Safavid Brocades from Iran. an Attempt at Classification
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9532-06_KHILA_2/2006_06 15-10-2007 16:07 Pagina 121 KHIL{A 2 (2006), pp. 121-136. doi: 10.2143/KH.2.0.2021288 Safavid brocades from Iran. An attempt at classification Zohreh ROUHFAR1 Director Islamic Period Museum National Museum of Iran INTRODUCTION important part of the Iranian textile production. In the early centuries of the second millennium, his- This paper is based on the study of ten pieces of torical sources and in particular Islamic travelogues brocade now housed in the Islamic Period Museum are important documents for the study of textiles. collection of the National Museum of Iran. These sources repeatedly refer to the weaving of Brocades are characterized by their elaborately fig- many kinds of silk, cotton and woollen textiles in ured designs that are woven into the cloth. Brocade different localities in Iran, but there is still no direct is often further embellished with threads of gold mentioning of the production of brocade.2 Ibn (called golâbetun in Iran) or silver. The ten samples Hauqal, the tenth century Arab geographer and from the Islamic Museum were selected on the basis writer, discussed the production of textiles in some of their different styles of decoration and their cities of Fars, southwest Iran, during the ninth and weaving techniques, in an attempt to develop a tenth centuries.3 He refers to tirâz textiles, and espe- model for the classification of these textiles and to cially polychrome examples that were woven in cen- determine the location of their production. tres such as Fasa. Tirâz is a kind of textile that The art of brocade weaving is very old. The first includes an embroidered, woven, or even printed brocades were probably made in the Middle East. inscription.4 The early Islamic tirâz textiles from There are, for instance, many historical texts that Iran may thus well have included brocades. refer to the use of precious cloth and golden cur- From the Saljuk period (11th-12th centuries), tains. But because there is no information about there are pottery styles, including the famous luster the technique and the patterns being used, it is not and Minai wares, which are decorated with human possible to decide whether these textiles were bro- representations. These sometimes show patterned cades or embroidered pieces. The Persian pieces of cloth that constitute excellent sources for Achaemenid king Xerxes (r. 486-465 BC) donated the study of contemporary textile patterns, but his headdress that was ornamented with gold unfortunately they cannot be used in order to deter- thread to the people of Abdera city (Herodotus, mine weaving techniques. Hist. VIII 120). One of his successors, Darius III From the Il-Khanid period (13th-14th centuries), (r. 336-331 BC), used to wear a cloak decorated brocades are widely attested in written sources. Ibn with two facing hawks. The headdress and the Battutah and Marco Polo in their travel accounts cloak may have been made of brocade. However, there are no extant examples of brocade from this early period. Brocade textiles do survive from the 1 I would like to thank Nayereh Nouri Shokri for translating rd th Sassanian period in Iran (3 -7 centuries AD), the Persian original of this article into English. I would also and these are decorated with designs comparable like to thank two weavers of the Cultural Heritage to Achaemenid clothes that are described by Organisation, Mr. Hossein Mojgani and Mr. Zabihollah ancient sources. Ahmadi, for informing me about the different styles of weaving, and Ms. Mandana Tabibi, also of the Cultural After the advent of Islam, textile workshops in Heritage Organisation, for taking the microscopic photo- important Iranian weaving centres such as Susa, graphs. Shoshtar, Gondishapur and Rayy, continued their 2 See Serjeant 1772 3 industrial traditions and soon Iran became one of Ibn Hauqal, Iran in sorat-al-Arz. Translated by Gafar Shoar. Tehran 1966. pp. 65-77. the largest producers of textiles in the region. It is 4 Hans E. Wulff, The Traditional Crafts of Persia. Cambridge, more than likely that brocades constituted an Mass., and London 1966 (1975), p. 217. 121 9532-06_KHILA_2/2006_06 15-10-2007 16:07 Pagina 122 mention brocade and silk weaving in Tabriz.5 Ibn STYLISTICAL CLASSIFICATION Battutah also tells the story that one of the Iranian kings had decided to build a huge structure. Each Many of the artistic styles that were developed in working party participating in the construction the Timurid period, flourished in the Safavid time, tried to outdo the other, even to the extent, from the early sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth cen- according to the Moroccan traveller, of covering turies. And contrary to the Timurid period, many their baskets with silk brocade.6 However, there are valuable textile samples from the Safavid period only few extant textiles from this period. In have survived. These allow us to classify specific European collections there are some satins with types of decoration and weaving. From a decorative gold threads dated to the 14th century, but no real point of view, most Safavid period brocades can be brocades. They probably originated in China, attributed to three schools of decoration: Turkey or Iran.7 Fortunately, this situation has changed since the archeological excavations of Tabriz school of decoration Ghubayra, some seventy kilometres south of Kerman, southeast Iran, by a joint Iranian and This group is based on the Herat school of minia- English team in the 1970s.8 During the excava- ture painting, with Behzad as the most famous tions archaeologists unearthed fragments of silk miniaturist (Behzad worked in Tabriz after the fall textiles that were dated to the Il-Khanid period. of Herat in the early sixteenth century).10 Many These helped to identify various types of weaves popular painters of this style were also carpet and from this period. textile designers. Most of the Safavid textiles from From the succeeding Timurid period (15th cen- this group were woven in Yazd and Kashan. The tury), there are no extant examples of brocade, but brocades include representations of banqueting, there is ample evidence for the development of fighting, hunting, and in particular prisoner and this type of weaving technique. According to writ- guard scenes. Designs on these textiles are com- ten sources, there were many weaving workshops parable to the paintings by famous artists, includ- for taffeta (fine silk cloth in tabby weave) and bro- ing Dust Mohammad, Shah Mohammad and cade in Samarkand, where Timurlane had sent Mohammadi. skilled weavers from Damascus.9 We can be sure from written evidence that the most important Isfahan school of decoration Timurid textiles were woven with gold and silver threads. The last of the miniature painting schools in Iran was established during the seventeenth century by the famous artist, Reza Abbasi and was further developed by his students. This miniature tradition helped in developing the beautiful Isfahan brocades. The Safavid king, Shah Abbas (r. AD 1588-1629) 5 Anne E. Wardwell, Islamic Art III, Eastern Islamic Silks sent his Isfahan brocades as gifts to royal courts all Woven with Gold and Silver (13th and 14th centuries), over the Middle East and beyond. Weavers and 1989, p. 96. painters worked closely together, and some of the 6 Ibn Battutah, Travel Account, Vol.1 Translated by painters actually also were weavers. The best pat- Mohammad Ali Movahed. Tehran 1969, p. 226. 7 Nancy Andrews Reath and Elenor B. Sachs, Persian Textiles terns were included in Atlasi weaves designed by 11 and Their Technique from the Sixth to the Eighteenth Moin Mosafar (a student of Reza Abbasi). One of Centuries. London 1937, pp. 24-25. his textiles is on display in the Islamic Museum, 8 Linda Wooly, ‘Mediaeval textiles excavated at Ghubayra’, Tehran. IRAN, Vol. XXVII, 1989, pp. 51-56. 9 Kelavikho Travel Account, translated by Masoud Rajabnia. Tehran 1965, pp. 284-285. Yazd school of decoration 10 Golchin Honar Islami, “Naghashi” pic. 2 “Islamic Museum Catalogue”, Ataolah Afrooz, National Museum of Iran This style features a mehrab (prayer niche) and flo- 1996. 11 Zohreh Rohfar, ‘Jelvehee Digar as Honar Moeen Mosavar’. ral motifs, designed by the famous brocade weaver, Journal of the Cultural Heritage Organisation. Tehran 1996. Ghiasedin Ali, who was also a designer and calli- 12 Yahya Zoka, ‘Ghias Naghsh-band’, People and Art. grapher in Yazd.12 122 9532-06_KHILA_2/2006_06 15-10-2007 16:07 Pagina 123 TECHNICAL CLASSIFICATION The distinguishing feature of surviving Iranian brocades from the Safavid period is the use of golâ- Before proceeding to various weaving techniques of betun, or gold thread. These brocades were used for brocade, it is necessary to discuss golâbetun (a type producing rich clothes, curtains, book covers, pen of metal thread called filé, which has a silk core cov- boxes and seals. There are sufficient surviving bro- ered with a thin, gold strip known as a lamella), cades to allow us to devise an initial classification which was often used for brocades (fig. 1). There based on the weaving techniques, next to the types are different techniques for the production of gold of decoration described above. Technically, the bro- thread. These can be listed as follows: cades can be divided into two groups, namely those made in a tabby weave and those in twill weave. Besides this differentiation, the brocades can also be distinguished on the basis of the use of golâbetun: 1. Brocades in which the designs are set in a golâ- betun background. These brocades are called Darai, and are very shiny and heavy. 2. Brocades with a silk background and golâbetun weft threads that are used for the design. These tex- tiles are fine and soft, and known as Atlasi.