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"The Art of Iran
is the permanent gift of the people of Iran to the history
of the world", Professor Arthur Opham Pope. The process of evolution of Persian Art could be found among the people and in the roots of the adventurous history of this country. The land has been the most important natural passage of the East to the West, and the point of different cultures and civilizations clashing over a long period of time. It seems different climates of Iran have had their impact on the life of early dwellers and on the formation of different arts in different historical era. The mountains, deserts and shores are three natural phenomena of Iran from which different artistic clans of the ancient world have arisen. The high mountains of Iran had been shelter of life for prehistoric people. And also a silent and pleasant place for meditation and imagination. Through the heart of the same mountains, the first Persian artistic thoughts were originated. "The name of Iran means the land of Aryans and is derived from the name of the tribes which were settled on the plateau of Iran. This plateau is an old mountainous residence for a people aged longer than ten thousands years. The farming villages of these people consisted of small houses with stone foundations and walls of mashed clay. These houses aged 6 to 8 thousands years. These monuments are discovered by Professor Bridewood, the head of scientific board at Chicago University". These residences were clearly located in two mountainous ranges in Iran. The foot of the Zagros mountain chain and the Alborz chain.
"The Zagros mountains chain with a length of about one thousand kilometers and a width of about two hundred, was the center for different mountainous tribes. Without any doubt most of the metal objects from late in the second millenniums, which are very famous and important today, have been produced in Lorestan district. Zagros region was occupied by the people, whose origin is not cleared yet, but were called "Asianiques." This word introduces the people who had been living in this region in Asia in prehistoric age. "Kassites" were a race who had been living in the Zagros, and like other groups of "Asianiques", had provided for themselves by hunting and fishing. They gradually directed their way towards farming and herding They were familiar with pottery, slings, maces and javelins. They used sharpened stones for ploughing and had knives made of flint. Metal had not been discovered at that time. An important part of the works of prehistoric people acquired from "Zagros" is held in museums of Iran and of the world as the cultural heritage of Lorestan. Lorestan is the name of the central part of "Zagros" mountainous chain and the discovered works of this region is well known by this name in the world of archaeology. One of the progressing processes of this land should be the dehiscence period of its art and metal working, from the beginning of third thousand years up to the first thousand years before Christ. Some archaeologists believe that the art of Lorestan is the real art of Iran. Before this era (the third thousand years before Christ), the painting works of cavemen in Lorestan have a great importance. The paintings discovered in a cave called "Doshah" located in the district called "Chegeni" in Lorestan are one of the most important prehistoric remnants that have been remained from artist dwellers of this mountain. Other mountainous region in Iran, which is also very important in the art history of this land, and a lot of valuable works are found at the foot of its mountains, is the "Alborz" chain. Archaeological discoveries shows that the northern slopes of the Alborz chain located in Gilan and Mazandaran (two provinces in the north of Iran) was another residence for ancient Persian races. The precedence of metal utensils from "Marlik", which have been discovered in a hill with the same name in "Roudbar" (a district in Gilan) is about three thousand years before Christ (the end of second millenniums and the beginning of the first.) These utensils, which had been made and ornamented with gold, silver and metal, introduce the art of a race that the archaeologists believe "they have joined to other groups of Indo-Europeans, who lived on the Iranian plateau and established a powerful "Mad" Empire in Iran in the beginning of the first thousand years before Christ" At the edge of the central desert of Iran, near "Kashan" and in a district called "Sialk," there have been found traces of the first people's residence in the central plain of Iran. Discovered objects in "Sialk" graveyard symbolize the artistry of the prehistoric people in Iran. "Sialk" dwellers
had been making all of their tools and instruments by stone,
but little-by-little they had started to use metal for
making their implements. The artistic taste of these people
has been found through the engraving on bones which had been
carried out for the first time and through the designs on
their pottery". "At the beginning
of the first thousand years before Christ, there had been
extensive exchanges between north western civilizations of
Iran, like Ghafghaz and the east part of AnatoIi". This
cultural process is known as Urartu's civilization.
"In excavations at this prehistoric castle, objects have been found like flint necklaces, glass rings, bronze hoops, clay stamps, different arms and pottery items which symbolize the skill of the first dwellers of northwest Iran. The most important work explored in this castle is an epigraph in an hieroglyphic script, indicating Urartu's civilization had special writing characters". Archaeologists have found different remains of native Persians art belonging to prehistoric times and later. Explorations at "Hasanlu fortress," south east of "Urumia lake" (Rezaeiye lake), "Ziwiye" in Kurdestan (a province in the east), "Marlik hill" at the foot of Alborz, "Siraf port" on the coast of the Persian Gulf and "Shahdad of Kerman" in the central desert of Iran, have found each with highly valuable treasures. Some of these great artistic treasures are held in the museums in Iran and the most of the others are held in famous museums of the world. There have been deep studies on most of these artworks by Persian and foreign experts and studies are still continuing on the other remaining works. Generally archaeological explorations1 which have been done carried out in the past one hundred years, have given answers to most questions about the history of civilization and art of Iran from scientists to scholars in art. The point, which seems attractive in studying different collections, is that the Persian art, no matter to which historic era they belong, reflects a desire and special morale of the people of Iran. They also symbolize the superiority in taste and creativity of the people, who were the pioneers of establishing of the civilization of man. In some eras, especially after the coming into existence of the great empires, different arts were used by powerful kings, rulers and commanders, yet they reflect the principles and virtues of the simple dwellers of the Land. The important point in studying the historic process of art in Iran, is the variation of art works in different eras. This shows Iranians have been skillful in different areas from ancient times. For example in architecture, we are introduced to the buildings decorated by plaster moldings, stone cutting, tar isolations drawings and even primary painting belonging to prehistoric era. Architecture, in
different ages, since the beginning of the era of the "Mad"
Empire and thereafter has noticeably been developed and
acquired more magnificence. Continuing the historic process,
architecture in the Islamic era, furnished by Sassanian
style had acquired such brilliance which could not have been
found in most points of the world. At the same era Muslim
Persian artists created tile work arching,
decorative scripts and different magnificent colorful
designing in religious localities and constructions.
And astonishingly after a while, the invaders themselves were strongly influenced by the art of Iran and the artistic virtues And interests of the Persians, that transformed their thoughts and deeds. Any study on the
process of the transformation of art in Iran, requires
attention to be paid to different points, which is
unfortunately disregarded by some foreign scholars. But some
valid archaeologists have drawn a table for the process
based on history and in their detailed research evaluated
the art of Iran. 1. In the fifth
thousand years before Christ (4-5,000 B.C.), native races in
Iran, who had been passing winter in natural shelters and
during summer been living in cottages covered by foliage,
thereafter started to build earthen dwellings and also added
cultivation to hunting and fishing. Stone tools started to
be improved and were perfected by adding handles of bone;
earthen utensils were painted by black on a red base and
baked in fire.
3. In 3,000 BC,
marble white stones, Tar and other kinds of stone were used
to make artistic objects. Dark-blue colored and coal-like
pottery was used widely, metal weapons were used in
different parts of Iran, like "Shoosh" and "Nahavand".
Different ornaments were made by using gold, carnelian and
azure stone. The making smooth of blue pottery was propagated in the 4'AIborz" and its neighboring regions; glorious buildings were made with brick or backed earthen walls decorated by painting with designs like Geminis, humans, trees and other figures. Urbanism was developed and stone engraving came in another step of progress, which gave beauty to "Shush". In this age, races like the "Aryans," the "Mads" and the "Parses" were settled in "Zagross".
5. The first thousand years B.C.: Godard called the
first part of this age "the dark stage of the prehistoric
age" and there he said a reason for it and that is the
inaccessibility of supporting archaeological documents at
the time. But new findings give some data about new
developments about the first thousand years. There were living wealthy herdsmen and farmers on the slopes of the "Alborz", during this age. There have been valuable metal tools and pottery excavated in graves there. Also there has been found remnants belonging to first thousand years1 B.C. in "Lorestan" "Kurdestan" and "Reazeiye". 6. In the eight and seventh centuries B.C., because of dense new immigrations mixed races settled on the plateau of Iran, consisting of such as 'Seythes" "Urartus" "Mannais"14 "Kassites" "Mads" and "Parses". Finally the "Hakhamaneshis Empire" came into existence and because of its centralized organization, Iran entered a historical age.
From then on one can study dated ant of Iran and survey the impact of prehistoric art on that. Epigraphs with the
scripts of three languages "Parsi" "Ilami" and "Akkadi" have
remained from the 'Hakhamaneshis" era, and are valuable
documents showing the glory of the art of lran. Later
historical ages of art in Iran can be summarized as follows:
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