Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources - Hardcover

Sims, Eleanor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300090382 ISBN 13: 9780300090383

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This book is the first survey of the figural arts of the Iranian world from prehistoric times to the early twentieth century ever to consider themes, rather than styles. Analyzing primarily painting - in manuscripts and albums, on walls and on lacquered, painted pen boxes and caskets - but also the related arts of sculpture, ceramics, and metalwork, the author finds that the underlying themes depicted on them through the ages are remarkably consistent.
Eleanor Sims demonstrates that all these arts display similar concerns: kingship and legitimacy; the righteous exercise of princely power and the defense of national territory; and the performance of rituals and the religious duties called for by the paramount cult of the day. She describes a variety of superb works of art inside and outside these categories, noting not only how they illustrate archetypal themes but also what it is about them that is unique. She also discusses the ways that Iranian art both influenced and was influenced by invaders and neighboring lands.
Boris I. Marshak discusses pre-Islamic and also Central Asian art, in particular the earliest Iranian wall paintings and their pictorial parallels in rock carvings and metalwork, and the richly painted temples and houses of Panjikent. Ernst J. Grube considers religious imagery, and provides an informative bibliography.

About this title

About the Author

Ernst J. Grube was the first curator of Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum and is now professor emeritus of the University of Venice.

From the Back Cover

"Far more than a mere history of Persian painting, this book takes us on a journey of discovery through an enchanted world of battles and combats, demons and dragons, landscapes and lovers, informed throughout by the author's deep knowledge and passion for her subject." -Jonathan M. Bloom, coauthor of The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250-1800

Reviews

An ambitious endeavor for one publication, this book approaches the near boundless field of Persian painting from a thematic vantage point. A prefatory but comprehensive historical overview, including a discussion of pre-Islamic painting by Russian scholar Marshak, establishes the fundamental chronology of ruling dynasties, invading neighbors and shifting art practices of the Persian world through the early 20th century. Islamic art scholar Sims's decision to organize the volume's sumptuous reproductions of wall paintings, illustrated manuscripts and lacquerware according to motif creates a highly original cultural index for students of Iranian art. Topoi, or archetypes, such as Razm U Bazm (Fighting and Feasting), the Five Pillars of Islam, Night Scenes, and The Scholar explore not only princely and ceremonial themes but formal properties, such as line, color and composition. The book's strength is in the details, namely the hundreds of individual images that have been thoroughly catalogued and researched. Each entry includes a straightforward explication of the artwork and often anecdotal information about the artifact's recovery and preservation. An essay by Grube supplements the section on religious painting in the Islamic period. 15 b&w and 345 full color illus.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Peerless Images focuses on paintings from Persia, an amorphous culture shaped by a variety of influences. After detailed and fascinating introductions to each century of classical Persian art, Sims and Marshak analyze more than 200 paintings, each exquisitely reproduced. They include relatively famous prints of scenes from books like Language of the Birds and Rose Garden, as well as scores of lesser-known paintings, including depictions of Sufi life and even portraits, which are sometimes considered a typically Persian style of painting. Their analysis is scholarly, but historical anecdotes and the paintings themselves will interest even casual admirers of Islamic art. John Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300090382
• ISBN 13: 9780300090383
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352