Shah Abbas, The Remaking of Iran at the British Museum: review
Tucked away towards the end of the British Museum's exhibition Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran, devoted to the mighty Muslim ruler who transformed Iran while Elizabeth I was on the throne in England, is an extraordinary example of Islamic art. Painted in 1627, using watercolour, ink and gold on paper, it is one of only two extant portraits of the great shah painted during his lifetime (the other, a tiny, glowing watercolour study by an artist from Mughal India, begins the show), and it presents him in an astonishing light.
The Iranian leader was a devout but volatile man who was not averse to acts of iniquitous cruelty: he blinded two of his sons and, in 1615, sanctioned the assassination of his eldest child whom he mistakenly suspected of rustling up rebellion. And yet here he is, untouched by age despite his 56 years, still sporting his distinctive droopy moustache, languidly embracing a beardless young man who offers him a shallow bowl of wine.
The sense of gentle intimacy is rare. More surprising, though, is the painting's mood, which is unmistakably homoerotic. With his almond eyes, plump cheeks and the ghost of a smile haunting his sensuous lips, the pageboy is highly effeminate. A romantic two-line poem, referring to the "lips of the beloved", inscribed beneath the billowing clouds and fluttering leaves in the background, reinforces the tone.
Given that it was most likely produced for a private album that would have been enjoyed by Shah Abbas (the painting bears an impression of the royal seal), this is anything but propaganda. In fact, the painting, on loan from the Louvre, is as close as the BM's exhibition gets to providing any insight into what Shah Abbas was like as a man. And what we see is not a hard-as-nails world leader, but a sophisticate in a dandyish blue hat who liked to drink wine and was, on occasion, wracked with desire.
A member of the Safavid dynasty that dominated Persia for several centuries, Shah Abbas I ruled Iran from 1587 to 1629. During that time, he achieved great military, economic and religious success, fending off the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, stimulating demand for the silk trade around the world, and standardising the practice of the Shiism form of Islam which the first Safavid shah had declared the state religion in 1501. But, as a Muslim ruler, he left no public paintings or sculptures of his likeness (not even on his coins, as Neil MacGregor points out in the foreword to the authoritative catalogue by curator Sheila Canby that accompanies the show). And this presents the organisers of the exhibition with a problem: how can we get a sense of what this mercurial shah was like as an individual?..
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
The Iranian leader was a devout but volatile man who was not averse to acts of iniquitous cruelty: he blinded two of his sons and, in 1615, sanctioned the assassination of his eldest child whom he mistakenly suspected of rustling up rebellion. And yet here he is, untouched by age despite his 56 years, still sporting his distinctive droopy moustache, languidly embracing a beardless young man who offers him a shallow bowl of wine.
The sense of gentle intimacy is rare. More surprising, though, is the painting's mood, which is unmistakably homoerotic. With his almond eyes, plump cheeks and the ghost of a smile haunting his sensuous lips, the pageboy is highly effeminate. A romantic two-line poem, referring to the "lips of the beloved", inscribed beneath the billowing clouds and fluttering leaves in the background, reinforces the tone.
Given that it was most likely produced for a private album that would have been enjoyed by Shah Abbas (the painting bears an impression of the royal seal), this is anything but propaganda. In fact, the painting, on loan from the Louvre, is as close as the BM's exhibition gets to providing any insight into what Shah Abbas was like as a man. And what we see is not a hard-as-nails world leader, but a sophisticate in a dandyish blue hat who liked to drink wine and was, on occasion, wracked with desire.
A member of the Safavid dynasty that dominated Persia for several centuries, Shah Abbas I ruled Iran from 1587 to 1629. During that time, he achieved great military, economic and religious success, fending off the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, stimulating demand for the silk trade around the world, and standardising the practice of the Shiism form of Islam which the first Safavid shah had declared the state religion in 1501. But, as a Muslim ruler, he left no public paintings or sculptures of his likeness (not even on his coins, as Neil MacGregor points out in the foreword to the authoritative catalogue by curator Sheila Canby that accompanies the show). And this presents the organisers of the exhibition with a problem: how can we get a sense of what this mercurial shah was like as an individual?..