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Khusrau on his throne, from Khamseh
of Nizami; 1524;
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Alexander Smith Cochran, 1913.
Photograph © 2003 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Standard of pierced steel inlaid with gold
16th-17th century
The Royal Armoury, Stockholm
Five youths in a landscape (from a copy
of the Divan of Khata’i [Shah Isma‘il])
Ca. 1515-20
Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; rebound in leather
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C.
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A rare look at the Golden Age of the arts in Iran. The first two shahs
of the Safavid dynasty, the charismatic Isma’il and his son Tahmasp,
promoted a cultural flowering of extraordinary brilliance. Bringing together
for the first time exquisite carpets and textiles, ceramics, stunning
metalwork and illuminated manuscripts and bindings, the exhibition explores
the complex interaction of royal patronage and religious faith that inspired
this remarkable period of artistic creativity.
The Safavid Dynasty
In the late 13th century, Shaykh Safi al-Din Ishaq founded a Sufi order
at Ardabil in Azarbaijan, where he attracted followers among the nomads
of Eastern Anatolia and Azarbaijan. From the 14th to the mid-15th century,
the Ardabil Shrine continued to attract Sufis and increase in wealth and
fame. The shaykhs of Ardabil were Sunni Muslims until the mid-15th century,
when they espoused Shi‘ism. By that time, the Shaykh Safi’s
successors had become increasingly militant and their armies had come
to wield significant power in the region. The Safavid family intermarried
with the Aq Qoyunlu Turkmen dynasty of Tabriz, which controlled most of
western Iran during the last quarter of the 15th century. Eastern Iran
and nearby sections of Central Asia were ruled by the rival Timurid dynasty.
In 1488, the Shaykh Haydar, the leader of the Safavid order, was killed
in a battle with the Aq Qoyunlu forces, leaving seven sons. In an effort
to destroy the power of the Safavid order the Aq Qoyunlus seized Haydar’s
eldest son Ali Mirza, and two of the latter’s brothers, Ibrahim
and Isma‘il, and imprisoned them far from their supporters near
the city of Shiraz. In 1493, during a struggle between rival Aq Qoyunlu
princes, Haydar’s sons were released and allowed to rejoin their
Sufi followers. After his release Ali was recognized as the leader of
the Safavid order but was soon killed by the Aq Qoyunlusr, and Isma‘il
was designated his successor as leader of the Safavid order. For the next
four and a half years, Isma‘il received instruction in the Qur’an
and in the Persian and Arabic languages.
In 1499, at the age of twelve, Isma‘il made his bid for power by
moving into Anatolia. By 1501, he had secured Azarbaijan and crowned himself
shah at Tabriz. In 1503, he added Shiraz to his domains, followed by Baghdad
in 1507 and Herat in 1508. Persia, the region that we know as Iran, was
united politically and geographically under the banner of Shi‘ism.
In 1514, Isma‘il’s armies were defeated by the Ottomans, who
occupied Tabriz for only one week. The Safavids returned to their capital,
but the Ottoman threat continued into the next reign.
Upon Isma‘il’s death in 1524, he was succeeded by his first
son, Tahmasp. Born in 1514, Tahmasp was sent to serve as governor of Herat
in 1516. Tahmasp’s education continued at Tabriz after his nominal
accession to Safavid throne. In 1533 he took full control of the government
from his guardians and continued to exercise power until his death in
1576. During the course of Tahmasp’s fifty-one year reign, the Safavids,
sandwiched between the Ottomans to the West and the Uzbeks and Mughals
in the East, were constantly challenged to keep their domain intact. Despite
the fact that his life was largely shaped by wars and insurrections that
kept him moving from one region to another, Tahmasp became a great patron
of the arts. An atelier of court artists and poets accompanied him on
his campaigns.
Tahmasp’s immediate successors were less important both as rulers
and as patrons of the arts but there was a revival under Shah Abbas (1587–1629)
when the state had increased power and the arts, commerce and religion
flourished. After his death, the empire gradually declined although the
Safavid dynasty survived into the18th century.
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