A Safavid Embroidered Silk Fabric

Silk Fabric
Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 18th century.
Size: 17 x 10.5 cm
Sold at Sotheby's Auction
Source: [1]

This textile is among well preserved examples of Safavid textile design. It features a colorful floral bouquet within an arabesque outline with a petaled border.

Iskander (Alexander) is Watching the Sirens

Painting.
Era: Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 1541.
Materials and Techniques: Miniatures, Gouache.
Size: 17.6 x 14 cm.
Kept in Hermitage Museum, Russia.
Sources: [1],[2].

This is another example of nude art in Safavid Period. It is permanently kept in the State Hermitage Museum.

Scène D'amour - Safavid Persians Making Love

Painting.
Period: Safavid Era, Iran.
Date: 1692.
Size:  10.3  x 17.4 cm.
Materials and Techniques: Gouache and gold on paper.
Kept in Musées d'art et d'histoire - Ville de Genève (Museum of Art and History, Geneva, Switzerland).
Source: [1].

نقاشی اروتیک صفوی - موزه هنر و تاریخ ژنو - سوئیس

This erotic painting is kept in the Museum of Art and History in Geneva. There are few other interesting items in this museum, which I will post later on. By the middle of the 17th century, erotic art had emerged as a major theme of Persian painting. Bold or hidden, sometimes strange and often humorous, references to the erotic in later Safavid painting and drawing have been understood as expressions of lyrical beauty, metaphors for mystical union, or documents of social realities.

Two Lovers in a Pavilion

Painting and calligraphy.
Era: Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 16th-17th century.
Kept in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France.
Source: Iranian.com.

Two lovers in a pavilion. Miniature from a Moraqqa, a collection of models of calligraphy by the best Persian scribes.

Dalliance - Safavid Period

Painting.
Era: Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 17th century.
Kept in Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.
Source: Iranian.com.

Two Lovers

Painting
Era: Safavid Period, Iran
Date: 17th century
Formerly Kept in Kevorkian Collection, New York, NY, USA.
Source: Iranian.com

Persian Man Having Sex With a Camel - Jami's Haft Awrang

Folio
Era: Safavid Period, Iran.
Date: 1556-1565
Possibly Kept in Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
Source: Iranian.com

This miniature is about a story in the Silsila al Dhahab (Chains of Gold), the first book of the Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones), by the poet Jami. The manuscript was written by five different scribes at Mashad, Qazvin, and Herat between 1556-1565 for Safavid Ruler Sultan Abul-Fath Ibrahim Mirza.
Jami here tells a story of a  corrupt man who commits bestiality and is berated by Satan. The opening line for example reads: "the wind instrument of music -here the penis- of a depraved man became full of wind/ the howl of his carnal soul reached to the stars." He searches the desert and meadows until he finds a female camel. Since the camel refuses to kneel down, the desperate man ties two wooden supports to her hind legs. " He puts his feet there and crawled up/his 'murdi rig' attained what is desired." Jami uses the word "murdi rig" which literally means "the effects left behind by a dead person;" here it seems to be an allusion to the degree of lust that only a corrupt and thus spiritually dead person is capable of. In the conclusion Satan appears before the man and reproaches him for his treachery, for Satan is worried that those who see this act will curse him. There is a similar item here: [1]

To read more, study Rūmī and The Hermeneutics of Eroticism By Mahdi Tourage.

Khosrow and Shirin's Wedding Night

Folio
Era: Safavid Period, Iran
Date: 16th century
Kept in Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, Turkey
Source: Iranian.com

This Folio is about Khosrow and Shirin's wedding night. The miniature is from a manuscript of Nizami's Khamsa (Five Poems). Niẓām ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī, was a 12th-century Persian poet. Nizāmi is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, [1] who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic.

Tow Youths Hand in Hand - Safavid Period

Painting
Era: Safavid Period, Persia
Date: 16th century
Kept in Musee Guimet, Paris, France.
Source: Iranian.com

This Safavid painting shows two youths hand in had. It was created sometime at the end of 16th century in Qazvin, Iran. It is now kept in Guimet Museum in France. The Guimet Museum (French: Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet or Musée Guimet) is a museum of Asian art located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. It has one of the largest collections of Asian art outside Asia.

A Seated Woman With a See Through Dress and a Youth

Drawing
Era: Safavid Period, Iran
Date: 1600 - 1610 AD
Material and Technique: Ink on paper
Size: Height: 12.9 cm Width: 18.0 cm
Kept in the Smithsonian's Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC, USA.
Source: [1]

This is another sample of the Safavid art with an erotic flavor. It portraits of a woman with a see through dress. The young man next to her seems busy pouring wine. The lady's physical expression is in a way that one can assume she says no to more wine.

A European Woman Seated Under a Branch, With an Owl

Painting
Era: Safavid Empire, Persia
Creation Date: 1700-1732
Artist: Muhammad Sadiq
Media & Technique: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions: 10 7/16 in. x 7 5/16 in. (26.5 cm x 18.6 cm)
Kept in the San Diego Museum of Art,  San Diego, CA, USA.
Sources: [1],[2]

نقاشی یک زن اروپایی (ملکه آن) - دوره صفوی - موزه هنر سان دیگو , آمریکا

Here is a rare painting from Safavid Iran which displays a European lady dressed in style of Queen Anne of England. The lady in the painting has striking facial similarities with Queen Anne. I am not sure why there is an owl in this painting. This painting is kept in the San Diego Museum of Art in California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. Queen Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state: the united kingdom of Great Britain. The second image is a portrait of Queen Anne.

Safavid Helmet With a Face Mask

Helmet
Era: Safavid Empire, Persia.
Date: 16th century.
Material and Technique: Engraved Steel.
Kept in The Moscow Kremlin Museum, Russia.
Sources: [1], [2]

کلاهخود فولادی همراه با نقاب - دوره صفوی  - موزه کرملین در مسکو

This helmet is a rare example of Safavid armors. This helmet is beautifully made and the face mask has a nice looking mustache. It was most likely a gift of a Safavid shah to a Russian Tsar. There are three other helmets similar to this one. Two are kept in Russia, and another has private owner. Such helmets have been used in Iran for many years. The main reason for Safavids to seek relations with Russians was to create a an alliance against the Ottoman Turks and to find another route to export Persian silk into Europe. This item was among artifact which were on display at the Smithsonian Institution. For more information Google search "The Tsars and the East: Gifts from Turkey and Iran in The Moscow Kremlin".

Youth Holding a Candle and an Incense Burner

Painting
Period: Safavid period, Iran
Date: ca. 1640
Material and Technique: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions: 7 3/8 x 4 1/2 inches (18.7 x 11.4 cm)
Kept in the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, NY, USA
Source: [1]

جوان صفوی شمع به دست در حال سوزاندن عنبر - موزه هنر جانسون، دانشگاه کورنل، آمریکا

Persian painting began to shift in the sixteenth century from manuscript illustrations to the predominance of single-page paintings that were compiled into albums. Many of these depicted a solitary figure, or amorous couples standing or sitting alone. The celebrated artist Riza Abbasi (ca. 1565–1635) is considered the great master of this genre. The Johnson Museum’s painting is close in style to the work of his student Muhammad Yusuf al-Husayni.

The idealized youthful figure, whose gender seems ambiguous, wears a hat that suggests he is male. He is shown holding a burning candle and a censer from which thick smoke rises. A slight breeze blows his flowing garments and long, wispy locks of hair. A delicate background pattern of landscape elements and clouds, all painted in gold, creates an otherworldly setting. All of these features characterize the conventionalized images that were so popular during this period. Such depictions have strong poetic connotations, many related to Sufism (Islamic mysticism), that heightened the spiritual content of poetry and contributed new levels of meaning. In this context a painting of a youth could be a metaphor for earthly or divine beauty or love.

Embroidered Safavid Ceremonial Coat

Coat.
Era: Safavid Empire, Iran.
Date: ca. 1600.
Materials: Silk, linen, cotton.
Kept in Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts or MAK) Vienna, Austria.
Source: [1].

کت صفوی - موزه هنرهای کاربردی - اتریش

I was searching for Kashan related material at MAK in Austria, when I found this textile. There was not a detailed information about this coat on the museum website, but it does belong to Safavid period. The coat is made of silk, linen, and cotton, and has beautiful human motifs and floral design. The distribution of human motifs in Safavid textiles was usually confined to an oblong panel intricately decorated with floral designs as a ground-work.

Safavide Scène d'Amour

Painting.
Era: Safavid Empire, Persia.
Date: 1693.
Size: 117 x 181 mm.
Materials and Techniques: Gouache and gold on paper.
Kept in Musées d'art et d'histoire - Ville de Genève (Museum of Art and History, Geneva, Switzerland).
Source: [1]

نقاشی اروتیک صفوی - موزه هنر و تاریخ ژنو - سوئیس

This is an interesting find when i was looking around in Musées d'art et d'histoire's website, which is the largest art museum in Geneva, Switzerland. This work belongs to Safavid period. Unfortunately, the online copy is very small to the extent that you can hardly see what is going on; nevertheless, it is another example of erotic art in Safavid era. There are few other interesting items in this museum. When time permits, I will post them here. Again, I do apologize about the small size of the image.

A Safavid Persian Musketeer

Painting
Era: Safavid Empire, Persia
Date: 1600s
Possibly kept in Museum of Islamic Art (Museum für Islamische Kunst), Berlin, Germany
part of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Sources: [1],[2]

Here, you see a young Persian musketeer. I think in it kept In Berlin Museum of Islamic Art. Persians were introduced to gun powder in Timurid dynasty. And gun seems to have reached Persia by the time of the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan. The generic word for gun in Persian is Tofank. Actually, the original meaning of tofank was a hollow wooden tube used to hunt small birds by blowing pellets through it. The word tof, “spit,” is onomatopoeic, denoting the sound of forceful blowing through a tube. From the 16th century onwards the term usually appears as Tofang in the sources.  For more information about the history of firearms in Persia, study this on Encyclopedia Iranica: [3]

Painting of Shah Abbas, Khan Alam and a Page

Painting
Origin: Golconda, India.
Mughal Empire
Date: Late 1600s
Kept in British Museum, London, England
Former collection of Sir Hans Sloane
Source: [1]

نگارگری یک نقاش هندی از شاه عباس صفوی

This painting shows the meeting of Shah 'Abbas I of Iran (1571–1629) and Khan 'Alam, the ambassador of Mughal India, at the former Safavid capital, Qazvin in 1618. Their meeting was recorded by a Mughal court artist, and this image is most likely based on one of the preparatory painted sketches made of the key figures.

Mughal India was Iran’s largest trading partner, supplying textiles, spices and other merchandise. Indian goods reached Iran in such quantities that Iran was constantly in need of silver to pay for its imports. To ensure the continuous flow of commerce Iran and India exchanged many ambassadors. Despite this close relationship, the Mughal ruler Jahangir wanted a visual record of his ambassador’s meeting with Shah 'Abbas and sent his leading court artist Bishn Das to paint the shah, his courtiers and the meetings that took place. Later versions of this painting, including the one shown here, reveal how the original painting achieved iconic status in the art of the Muslim courts of India, and how interest in the meeting continued long after the event.

This painting is from an album that entered the British Museum in 1753 with the collection of the museum’s founder, Sir Hans Sloane. The album also contains portraits of the most illustrious sultans of the Deccan (central and southern India) and of Mughal India, as well as a portrait of Shahs 'Abbas II and Sulayman of Iran who ruled from 1642 to 1694.

Anthony Van Dyck's Practice For The Costume of Robert Shirley

Drawing
Rome, Europe
Date: 1622
Size: 19.9 x 15.7 cm
Kept in British Museum, London, England.
Source: [1]

رابرت شرلی با لباس دوره صفوی. طراحی از آنتونی فان دایک

Previously, we saw a portrait of Robert Shirley in this post: [2]. This sketch was drawn by Flemish painter Anthony Van Dyck during a visit to Rome in 1622. It depicts Robert Shirley (about 1581–1628) who was in the city on a diplomatic visit, intending to set up trade links with Pope Gregory XV on behalf of Shah Abbas I (1571–1629), the ruler of Iran.

Van Dyck made several sketches of Shirley and his wife between July and August 1622, which he later used to create full-length portraits. In his role as an ambassador from the court of Shah 'Abbas Shirley wore a turban and silk robes, which would have been exotic and colorful to the European eye.

One of Shah Abbas’ more unusual policies was his openness to foreigners and non-Muslims. By 1598, when the capital moved to Isfahan, the Portuguese and latterly Dutch had already established trade relations in India, China and Southeast Asia. The Portuguese had also taken control of Hormuz, the strategically located island in the Persian Gulf. In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I signed the charter of the East India Company and gradually the English began to sail or travel overland to Iran and the lands beyond it to the east.

Shirley arrived in Iran with his brother Anthony in 1598. They were received by Shah 'Abbas and first Anthony, then Robert, returned to Europe as the shah’s ambassador. They tried to persuade the kings of Spain and England to join an alliance against the Ottomans and to open their markets to traders from Iran.

Shirley met his future wife Teresia in Shah Abbas’s former capital, Qazvin. A Christian of noble Circassian blood, she proved an intrepid partner for her husband and saved his life on two occasions.

Safavid Man With a Pitchfork

Painting in a Manuscript
Era: Safavid Period, Persia
Date: July 11, 1634 (4 Safar, A.H. 1044)
Materials and Techniques: Album Painting, Ink and color washes on paper.
Size: Inner: 4 1/2 x 2 3/8 in. (11.0 x 6.0 cm)
kept in Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky.
Source [1]

نقاشی مرد صفوی و چنگک - موزه لوس آنجلس

This painting is a page from an album which was created by Riza Abbasi (or Reza Abbasi, Iran, Isfahan, died 1635) who was a leading Persian miniaturist of the Isfahan School during the Safavid period, spending most of his career working for Shah Abbas I. For more information about Riza Abbasi, you can read on Wikipedia: [2]

Sir Robert Shirley in Persian Costume

Painting
Created in Europe
Date: 17th Century
Kept in a Private Collection in England
Source: [1]

رابرت شرلی با لباس دوره صفوی. نقاشی از آنتونی ون (فان) دایک - کشیده شده در ۱۶۲۲ میلادی

This painting shows Sir Robert Shirley in Persian costume. He was the envoy of the Safavids to Europe. This painting is was created by Anthony van Dyck in Rome around 1622, and is kept in a private collection in England according to the information from Wikipedia. What I like the most about this painting, is the fact that one can see the design of royal Safavid costume in a realistic way.

Anthony van Dyck (22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draftsman, and was an important innovator in watercolor and etching.