Mongol Illustrated Manuscripts

The Jami al 'Tawarikh and the Shahnama

enlarge image

A scene from Jami 'al-tavarikh. Circa 14th century.

The arts of greater Iran (comprised of what is now Iran,
Afghanistan, and parts of Iraq, the Caucasus and Central Asia) used to
be very decorative before the Mongol invasion of much of Eurasia (13th
century). After Mongol rule in the area, arts patronage largely focused
on illustrated epics. This is a brief backgrounder with a link to an
illustrated classic.

The Mongol invasion of
greater Iran in the thirteenth century brought many changes to the arts
traditions there. Before Mongol rule, Greater Iran was ruled by various
Turkic dynasts for almost two centuries. These Turkish rulers adopted
local practices and ruling customs in order to curry favor with their
Iranian subjects, and took on the role of art patron with particular
gusto. Under Turkish art patronage, the Persian decorative arts
flourished. Ceramic craftsmen abounded, and luxury textiles and vessels
became increasingly lavish and refined.

The arrival of the Mongols brought a shift away from patronage of the
decorative arts to that of calligraphy and the illustrated manuscript.
The lion's share of Ilkhanid (Persian Mongol) art patronage went to the
creation of illuminated historical works and epic poems. These
commissioned historical works glorified the dynasty's achievements and
ideological preferences. The most famous of these historical works is
the Jami 'al-tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles.)

The Compendium was a groundbreaking work in its ambitious scope and
multicultural sensibility. Commissioned by Ilkhanid rulers Ghazan and
Oljeitu in the fourteenth century, the Compendium can be seen as an
encomium to both Mongol history and Mongol commitment to Iran's local
pre-Mongol cultural heritage. Rashid al-Din--the Ilkhanid vizier who
set the creation of the Compendium into motion and wrote at least part
of it--was influenced by the Ilkhanid capital of Tabriz itself, a
bustling and modern urban hub where European and East Asian culture and
politics converged. The Compendium consists of four volumes covering an
astonishing breadth of information including, a history of Ghazan Khan
(volume 1), a universal history (volume 2) probably some four hundred
folios in length, a survey of the genealogies of the Arabs, Jews,
Mongols, Franks and Chinese (volume 3), and a geographical compendium
(volume 4).

The text of the Compendium is accompanied by roughly 540 paintings
depicting landscapes, people, historical battle scenes and
enthronements, and scenes from the Old Testament and the life of
Prophet Muhammad. The religious paintings occur most frequently, and
with fresher vision and greater originality, than the other types of
paintings in the Compendium.

The Shahnama, or Book of Kings, was the most prominent
illustrated text of the Mongol period. Firdausi's epic sixty thousand
couplet-long poem draws on Iran's history and mythology for its
astonishingly vivid repertoire of figures and fables. The Shahnama
delves into the histories of Iran's cultural heroes, villains, leaders
and kings--both fictional and historical--over a breathtaking span of
several centuries. Calligraphers and artists lavished Firdausi's text
with embellishment and accompanying images. The masterpiece of Ilkhanid
painting is considered to be the fourteenth century Great Mongol
Shahnama, which was the largest and most technically sophisticated
manuscript of the Ilkhanid school at large. Within this one text, "one
can trace the sequence from paintings that are simple illustrations to
ones that are commentaries, then metaphors, and finally independent
works of art operating confidently on several levels of meaning. More
and more content--descriptive, emotional, historical, symbolic--is
gradually pumped into these paintings, and only an absolutely assured
command of pictorial language enables the greatest of these painters to
control the forces that they unleash." [2]

The Shahnama continued to be illustrated for centuries after the Mongol
conquest. Shah Ismail first encountered local Turkmen illustrations
from the Shahnama as a young boy, while staying at the court of Karkiya
Mirza Ali in Gilan from 1494-1499. The tales of epic battle,
warrior-heroes, enchanted princesses and kings would have doubtlessly
impressed and captivated the young boy's mind. It is not surprising,
then, that Ismail commissioned the creation of a royal Shahnama to
commemorate the birth of his own son, Prince Tahmasp, around 1515.
Furthermore, as the first self-appointed Shah of the Safavid dynasty
(which he had himself expanded to include most of Iran), Ismail adopted
Persian models of government and bureaucracy. Ismail must have hoped
that giving importance to the Shahnama would legitimize his claim of
inheriting the Persian monarchy.

The royal Shahnama commissioned by Ismail yielded four paintings, the
most famous being "Sleeping Rustam" (on view at Asia Society.) For
unknown reasons, this manuscript project was then abandoned. Prince
Tahmasp would commission his own royal Shahnama, which would become the
masterpiece of its day. A collaborative effort, "some fifteen painters,
at least two calligraphers, two or more illuminators, gold sprinklers,
binders, margin makers, paper burnishers and a team of assistants would
have combined their skills to produce the most lavish manuscript seen
in Iran for a century." [3]

Tahmasp's royal Shahnama is the culmination of the talents of several
master artists. Sultan Muhammad, probably the first director of the
Shahnama project, used a rich palette of color and emotion in his
paintings. His early illustrations of Shahnama scenes are hectic:
color-saturated architecture and textiles coexist with people, angels,
whirlwinds, earth spirits, animals and clouds, all frozen in a moment
of dramatic activity. Mir Musavvir, the second director, had a much
different approach to illustration. Linear, analytic and almost
mathematical in its precision, Musavvir conjured a meticulous and
composed world. Aqa Mirak, a later contributor, would achieve balance
in his complex compositions by eschewing symmetry and finding balance
instead through the interrelationships of the vivid, sharp lines of his
figures, architecture and landscape elements. These different styles do
not produce dissonance but aptly animate the Shahnama text, itself a
vivid and varied tale of many tales.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of Tahmasp's royal Shahnama is
that its artists depicted the characters and events in contemporary
Safavid garb and settings. As such, these paintings can be studied by
anyone interested in gaining an intimate window into Safavid court life
and architecture, portrayed as the Safavids themselves would have
preferred.

Notes
1 Welch, Anthony. Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World. University of Texas Press, 1979.

2 Kamarovv, L. and Carboni, S. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art
and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353. Yale University Press, New
Haven and London 2002. p 146.

3 Thompson, J. and Canby, Sheila R. Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of
Safavid Iran 1501-1576. Skira Editore S.P.A., Italy 2003, p. 84.

Author: Zainah Mahmood.