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Art (Naqqashj) and Art1sts (Naqqashan) in Qajar Persia

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Art (Naqqashj) and Art1sts (Naqqashan) in Qajar Persia WILLEM FLOOR ART (NAQQASHJ) AND ART1STS (NAQQASHAN) IN QAJAR PERSIA That Qajar visual art, particularly painting, does not rary European visitors to Persia and had a negative exist is the inescapable conclusion the uninitiated impact on the kind of information available in the might draw from looking up the subject in bibliogra­ sources.7 phies.! Pierson's Index Islamicus, Gulbun's Bibliogra- Given this silent treatment in Persian sources and phy 0/ Persian Art, Rohani's Bibliography 0/ Persian Min- the generally dismissive European attitude, it is not iatures,2 and Iraj Afshar's Fihrist-i Maqalat-i Farsi, which surprising that our knowledge of Qajar art and art­ jointly list some thirty, mostly very short, articles, are ists has not made much progress over the last fifty the only ones to offer some encouragement to the years, nor have art historians made any real effort to prospective student of Qajar painting. Even they are find what information there iso As will become ap­ rather meager and barely sufficient for survival, de­ parent here there is much more information avail­ spite some nice tidbits. Gulbun's bibliography in fact able than the studies produced so far have led us to lists quite a number of very short articles on Qajar believe. The interested student of Qajar art only has painters, but, since they are under the name of the to delve deeply to locate material not yet listed, or artist and not under the heading of the Qajar peri­ listed under non-painting headings in bibliographies, od, the uninitiated would still be out of luck. The as weil as to find information where no one has yet few additional studies not mentioned in these bibli­ looked or which has been overlooked or ignored. ographies are repetitive, narrowly focused, and offer The result of my delving into well-known, though little additional information on the subject.3 This also hitherto underutilized, documents is offered herewith holds true to some extent for the most recent, and as a first and incomplete effort to shed more light so far the best, overview in the Cambridge History 0/ on Qajar painting and painters from a socioeconom­ Iran which is the only one that covers almost the entire ic point of view and to answer the following ques­ Qajar period, as the others do not.4 A major step tions: what is a naqqash, a design artist or painter? forward has been the recent exhibition and its cata­ how were artists organized? what do we know of their logue, Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, in the working methods? did a royal painting atelier exist? fall of 1998 at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.5 what subjects did painters choose to depict? and what Not many sourees, whether Persian or European, do we know about the leading individual artists? provide data on Qajar art. Contemporary Persian soure es hardly mention Qajar painting, and, if they PAINTERS AND GUILDS do, it is only marginally and little more than the names of painters and information on the organization of What is a naqqash? According to Falk, Persian paint­ the art of painting and its appreciation by contem­ ers mainly illustrated manuscripts in small-scale works, poraries. Contemporary European sources say no where detail and color were more important than more, and, whereas Persian authors, if they mention texture and shading.8 However, this is a limited and the art of painting at all, are quite positive about Qajar erroneous view of what a naqqash was and did in Qajar art, most, if not all, European observers are not. They Persia. According to the dictionaries a naqqash is some­ complain of its absence of shading, perspective, and one who makes a naqsha (drawing, design, plan, por­ proportion, its lack of innovation and originality, and trait), whether a painter, a limner, an embroiderer, its penchant for imitation,6 an attitude that is not an illuminator (of books), a sculptor, a carver, an very encouraging to those who want to study this art engraver, a draftsman, or a designer. This wide range style. It certainly discouraged interest by contempo- of activities is also reflected in the literature, where 126 WILLEM FLOOR we indeed find the term naqqash employed to refer art of enamel work he was as honored as his father was to occupations such as a print designer (especially in painting. At present some painters are engaged in for block prints), painter on wood, tile designer, glaze this art. As to their painting: if they are commissioned painter, and sculptor.9 they will deliver work that is as good as the work of the old masters. They make [paint] very good top parts of The most accomplished and versatile artists were water-pipes. 12 those who received training in drawing and paint­ ing, as expressed in various art forms such as ink The book illuminators' (modhahhib) guild: The group drawing (siyah-qalam) , oil painting (rang-i rughan) , of illuminators used to be much bigger. All of them were studies from actuallife (ulgu-pardazi) , panorama paint­ well-known masters, but their number has decreased ing (durnama-sazi) , flower painting (gul-sazi) , and now. Those remaining are still [guite] capable and portraiture (shabih-sazi). In addition to drawing and competent, from among them two men have gone to painting, they could also produce excellent work in Tehran. One of these is Mirza Muhammad Tagi and the other Aga Muhammad javad.13 illumination (tadhhib) , miniature painting, painted lacquer, painting on glass (eglomise) , on walls and on The gold engravers' (naqqash-i zargar) guild: They en­ 10 ename1. They were also involved in textile print­ grave and inlay ivory bones and !ion fish-teeth for the ing, carpet and tile design, and sculpting. This versa­ grips of daggers (khanjar), mirror frames, walking-stick tility is dear from the litde that we know about the handles, chess pieces, and the like. For their inlay work skills of the various artists, about whom more later: they depict flowers, blossom patterns, and masterly the painting of miniatures or canvases was just one designs in an excellent way. The masters of this craft aspect of the artistic activity in which a naqqash or a were noteworthy for detailed ornamental work (nazuk- and a perfect control of chisei , visual artist could be engaged. kari) the (pardaz-i qalam) but no longer. The few who remain inlay metal objects. 14 The naqqash guilds. In 1873, Hoeltzer (an employee From these descriptions it is dear that not only were of the Te1egraph Department and a long time resi­ there various groups of visual artists constituted into dent of Isfahan) wrote: "The art of painting has not guilds, but also that there was more than one naqsha progressed very much here, because the Persian reli­ or "design-art-"related guild. The ename1 workers, who gion forbids it. Therefore it is only practiced in pri­ once had aseparate guild, now joined the naqqash vate, because training in drawing is totally non-exis­ or painters, probably because a fall in demand for tent. All encouragement to that end is cut off from its product had resulted in the gradual disappearance the very beginning."ll This paints a rather bleak pic­ of this craft. ture of the general availability of training in drawing This restrictive artistic and organizational environ­ and painting in Qajar Persia in general, and in Isfa­ ment also explains why the art of painting, or for han, the center of qalamdan painting (lacquered pa- that matter any craft, was dominated by a small num­ pier-mache boxes) , in particular. Although it was in ber of families. In Kashan, the Ghaffari family was general true, nevertheless, training was indeed pro­ the premier producer of top painters; in Isfahan, it vided to apprentices under the guild system as weil was inter alia the Imami and the Najaf 'Ali family. as in the hornes of artist families. After all, most of These families and members of related crafts inter­ the were craftsmen and like other skilIed naqqash married and had other dose social contacts. The professionals in Qajar Persia they were organized in marriage contract of Aqa Najaf 'Ali's daughter, for guilds. In Isfahan around 1877, for example, accord­ example, shows she married the son of a painter. The ing to a local history the following painting related witnesses to the contract, apart from members of her guilds existed: immediate family, consisted of friends of the family The painters' (naqqash) guild: This group always had and who were painters, goldsmiths (zargar) , and dyers still has a great number of members. The former and (sabbagh)-the latter two crafts related to painting.15 present masters of this town are famous. Their work can It is dear that these "artistic" families had been en­ be found all over Iran, in European and several other gaged in their craft for many generations. Musavvir countries. At present they have many famous masters. Formerly, there was aseparate guild for enamel work al-Mulki re1ated that members of his family had been (minakar) in Isfahan. They had famous masters such as painters for some three hundred years. His father Aga 'Ali, son of Aga Bagir the famous painter. In the joked, "We don't have blood in our veins, but paint."16 .
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