SAFAVID CARPETS OF THE TAHMASP SCHOOL AND THE TAHMASP 6+Œ+1Œ0$ *hoOamre]a <a]dani Mina Ranjbar Masume Azarmdel Maryam Rezai Banafshe Deraq 7DEUL] QHFDQDUJXHWKDWWKHURRWRI3HUVLDQÀQHDUWLVXQ- certain, many would agree that the best carpets have O doubtedly the carpet. The intricate and colorful been woven in Iran. Since carpets wear out, their fab- designs of carpets give them an allure that transcends ric may disintegrate, and thus the preservation of an- generations. It was captured by miniaturists during cient examples is problematic, documenting the histo- the Golden Age of Persian painting in the 15th and 16th ry of carpet weaving in Iran prior to the 15th century centuries. The detailed representations of early carpet LVGLIÀFXOW1HYHUWKHOHVVWKHIDPRXV3D]\U\NFDUSHW designs in those miniatures helped shape the material some 2500 years old and long considered the oldest contexts in which the artists were conveying their un- surviving example of a pile carpet, attests to carpet derstanding of the immaterial world and expressing manufacture in Achaemenid Iran. In the pre-Islamic spiritual values. The often precise replication by the Sasanian period, there is evidence regarding Khusro’s painters of motifs on actual carpets provides import- Biharestan and Zimestan carpets which were adorned ant documentation for writing the history of Persian with gold, silver, and gems. In the 9th and 10th centu- carpet making, and it is generally accepted that the ries, carpets woven in Khorasan, Isfahan, and Azer- painters were involved in carpet design. baijan were sent as a tax to the Abbasid Caliphs. Other evidence, including some paintings, attests to weav- To illustrate the close connection between carpet de- LQJFDUSHWVZLWKVSHFLÀFGHVLJQVDQGFRORUVLQWKHth sign and contemporary painters’ record of it, this ar- century (Behnam 1965, pp. 4-42). ticle will focus on Safavid carpets woven in the work- shops associated with Shah Tahmasp and miniatures Carpets were exported to Europe as early as the 13th in the Tahmasp6KœKQœPD. This period is considered century, ones perhaps similar to the oldest Seljuk car- by many to represent the epitome of achievement in pet (now in Istanbul), which has geometrical patterns these branches of the arts in Safavid Persia. The se- (Razavi 2008, p. 160). It is necessary to rely on minia- lection here includes works where one can see similar tures for evidence about carpet design prior to the 15th designs and colors. The growing recognition of the century, but several 15th-century miniatures convey importance of Safavid carpets and miniatures has in- the quality of carpet design at that time. In the Timu- spired a substantial scholarly literature and been the rid period of the late 14th–15th centuries, there was a subject of several important conferences. A number of close relationship between carpet weaving and paint- articles complement the present study but do not deal ing: miniatures depicted carpets and carpet-like pat- directly with same issues. Daryayi (2006) has written WHUQVDQGWKHSDLQWHGLPDJHVLQWXUQPLJKWLQÁXHQFH about design features in the carpets; Emami (1995) carpet design (Emami 1995, p. 156) has studied the possible sources for those designs in 6RPHRIWKHÀQHVWFDUSHWVNHSWLQZRUOGPXVHXPV Safavid carpets. A number of articles have discussed date to the Safavid Period. Given the importance Sa- 1 motifs used in both carpets and miniatures. IDYLGUXOHUVDWWDFKHGWRWKLVDUWFDUSHWZHDYLQJÁRXU- Some Background on the Carpet in Iran ished at this time: it was a Golden Age of carpet weav- ing in Iran. The unique coincidence of factors such ,UDQLDQFDUSHWVDUHOLNHDPLUURUUHÁHFWLQJ,UDQLDQDUW DVUR\DOSDWURQDJHWKHLQÁXHQFHRIFRXUWGHVLJQHUVDW and civilization. While the origin of this craft is un- all levels of artistic production, the wide availability 106 Copyright © 2014 The authors 7KH6LON5RDG12 (2014): 106 – 121 + Color Plates VII, VIII Copyright © 2014 The Silkroad Foundation of locally produced raw materials and dyes, and com- DWHWKDWHYLGHQFHÀUVWUHTXLUHVZHFRQVLGHUWKHKLVWRU\ mercial acceptance, particularly in foreign markets, all of miniatures as they developed in the Safavid period. contributed to this peak of excellence (Ibid., p. 75). Such small scale and richly detailed paintings have a long history in Iran, but really bloomed under the Sa- Among the Safavid rulers, as artists themselves, favids. Shah Ismail (r. 1501–1524) and Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524–1576) were important patrons in all the areas of After establishing Safavid rule, Shah Ismail (1501- the arts, but especially in the carpet industry. Under 1524) made Tabriz his capital and summoned many Shah Tahmasp, who had spent time in Herat before artists there. They worked in his library, where there succeeding his father, there was a revival of interest were ateliers for book production. After his conquest in and further development of the contributions made of Shiraz in 1504, he transferred some of its artists to in the Mongol and Timurid periods to Persian culture. Tabriz; he also invited Abd al-Aziz from Isfahan to The results in miniature painting and carpet design join them. It was probably toward the end of his reign were outstanding (Pope and Ackerman 1987, p. 206). that Kamal al-Din Bihzad, the greatest miniaturist of Shah Tahmasp was personally involved in carpet de- the time who had previously been employed by the sign and commissioned important projects (Behnam Timurids in Herat, came to Tabriz to head the royal 1965, pp. 4–7). In his international diplomacy, he often library (Almasi 2001, SS ² $VKUDÀ S donated valuable carpets to neighboring rulers, thus Sims 2001, pp. 60–63; Blair and Bloom 1995, pp. 165, introducing Persian carpets to the other countries 4DVLP ¶$OL 6KDÀ ]DGH DQG $TD 0LUDN ZHUH (Ferrier 1995, p. 123). miniaturists who accompanied Bihzad to Tabriz. In this way was created the remarkable Tabriz miniature Carpets woven at the time of Shah Tahmasp were school. technically superb. Their depiction of plants, both realistically (for example, palm leaf motifs) and with Two important Iranian traditions came together in VW\OL]HG LPDJLQHG ÁRUD FRPELQHG ZLWK D UDQJH RI Tabriz, one associated with the patronage and art- new motifs (Ettinghausen and Yarshater 2000, p. 300). ists of the earlier Turkoman rulers there (a “ruder Among the outstanding examples of the carpets from and more original style”), the other with the Timurid this period are the “Chelsea” and “Ardabil” carpets SDLQWHUVIURP+HUDW D´UHÀQHGVW\OHµ $]KDQGD (in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London), the p. 118; Grabar 2000, p. 61).3 The Herat school of min- “Hunting” carpet (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan), and iature painting embodied in the work of Bihzad and the “Anhalt” carpet (Metropolitan Museum of Art, KLVIROORZHUVKDGDVLJQLÀFDQWLQÁXHQFHRQWKHZRUN New York) [Fig. 1a-d].2 that emerged in Tabriz in the early decades of the 16th Safavid Miniatures )LJD 7KH´&KHOVHDµFDUSHWE 7KH´$UGDELOµFDUSHWERWK9LFWRULD Miniatures provide among the best evidence about DQG$OEHUW0XVHXP/RQGRQF 7KH´+XQWLQJµFDUSHW0XVHR3ROGL 3H]]ROL0LODQG 7KH´$QKDOWµFDUSHW0HWURSROLWDQ0XVHXPRI$UW the history of carpets, given the way they record pat- 1HZ<RUN7KHLQGLYLGXDOLPDJHVDUHQRWLQWKHVDPHVFDOH WKDWLVWKH WHUQVDQGPRWLIV 6ƈUH(VUDÀOS 7RDSSUHFL- OHQJWKVRIWKHFDUSHWVDUHQRWLGHQWLFDO )RUSKRWRVRXUFHVVHHQ 107 century. Most scholars emphasize that their style in- )LJ'HWDLOVKRZLQJWKHERUGHURI volved a kind of “realism” in the depiction of architec- WKH&KHOVHDFDUSHW WXUHDQGWKHGUDZLQJRIKXPDQÀJXUHVSODFLQJWKHP in real-life contexts. The people inhabiting the images create a mystical world in have varied poses and gestures; in Grabar’s words (p. which time and location are 62), “what is new is the life brought to every detail, es- meaningless, even if a pic- SHFLDOO\WRWKHKXPDQÀJXUHVZKRKDYHIRUWKHPRVW ture might include clouds, part lost their puppet- or marionette-like characteris- the sun or the moon. Loca- WLFµ$WWKHVDPHWLPHWKHUHDUHGLVWLQFWLQÁXHQFHVRI tions are strange and unknown, whether landscapes 6XÀVPLQWKHODWHth-century paintings done in Herat with gardens or plains or houses that are more “vir- (Sims 2001, p. 60; but cf. Grabar 2000, pp. 64–65). By tual” than earthly. Sometimes, the artists drew plain the 1530s and 1540s, the painting done in Tabriz adds garments to suggest the puritan nature of dervishes’ an increasing attention to landscape with mountain- clothes. Wool hats without any ornament represent ous rocks and bright colors: nature really comes alive KDWVZRYHQE\GHUYLVKHVDQG6XÀV +RVVHLQLSS $VKUDÀSS² 42–83). The border of the Chelsea carpet has a design UHPLQLVFHQWRIWKHKDWZRUQE\6XÀV>)LJ@,QVRIDUDV However, if the emphasis of the Herat school was on the founder of Safavid dynasty, Shah Ismail, was one materiality and realism, the Tabriz school developed RIWKH6XÀVLWLVSRVVLEOHWRLQIHUWKDWKLVWKRXJKWVLP- a spiritual and mystical emphasis. Most of those in- pressed designers and weavers. Medallions in the Sa- YROYHGZHUHIROORZHUVRI6KHLNK6DÀ·VP\VWLFDOVFKRRO favid carpets represent domes of Emam Reza’s shrine (.HWœEH 0œK 2011, p. 6). According to Alam Arayie (Miri 2002, pp. 21–22). Shah Abbasi, Shah Ismail and Shah Tahmasp pro- moted three principles in establishing national unity. Among the most gorgeous illuminated manuscripts They were: Shiia, the interdependence Shiia and Su- of the Safavid period is the Tahmasp6KœKQœPD, pro- ÀVPDQGWKHFORVHUHODWLRQVKLSRI6KLLDZLWKDQFLHQW duced in the royal atelier [see pp. 111–15 below and Iranian culture. At the time of Shah Tahmasp, these Color Plates VII, VIII]. The project was begun in the roy-