Architectural Spaces in Persian Miniatures

Marzieh Kamali Ardakani

【Abstract】This study investigates architectural spaces in Persian miniatures specifically in Timurid and Safavid eras by comparing and analyzing the elements in architecture and miniatures. There are many important factors effect on how a Persian miniature of architectural spaces is created. Factors such as historical period of creating a miniature， impact of the schools， and artists view and skills. The main objective of this paper is to recognize and investigate about the artistic and architectural elements which have been portrayed in Persian miniatures and how painters created the urban and architectural spaces in their artworks. Due to understanding the functions of architectural spaces it is presented a method to use Persian miniatures which illustrated the Iranian architectures. Then， it is found out about the relationship between architectural spaces and the elements portrayed in Persian miniatures. According to illustrating principals， artists combined symbolic recreation of space and decorative feature. Miniature painters simulated both inside and outside spaces. Since of idealism， special colors are used in Persian miniatures. It is shown that architectural buildings have a symbolic meaning beyond their functions and the lack of shadow represents idealism in miniatures.

【Keywords】Architectural space， Persian Miniature， Architecture

1 Introduction

Persian miniatures are rooted to the most ancient Iranian works. The confluence of several thousand years of Western Asian pictorial traditions ultimately became the model for Achaemenid era which is considered as the beginning of the miniature history. However， architectural spaces have been considerably used in miniatures mainly in Timurid （founded in 1370 by Timur） and Safavid （founded in 1501 by Shah Ismail I） eras. There are many important factors effect on how a miniature of architectural spaces is created. One of the most significant factors is the historical period of creating the miniature. Prior to Mongol invasion commonly careful attention to architectural spaces was less than later. Commonly urban and architectural spaces were drawn in simple forms and two dimensional. There are only a few elements in perspective. Artists used variety methods to design and draw the architectural spaces according to the miniature subject， painting workshop and painters trends and skills. There are many miniatures of Herat school which architectural and urban spaces were considered significantly. Even there are several miniatures are allocated to architectural spaces and there is no natural landscape in them [1]. There is a little information about architectural documents. The topics related to architecture in Timurid and Safavid eras face variety difficulties such as， lack of historical documents， architectural plans， and architecture theoretical dissertations. Although many Persian miniatures from this period remain， it has been less attention to them as historical documents and the integrated method is not suitable. To solve this problem， this research utilizes Persian miniatures which are illustrated the Iranian architectural spaces. Also， the outcome of this research is beneficial for other related studies.

2 STATE OF THE ART

Since wall paintings have been lost during the history and Persian miniatures can be judged only by miniatures， many researchers believe that the art of painting in Iran is restricted to miniaturization meaning that illustrating of manuscript books. Due to Manicheans manuscripts， these paintings have a close relationship with the first samples remained from Islamic era and it can be said that the miniature system in Iran is also a religious system [2]. Art and architecture flourished in Iran in Safavid era （1501-1722 AD） and reached its culmination in this period especially during the ruling of Shah Abbas Safavi. There are no significant architectural works remaining from the beginning of Safavid dynasty， though. Constructed important buildings in Tabriz and Qazvin （Tabriz was the first and Qazvin was the second capital of Safavid dynasty） have been destroyed [3]. Safavid rulers were mostly supportive of arts. Such caring actions led to significant progress in arts such as miniature painting. Painter artists were transferred to Tabriz by Shah Ismalil （1501 AD）. In the year 1521 AD， he established Tabriz school by appointing Kamal al-Din Behzad （1439-1505） as the library supervisor. In Safavid era， painting and decorating arts were more important than other arts and followed the Timurid dynastys “Herat” style. The architectural spaces with complex decorations in paintings were glaring and reached perfection with Behzad.

[4] offered a method of drawing the architectural spaces in Iranian miniatures and analyses them by providing samples. But， it has not been studied in details and comprehensive relation between miniature and architectural spaces. [5] investigated about the principles and methods of the construction to understand the architecture forms and space. [6] proposed a method to use Persian miniatures for understanding main features of architectural spaces. Then it analyzes methods of understanding miniature and architecture. This study utilizes the applied method to figure out about the impacts on how architectural spaces formed in miniatures as follow. Firstly the formal structure of the miniatures will be investigated by comparing the different workshop or school styles during the history. Then， artistic and architectural characteristics will be shown from both perspectives. Finally it investigates the elements in miniatures by finding the external and internal spaces in them.

3 Architectural Spaces in Persian Miniatures

Miniature painters illustrated architectural spaces in miniatures by considering different artistic aspects as below.

3.1 Architecture and Miniatures Meaning beyond the Function

Architectural building and miniature may have a meaning beyond its real-time and function； and its usual function has also a symbolic meaning. After the attack of Arabs， Sassaniddynasty fell and headed to the new form of remarkable architecture with the theme of Islamic religious structures in Iran. Unfortunately， since of the Islamic religion suppression small fragments of Manichean art remain and small pieces of wall painting of Sassanid palaces have lasted [7]. After Islamic era Iranian painting became more abstract. According to Islamic tradition representing live three-dimensional forms were condemned as worshiping idols. Architecture continued as the main art form. Painting was not pretentious by exclusion of human forms [8] Various Islamic architecture characteristics such as scientific geometry by applying spiritual thoughts made the architecture distinguished from other constructing styles. Symbols of belief in God after Islamic era became more abstract in Persian miniatures. Islamic architecture was used not only in religious places such as mosques but also in schools， palaces and even in houses and bath houses. Monotheism thought was a style using in the most Islamic arts as an original subject. [9] The architecture， decoration of buildings and miniature present a very strong spiritual point of view in this period. This point should be considered as a default on analysis and interpretations.

3.2 Artistic and Architectural Characteristics

In this section artistic and architectural characteristics are described and compared in details as follows：

3.2.1 Perspective， Light and Color

Perspective was used in a variety of shapes in combinations. When an entrance or a room was the only composition， often facade surface was drawn two dimensionally. Sidewalls were drawn to indicate the depth with perspective. Facade and outer volume composition of buildings were sometimes drawn two dimensionally such as balcony and entrance. Other components such as stairs or windows were drawn three dimensionally. In several miniatures， it is reflected that perspective lines were drawn inaccurately. Probably the design traditions caused to less attention to perspective. Traditionally the space was mostly indicated two-dimensionally in Persian miniatures until Timurid era. Timurid was the continuation of Manichaeism paintings and Islamic culture， though. Light and shade were not used in miniatures. Iranian painters began using perspective， light and shade in their works as European style. In Qajar era， this trend decreased the Iranian miniatures and developed the European painting style.

3.2.2 Influence of Schools on Designing and Drawing the Spaces

Another important factor of forming miniatures is the influence of miniature schools on how to design and draw the space even in the same period of time. Although according to the miniature subject， artists determined about the complexity and natural spaces. Each painting school used dominant design methods and traditions as a main structure and it impacted on the artworks. For instance， in Shiraz school architectural spaces were mostly two dimensional. In most of the paintings attention was dedicated to human and animal pictures. Landscapes， sceneries and natural spaces noticeably were used more. Whereas， in Herat school the attention was paid to architectural and urban spaces more. Remaining samples show all illustrated images are allocated to architectural spaces without any natural landscape in the paintings. It should also be considered that artists often illustrated their own architectural spaces by using their indigenous elements which reflected on their works. However， by changing the rules， capital painters were transferred to the new capital city or sometimes artists moved into a new place by themselves. Obviously a painter was loyal to the last tradition at least in a short period of time and obtained architectural spaces from indigenous architecture of his former location. [10]

3.3 Architectural Components and Elements in Internal and External Spaces

Persian miniatures features of Islamic architecture expression include the use of multiple simultaneous isometric perspective， illustrating simultaneously inside and outside the space， referring the two dimensional and three dimensional components， representing walls up to ceiling indoor， equal importance floor and wall display， independence scale of building and the human's scale， removing walls to be able to see the back， reduce distances and compacts show the space， choosing the smallest component of architectural space for illustrating while maintaining a whole room due to limited spaces in the miniature.

4 Case Study

A sample of 5 numbers of images is selected for the case study from Timurid and Safavid eras. Table ?4 1 summarizes the miniatures in terms of artistic and architectural characteristics perspective.

Table ?4 1 Analysis and investigation of miniatures from artistic and architectural characteristics perspective in urban and architecture including main spaces and subspaces

Main Space / Sub Space Image Information Miniature Image Artistic

Characteristics Architectural

Characteristics Architectural

Components

and Elements in Internal & External Spaces

Castle Title： Humay at the gate of Humayons castle Manuscript of Three Poems by Khaju Kermani.

By： Junayd

Date： 14th century

Style： Baghdad

From： British Library 1. Usage of special colors in painting which are different from the actual colors

2. Attendance of graphic in the miniature structure 1. The combination of the nature and architecture

2. Existence of garden inside and outside of the spaces 1. Castle

2. Garden space

3. Balcony

4. Gateway

Mosque Title： A poor man refused admittance to the mosque. scene from Sadi Bustan Divan，

By： Behzad

Date： 15th century

Style： Herat，

From： Cairo， Egypt national

library

1. Usage of special colors in painting which are different from the actual colors

2. Attendance of graphic in the miniature structure

3. Providing a structure in a series of layers

4. Attendance of the text above the porch： 1. Height structure.

2. Modeling of the real state of architecture and attention to details.

3. Lack of perspective.

4. Image can be developed from the bottom to top.

5-The principle is space construction. 1. Large sized yard

2. Dome

3. Columned seraglio

4. Porch.

5.Wooden pillars on stone column bases

6.Wooden capital with a pattern similar to Muqarnas

Bath House Title： Khalifa Al-Mamun in the bathroom Nizamis Khamsa By： Kamal ad-Din Behzad

Date： 15th century

Style： Herat

From： London， British library 1.The best example of real and concrete spaces

2. Attendance of graphic in the miniature margin

3. The use of space elements 1. Providing different layers of space

2. Indicating how water was supplied

3. Picturing the bathroom spaces

1. Dressing room

2. Bine （the main spaces of an Iranian bath houses）.

3. Hothouse

4. Anteroom

5. Dome shaped roof

Market Desert animals are

kind to Majnoon

Miniature for Khamsa King Tahmasb

By： Attributable to

Mir Sayyid Ali

Date： 16th Century

Style： Herat

From： London， British library 1. Usage of special colors

2. Structural thematic

3. Presenting the picture in an artistic structure 1. Space integration in architectural and functional layers.

2.Inside and outside space 1. Dome shaped roof.

2. Mosque

3. Mosque minaret

4. Places for sale

Yard Title： Marriage of Mihr and Nahid

Date： 16th century

Style： Tabriz

From： Smithsonian Institution， Washington DC. 1. Usage of special colors

2. The existence of graphic on the top margin

3. Providing structure in a series of layers.

4. The statement of traditions in artistic language.

5. Dragging the visions

in the frame 1. Architecture transparency

2. Inside and

outside spaces 1. Inside and Outside spaces.

2. Wall for space separating

Conclusion

Due to lack of architectural spaces in miniatures before Timurid era the miniatures were hardly analyzed in terms of architectural elements such as castle， mosque， bath house， market and yard. The author selected 5 samples of Persian miniatures from Timurid and Safavid eras. The results show that architectural buildings beyond their functions may have a symbolic meaning. The illustrating method of architectural spaces in miniatures depended on the artists imaginations， creativity， skill and professional backgrounds. Time and location are independent and abstract with special characteristics in Persian miniatures. Although， building scale and human scale are independent. The scale of components is considered relatively. Painters simulated both inside and outside spaces. Lack of shadow has observed in miniatures because of idealism. Artists tried to combine symbolic recreation of space and decorative feature according to illustrating principals.

REFERENCES

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