The Art of Ancient Iran, Pre-Islamic
Cultures

Sasanian Art - Notes for this chapter

Remains of Sasanian silks woven with elaborate patterns came to the churches and monasteries of the West as wrappings of Christian relics. There are therefore many fragments preserved in European collections which give some idea of the brilliantly coloured and effectively patterned garments worn by the Sasanians. After the fall of the Sasanian empire Byzantine silk-weavers continued the Sasanian tradition for centuries with few changes in pattern but with more muted colours.

Our example shows such Byzantine work; the pattern consists of two identical medallions each framing a dog-bird, the so -called Senmurw, facing right. Rosettes with pearl borders are placed at the point where the two medallions touch. The border of the medallions is formed by rinceaux of Hellenistic derivation. The design is woven in white, purplish red, soft green and a yellow on a dark blue background. The principal figure of the pattern, the Senmurw, seems to have been used exclusively for the robes of the king, to judge by the renderings on the reliefs of Taq-i Bustan. On these reliefs alone he has a pattern of two Senmurws placed symmetrically opposite each other on either side of an imaginary axis. The Senmurw is known only in Sasanian art. He has the head of a dog or wolf, the forepaws of the same animal, great wings at the shoulders and the tail of a peacock. For a long time there seemed to be no connection between this monster and the lion dragons or griffins of earlier times, but recently some indication of possible connections has become known. [40]

Other textile patterns are preserved in the renderings of the non-royal participants in the hunts at Taq-i Bustan. Geometric, vegetal and animal motifs appear in scatter patterns or aligned in rows, or fitted into squares or circles. Blossoms conform to these basic forms of square and circle and are usually divisible by four. [p. 222]

Patterns are frequently composed of birds, ducks, fowl, parrot or eagle, which are combined with other elements such as floral medallions, or borders of hearts, to form a clearly organized pattern in which each element retains its individual value. Like all other works of Sasanian art with figured decoration, the textile patterns were surely also meant to bring the wearer luck and recommend him to the protection of the gods.

Thus a textile with the head of a boar is probably to be interpreted as protection for a warrior. The most impressive and best preserved fragment of such a textile was found in Central Asia. Within a border of pearls appears the powerful head of the animal, which seems all the larger in contrast to the small eye, which is stressed by the surrounding rim. The open muzzle shows the sharp teeth of the lower jaw and also fills the circle better than a head with closed muzzle. The second tusk and the second ear which are added to the sharp profile of forehead and snout are remains of the three-quarter view favoured in the Hellenistic period. The head is divided up into smaller planes which are set off from each other by stepped patterns. Horizontal striping appears only in the collared mane which terminates the head at the back, as in the stucco relief from Damghan. In both renderings the mane gives a certain height and dignity to the animal's brow. [p. 224] Most of the lines meet at an acute or a right angle. In part this effect may have been caused by the technique of weaving, though this would apply more to a coarser weave than to the fine silk from Astana. The effect of the pattern, however, was surely stressed intentionally since the sharp angles give to the symbol of the god of war and expression of aggressiveness and defensibility.

We may look back from here to the small figure of a boar from Tepe Sarab, in which its characteristic outline, even its movement, was rendered by modest means. The animal as such seems to have been portrayed in the clay figurine. In the textile pattern and in the Stucco relief from Damghan, both created after many millennia, the artist no longer wanted to show merely the animal; he wanted to express, through the form of the animal, human qualities raised to the superhuman divine level.

Both the early and the late renderings give only essentials. By excluding all indications of time and place, such as the three-quarter view of the later period--which was given up in the textile pattern of the boar's head in favour of a pure profile view, in the concentration on basic forms, and in the use of these forms for decorative purposes resides much of the attraction of Iranian art.

The wide distribution of the textile and other products shows that the art of the Sasanians, heirs to the ancient artistic tradition of Iran, was understood and appreciated in the early Middle Ages from China to Europe.

The great revival of an appreciation of Iranian art in our own time is due to the influence of modern art. Modern art has educated us to esteem varied 'patternizations' of natural forms and to analyze with interest the creation of new forms, suggestive of life, from what are actually quite abstract elements. The expression of this art, however, often intense and powerful, belongs to a world of thought into which we may rarely if ever penetrate. [p. 225]