The Journal of the Asian Arts Society of Australia Ancient Iran
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VOLUME 19 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2010 the journal of the asian arts society of australia TAASA Review ancient iran C o n t E n t s Volume 19 No. 3 September 2010 3 Editorial taasa rEVIEW Tobin Hartnell and Josefa Green THE ASIAN ARTS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA INC. ABN 64093697537 • Vol. 19 No. 3, September 2010 ISSN 1037.6674 4 ChEshmEh ali WarE: a PaintEd CEramiC tradition in thE iranian CEntral PlatEau Registered by Australia Post. Publication No. NBQ 4134 Edna Wong EditorIAL • email: [email protected] 7 ElamitE art General editor, Josefa Green Javier Álvarez-Món PubliCations Committee 10 the KazaKly-yatKan Wall Paintings: New PErspectivEs on the Art of the AnCiEnt Iranian World Josefa Green (convenor) • Tina Burge Melanie Eastburn • Sandra Forbes • Ann MacArthur Fiona Kidd Jim Masselos • Ann Proctor • Susan Scollay Sabrina Snow • Christina Sumner 12 PErsepolis in the WEstErn imagination dEsign/layout Tobin Hartnell Ingo Voss, VossDesign Printing 15 love Thy Neighbour: The Intimate Art of DiPlomaCy in PErsepolis Processional SculPturEs John Fisher Printing Stephanie Reed Published by The Asian Arts Society of Australia inc. 18 sasanian roCK rEliEf PanEls PO Box 996 Potts Point NSw 2011 www.taasa.org.au Ali Asadi Enquiries: [email protected] 21 in the PubliC domain: A Persian ShAhnama FoliO from ThE NGV TAASA Review is published quarterly and is distributed to members Susan Scollay of The Asian Arts Society of Australia inc. TAASA Review welcomes submissions of articles, notes and reviews on Asian visual and performing arts. All articles are refereed. Additional copies and 22 silKs of sasanian PErsia subscription to TAASA Review are available on request. Heleanor Feltham No opinion or point of view is to be construed as the opinion of 24 booK rEview: Paradise Lost. PersiA from Above The Asian Arts Society of Australia inc., its staff, servants or agents. No claim for loss or damage will be acknowledged by TAASA John Tidmarsh Review as a result of material published within its pages or in other material published by it. we reserve the right to alter 25 Exhibition PrEview: Beauty ANd Betrayal: ANcient JEwellery at ThE Nicholson or omit any article or advertisements submitted and require Elizabeth Bollen and Tobin Hartnell indemnity from the advertisers and contributors against damages or liabilities that may arise from material published. 26 travEllEr’s talE: Carpet Museum of Iran All reasonable efforts have been made to trace copyright holders. Helen Holmes and Ros Hunyor taasa mEMBERSHIP ratEs $60 Single 27 nEW lEadErship for taasa $90 Dual $90 Single overseas (includes postage) 29 Recent taasa aCtivitiEs $30 Concession (students/pensioners with ID) $95 Libraries (overseas, $95 + $20 postage) 29 taasa mEmbErs’ diary $195 Corporate/institutional (up to 10 employees) $425 Corporate/institutional (more than 10 employees) 30 What’s on: September - NOVEMBER 2010 $650 Life membership (free admission all events) Compiled by Tina Burge advErtising ratEs TAASA Review welcomes advertisements from appropriate companies, institutions and individuals. Rates below are GST inclusive. Back page $850 Full inner page $725 Half page horizontal $484 Third page (vertical or horizontal) $364 Half column $265 Insert $300 For further information re advertising, including discounts for regular quarterly advertising, please contact mEdian NoblEs aPProaCh thE King, PERSEPOLiS, 5Th cENTURy BcE. [email protected] Photo: KOUROSh MOhAMMAd KhANi. the dEadline for all artiClEs for our nexT issue iS 1 OcTOBER 2010 A full indEx of artiClEs PublishEd in TAASA Review since its bEginnings the dEadline for all advErtising in 1991 is available on thE taasa WEb sitE, WWW.taasa.org.au for our nexT issue iS 1 NOVEMBER 2010 2 t a a s a C o m m i t t ee E d i t o r i a l : AN c i E N T i R A N gill green • President Tobin Hartnell, Guest Editor Art historian specialising in Cambodian culture CHRISTINA SUMNER • VicE President Principal Curator, Design and Society, This focus issue of the TAASA Review on curator at the Nicholson Museum, reviews Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Ancient Iran demonstrates that Australia is its new jewellery exhibition which, while currently one of the leading contributors focused on the classical culture of Greece ann guild • TREASURER Former Director of the Embroiders Guild (UK) to the study of ancient Iranian Art and and Rome, also displays some important Archaeology. examples of Persian and Persian-inspired KATE JOHNSTON • SEcRETARy jewellery for the first time in Sydney. Intellectual property lawyer with an interest in Asian textiles Edna Wong recently graduated from Sydney University in Archaeology. Her piece on John Tidmarsh reviews a nostalgic book about Hwei-fE’n ChEah Cheshmeh Ali ceramics investigates some Iranian culture and landscapes. Using aerial Lecturer, Art History, Australian National University, with an interest in needlework of Iran’s earliest art. Recent research reveals photography, Paradise Lost: Persia from Above the sophisticated techniques and emerging captures a moment in time in Iran’s history JoCELYN ChEy themes of these Iranian ceramics from some that is rapidly disappearing as modern Iran Visiting Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney; former diplomat 7000 years ago, which influenced western industrialises. Iranian art for millennia. matt Cox The journal finishes with a Traveller’s Tale Study Room Co-ordinator, Art Gallery of New South Javier Álvarez-Món originally graduated item about the Carpet Museum of Tehran. Ros Wales, with a particular interest in Islamic Art of Southeast Asia from Berkeley and now works as a lecturer Hunyor and Helen Holmes first examined the on ancient Iranian art at Sydney University. extraordinary carpets displayed in the museum Philip CourtEnay His piece covers the evolution of Elamite Art, and then travelled around Iran to experience Former Professor and Rector of the Cairns Campus, one of Iran’s oldest civilizations. the diverse cultures that produced them. James Cook University, with a special interest in Southeast Asian ceramics After considering the earliest art traditions in The range of topics covered by the articles LUCiE folan Iran, following articles review the role of Persia in this issue starts to capture the vitality and Assistant Curator, Asian Art, National Gallery of Australia (modern Fars, southern Iran) in the Iranian experimentation of artists in ancient Iran. The sandra forbEs world. Two pieces deal with Persepolis, a site cultural influence of these ancient works are Editorial consultant with long-standing interest that still embodies romantic ideas of Persia even still with us, as Iranians and foreigners alike in South and Southeast Asian art 2300 years after its destruction. My own piece, look to Iran’s artistic heritage to experience JosEfa green Persepolis in the Western Imagination, considers the enduring ideas of its layered past. General editor of TAASA Review. Collector of Chinese how the meaning of Persepolis changed as the ceramics, with long-standing interest in East Asian West became more engaged in Iranian affairs. This special issue required the generosity art as student and traveller Stephanie Reed explores how the Persepolis of many professionals. Thank you to the gERALDINE hardman reliefs stand apart from other decorative generosity of the contributors, photographer Collector of Chinese furniture and Burmese lacquerware programs of Ancient Near Eastern states by Koroush Mohammad Khani, the Oriental min-Jung Kim focusing on communal aspects, rather than war. Institute (Chicago), University of Pennsylvania, Curator of Asian Arts & Design at the Powerhouse Museum University of Akron, University of Tasmania ANN PROCTOR Fiona Kidd works with Sydney University’s and Sydney for your help. Art historian with a particular interest in Vietnam Chorasmia project (the lower Oxus region). Her piece covers the newly excavated wall SABRINA SNOW This is a special issue in that it announces paintings of Kazakly-yatkan in the eastern Has a long association with the Art Gallery of New South the resignation of our current President, Chorasmian oasis. Through this work, Central Wales and a particular interest in the arts of China Judith Rutherford. On page 27, we Asian artists emerge as a new force in the hon. auditor provide a brief outline of Judith’s wider Iranian art world. Rosenfeld Kant and Co achievements and I’m sure I speak for all members in thanking Judith for her s t a t E r ep r E s E n t a t i v E s Ali Asadi, an Iranian archaeologist working at outstanding contribution to TAASA over Persepolis, covers the last stage of pre-Islamic AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY the years and hoping that we will still Art - the Sasanian period (224-654 CE). His article find her at all our future functions. robyn maxwell records how the Sasanian kings chose a very Visiting Fellow in Art History, ANU; traditional art form, rock reliefs, as an important Senior Curator of Asian Art, National Gallery of Australia At the same time, this issue is happy to part of the artistic repertoire of the time. NORTHERN TERRITORY announce the unanimous election of Gill Green as our new President and Christina Joanna barrKman The Sasanian world existed at the centre Sumner as our new Vice President. Gill Curator of Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture, of the Silk Road, a link between China and will become just the 4th President since Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Europe. Heleanor Feltham considers the role TAASA’s foundation in October 1991. QUEENSLAND of the Sasanian court, not just in silk textile While Judith took over the reigns in 2001 russEll storEr production but in defining Western and (from Jackie Menzies) when TAASA was Curatorial Manager, Asian and Pacific Art, Chinese textile styles for centuries to come. Queensland Art Gallery 10 years old, our new leadership comes just one year before our 20th anniversary.