise that the Ilkhanids continued (diwan-khana) large enough to hold two thou- the tradition, for they were much enamored of sand people and called kiy&s.' 7 Kashani's de- their Ghaznavid predecessors.