Comparative study on Baghdad and Herat School of Islamic miniature painting

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Graduate Master of Archaeology.faculty of Literature and Humanities. Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran.

10.22080/jiar.2020.3093

Abstract

The Baghdad school of miniature painting which is also known as an international school, plays an important role in illustrating the scientific and literary books by copying the spiritual principles of Islam. Under the influence of pre-Islam’s artistic schools, this school gradually evolved in order to narrow the differences between before and after Islam. The Teimuri school of miniature painting also known as the school of Herat, has a special place in the history of Iranian-Islamic miniature painting; With the ingenuity of the artists, this school created a golden era of miniature painting by relying on the fundamentals of previous schools such as Samarqand, Al Jalayer, Tabriz and Shiraz along with the influence of Chinese miniature painting. The purpose of this study is to interpret the process and the formation of Baghdad and Herat school, by explaining the subscriptions and differentiations based on the analysis of notable artwork from both schools, in order to determine the level of influence of Baghdad school on Herat school. Our findings suggest that, as result of the conquest of Baghdad by Teimur and relocating the artists of the Al Jalayer school to Samarqand, the descendants and remaining artists of the Abbasid school moved to the city of Herat and played an indirect role in creating the hybrid school of Herat. According to the social level, psychological attitude, decoration of animal and plant figures and etc, this phenomenon is clearly reflected in the artworks.

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