Introduction
Artistic manifestations of Iran. Although the western art and culture of that country is traditionally known as Persian, the country has long been called Iran and its inhabitants are called Iranians, not Persians anymore. However, we will use the most widespread and popular term to refer to the period before the arrival of Islam, dating back to the 7th century AD, that is, the time of the ancient Persian Empire, as well as its prehistory.
Ancient Period
The main artistic works of prehistory were ceramic pieces and small clay figures, despite the predominance of architecture and sculpture throughout the two Persian empires:the Achaemenid and the Sasanian (6th century BC - 7th century AD). After the Arab conquest and the introduction of Islam in the 7th century AD, sculpture lost its place to architecture, which from then on enjoyed a period of great splendor. Painting came to have some importance between the 13th and 17th centuries. In the 20th century, these ancient art forms were revived, combining traditional models with western technology and new materials.
Among the first examples of Persian architecture, small houses made of mortar and raw mud bricks and sun-dried stand out, discovered in several Neolithic works in western Iran. The excavations carried out at Tal-i Bakun, near Persepolis, and at Tal-i Iblis and Tepe Yahya, near Kerman, show how buildings were made around 4000 BC, grouped in villages or small towns.
The first period of great development of Persian architecture took place with the Achaemenid dynasty (550 to 331 BC). The evidence is numerous, the oldest being the ruins of Pasargadae, the capital of the reign of Cyrus II the Great. Darius I the Great built a new capital at Persepolis, a city that would later be expanded by Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I (465-425 BC).
After the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. and the coming to power of the Seleucid dynasty, Persian architecture imitated the characteristic style of the Greek world.
With the Sasanian dynasty, which ruled Persia from 226 AD. until the conquest of Islam in 641, an important architectural revival took place. Among the main preserved remains are the ruins of the domed palaces of Firuzabad, Girra and Sarvestan and the large vaulted halls of Ctesiphon.
In the first great period of Persian art, during the reign of the Achaemenids, sculpture gained a monumental character. Around 515 BC, Darius I the Great had a large bas-relief panel and an inscription carved into the rock on the slopes of Behistun.
The second great period of Persian art begins with the advent of the Sasanian dynasty in 226 BC. From this period, only a single example of free or round-shaped sculpture survives, which is the colossal figure of a ghost king near Bishapur.
The first examples of Persian decorative arts date back to the end of the 7th millennium BC. and consist of drawings of animals and female figures modeled in clay.
Beginning at the end of the second millennium and with a chronological development that reaches up to the middle of the first millennium, an important flowering of works in cast bronze took place throughout the mountainous region south of the Caspian and in Luristan. Large quantities of harnesses, harnesses and reins were made for the horses, as well as axes and votive objects, all of which reflect a complex style created by combining animal parts with fantastical creatures of varied and strange shapes.
During the Achaemenid period, the decorative arts began to be used in luxury items, such as ornaments and gold and silver vessels, stone jugs and crafted jewelry.
Fabric production was an important industry of the Sasanian period. The designs mainly included animal, plant and hunting motifs arranged symmetrically, located inside medallions.
Islamic Period
After the conquest of Persia by the Arabs in the year 641, Iran became part of the Islamic world. Its artists had to adapt to Islamic culture, which in turn was influenced by Iranian tradition. Architecture remained the main art form. Due to the Islamic tradition, which condemned the three-dimensional representation of living beings and other types of objects as idolatrous, sculpture went into decline. Painting, on the other hand, was not affected by this prohibition of representing the human figure, knowing from then on a period of great effervescence.
The mosque was the main architectural typology of Iran. Among the most important examples of the first phase of Islamic architecture in Iran are the Mosque of Baghdad (764), the Great Mosque of Samarra (847) and the first mosque of Na'in (10th century). With the expansion of the Mongol empire, much of the Islamic architecture was concentrated in Iran, but, after the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, a type of construction more attached to Iranian traditions was renovated and several of the best buildings in the entire country were erected. the history of architecture in Iran, such as the Great Mosque of Veramin (1322), the Mosque of Imam Reza in Meshad-i-Murghab (1418) and the Blue Mosque of Tabriz. Other important works are the mausoleum of the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane and his family in Samarkand.
Fresco painting and miniature manuscripts have been part of the artistic tradition of Persia since the Sasanian period, although only a few fragments of these early examples remain. Copies of the Qur'an in Kufic, the form of writing of the early Arabs, were made on the parchments and scrolls of al-Barah and al-Kufah at the end of the 7th century.
The portrait as a pictorial genre became very important throughout the 16th century. One of the main portraitists was Ali Reza Abbasi, who outlined his figures with sobriety, but with expressive brush strokes.
The techniques of fabric production, metalworking and ceramics developed during the Sasanian period were used throughout Iran's history. Carpet making, in which Iran has always played a prominent role, remains an important artistic activity to this day.
Persian Civilization
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