The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Arts of Persia, by H. Kevorkian

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Title: The Arts of Persia
       & Other Countries of Islam

Author: H. Kevorkian

Release Date: August 28, 2008 [EBook #26473]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARTS OF PERSIA ***




Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Linda Cantoni, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

THE ENTIRE THIRD FLOOR GALLERIES
FROM THURSDAY, APRIL TWENTY-SECOND
TO SATURDAY, MAY FIFTEENTH, INCLUSIVE
[OPEN WEEK-DAYS, 9-6; SUNDAYS, 2-5 P.M.]

STUCCO BAS-RELIEF, PAINTED IN POLYCHROME. EXCAVATED AT RAY (RHAGES) ANTERIOR TO THE XIITH CENTURY

THIS exhibition has been arranged with a desire to meet the convenience of those who are interested in manifestations of the arts of different countries over which Islam held sway at one time or other in the past. An effort has been made to show under one roof representative examples of works produced at different epochs and stages of the civilizations referred to, so that they may be seen, and perhaps studied, with the minimum expenditure of time.

Fine examples of many branches of the arts of these peoples are in permanent exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and the museums of great cities throughout the country. It is difficult to find adequate words to describe the enchanting atmosphere of the halls at the Metropolitan Museum where Near Eastern art is installed; and the same can truly be said of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia. These exhibitions must inevitably contribute to the enjoyment and education of countless visitors to these institutions, and will continue to do so in increasing degree to the enjoyment of generations to come.

The present exhibition does not comprise a vast number of objects. Its claim to attention lies in the fact that it includes an important series of really first class works which are also of great historical importance. There will be on view as well some comparatively new types of objects of æsthetic and archæological interest, obtained as the result of recent excavations.

The briefness of time available precluded the possibility of compiling a catalogue, as was at first intended. The present booklet is issued to explain the scope of the exhibition, and extend a cordial invitation to visit it.

H.K.

1

The rise of Islam and its rapid advent to power, is perhaps the most surprising chapter of the history of mankind. The great empires, Persian and Byzantine, which were subjected to the urgent onslaught of this rising power may have been in an enfeebled condition as a result of excess of despotism and internal dissensions, as historians affirm; but that the element of the power must have been in the rationality of the principles contained in the teaching, there can be no doubt.

"It was undoubtedly to Islam, that simple yet majestic creed of which no unprejudiced student can ignore the grandeur, that Arabs owed the splendid part which they were destined to play in the history of civilization. In judging of the Arabian Prophet, western critics are too often inclined to ignore the condition from which he raised his country, and to forget that many institutions which they condemn were not introduced but only tolerated by Islam. The early Muslims were very sensible of the immense amelioration in their life effected by Muhammad's teachings. What this same amelioration was is well shown in the following passage from the oldest extant biography of the Prophet," says Professor G. Browne in his memorable work on Persia,[1] and quotes Ibn Hisham (A.H. 213: A.D. 828) in support.

"During the first half of the seventh century," says Dozy in

[CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE]

3

his excellent work on Islam,[2] "everything followed its accustomed course in the Byzantine as in the Persian Empire. These two states continued always to dispute the possession of western Asia; they were, to all outward appearance, flourishing; the taxes which poured into the treasuries of their Kings reached considerable sums, and the magnificence, as well as the luxury of their capitals had become proverbial. But all this was but in appearance, for secret disease consumed both empires; they were burdened by a crushing despotism; on either hand the history of the dynasties formed a concatenation of horrors, that of the state a series of persecutions born of dissensions in religious matters. At this juncture it was that, all of a sudden, there emerged from deserts hardly known and appeared on the scene of the world a new people, hitherto divided into innumerable nomad tribes, who, for the most part, had been at war with one another, now for the first time united. It was this people, passionately attached to liberty, simple in their food and dress, noble and hospitable, gay and witty, but at the same time proud, irascible, and, once their passions were aroused, vindictive, irreconcilable and cruel, who overthrew in an instant the venerable but rotten empire of the Persians, snatched from the successors of Constantine their fairest provinces, trampled under their feet a Germanic kingdom but lately founded, and menaced the rest of Europe, while at the same time, at the other end of the world, its victorious armies penetrated to the Himalayas. Yet it was not like so many other conquering peoples, for it preached at the same time a new religion. In opposition to the dualism of the Persians and a degenerate Christianity, it announced a pure monotheism which was accepted by millions of men, and which, even in our own time, constitutes the religion of a tenth part of the human race."

The teachings of Muhammad were not of a nature to arouse

[CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE]

5

intolerance.[3] History does not record the practice of compulsory conversion in the scheme of conquest of early converts. "It is often supposed," says Professor Browne, "that the choice offered by the warriors of Islam was between the Qur'an and the Sword; this, however, is not the fact." There are innumerable evidences to the contrary which history records.[4] It appears that the exemplary behavior of the Arabs, under their newly acquired faith, was the main factor not only in the success of their scheme of conquest, but also in the impression which it made on the defeated in determining them to adopt the faith which produced such upright warriors.

The tremendous political upheaval that the evolution of Islam brought in its train to the affairs of the world does not fall within the scope of this paper. A highly important fact, however, must not be lost sight of, that by consolidating and unifying the tottering states a new civilization was founded which knew how to turn to account the culture of the ancient states conquered. In this overwhelming transformation Persia came in, from the outset, to play the most conspicuous and important part. The

[CONTINUED ON PAGE NINE]

9

artistic productions of the Muhammadan world that have come down to us as living monuments, substantiate this statement without a shadow of doubt, which makes it unnecessary to resort to recorded history, although its pages abound with incontestable evidences.[5]

It would be difficult to offer an explanation for the underlying unity and integrity of character manifest in the artistic expression of the Muhammadan countries, of vast geographical range, without a clear understanding of the vital force contained in the teachings of the Arabian Apostle, and the characteristics of his people, destined to carry those teachings from one end of the earth to the other. For this reason the foregoing brief survey has been ventured.

There can be no doubt that the pivot around which the artistic activities of Muhammadan countries revolved, was Persia.[6] She was to attain the function of the Sun, element of

[CONTINUED ON PAGE SEVENTEEN]

17

her old faith, source of sustaining energy; and continued to radiate into these planets of countries and races of the System, her all-stimulating cultural beams, the reflection of which is discernible in all artistic manifestations of those countries. In the field of literature, which is so little known in the western world, the influence is even greater than in the visual art with which we are concerned. Muhammadan literature, be it Arabic, Turkish, or Persian, is Persian in spirit and feeling.[7]

The fusion of Muhammadan doctrine with this Aryan (Persian) culture of old,[8] is an important event in the history of Art. For out of this fusion came forth into being a new phase of artistic expression completely different, in form and spirit, from its predecessors. Probably of equal importance is the fact that, although practised by divers races and subjected to many developments, fluctuations and variations, it has retained throughout the centuries its identical characteristics. What was the vital force that brought about this cultural evolution and unification? The answer appears to be Religion, as we shall see.

The foundation of the Muhammadan Empire was Religion. It was to the Holy Standard that the nations bent

[CONTINUED ON PAGE TWENTY-THREE]

23

and professed unqualified allegiance. A powerful political unity came into existence and continued for a period of six centuries uninterrupted. The nations of this united kingdom of Islam were thus merged into one unit, under the stimulus of one formal religion, freely transmigrating local ideas. Arts and culture were transformed, but the evolution thus caused by the Religion was essentially political in nature.

"There is no God but God," said the Apostle of Arabia, but the poet reflected awhile, and his rejoinder was: "The Ways of God are as the number of souls of men."

The Prophet's religion was rational, its principles attainable; it secured for the poet social amelioration and physical comfort, but there was a voice from the depth of his soul that he could not silence. It was the voice of mystery; he was concerned with the problems of the "Wherefore, the Whence, and the Whither".... Was he not a Son of the land which Plotinus visited to learn mystery of the Orient of Old?[9]

We have to look therefore to the Religion, "The Ways" of whose God "are as the number of Souls of Men", to perceive the true nature of the evolution of the artistic expression of these people.

Souls with irresistible cravings for Mysticism, poets, artists, philosophers and the like, discovered for the first time from Muhammad's formal teachings, which contained certain esoteric elements, that the senses, unreal and phenomenal, have yet an important mission to fulfill in the task which aims to escape from Self (which is an illusion and the root of sin, pain, and sorrow) and to attain the height where the eternal beauty,

[CONTINUED ON PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN]

27

which is but One, reveals itself through countless phenomena which are but reflections of One. "The Phantasmal is the Bridge to the Real," says the mystic, and the immortal lines of J'ami read:

The unreality of things material, the illusion of Self and desires, the perception that all living things and apparent phenomena reflected but one all-embracing Good and Beauty, was the philosophy of Hindu and all Oriental mystics of old; but they attempted to destroy the self and desires (Source of Sin) uncompromisingly and unreasonably. It was a philosophy "cold" and "bloodless", as Professor Browne points out, in trenchant terms. The Muhammadan mystic became conscious that the stream cannot be crossed without the aid of the Bridge constructed for this purpose.

Here (as it seems to us) lies the Keynote, the mainspring of inspiration of artistic expression, which (for the lack of better designation) might be termed Muhammadan Art: A merging of physical and spiritual, of worldly magnificence and eternal bliss.

[CONTINUED ON PAGE THIRTY-ONE]

31

A desire to reach to our higher instincts through the vehicle of our senses is apparent in all forms in which these masters sought to express themselves; we feel that, in their entrancing rhythmical compositions, in their incomparable poetry of flowing melodious words, in all their literature, in the inimitable colors and lyrical lines of all branches of representation of visual art. We feel the presence of an element prevailing throughout, and underlying every form of expression, an element which may be described in a word, "Human".

It is stated that the Persian spirit and feeling were reflected in all forms of artistic expression of the Muhammadan world. It is not, however, intended that other nations and countries over which Islam held sway, contributed nothing in the building of the influences of each were felt in varying degrees in the transmigration of ideas continued to take place between the nations, and the influences of each were felt in varying degrees in the transformation that resulted. In the fusion referred to, the influence of the Persian culture was predominant, a fact so transparent, as to require (we may assume) no emphasis.

It is not intended to deal here with particular aspects or divers branches of arts in which the genius of these artists found expression. In offering briefly these lines as to the general aspect of the Art of the Muhammadan world, the intention is to offer an explanation to those who may not be familiar with its history.

H. Kevorkian

FOOTNOTES

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