Click here to buy tickets for this exhibition, or telephone +44 (0)870 8488484.
Click here to buy the Turks catalogue from the Royal Academy’s main website.
Oya Pancaroglu on the development of the human figure in Seljuk visual arts
Six serene figures with luminous countenances grace the inside of an Iranian lustre-glazed bowl (1211–12). We do not know who they are, but their identity is perhaps less important than their composure and stylistic attributes. The inscription of Persian verses on the topic of love on the inside and outside of the bowl suggests that this enigmatic group may be an idealised image at a musical or poetic performance. The bowl’s composition of text and image reflects the sensibilities of medieval Persian poetry, which typically explored the aesthetic and emotional qualities of love from the point of view of the plaintive lover. The interplay between audience and verse takes us to the very heart of the artistic legacy of the late Seljuk world in Iran and beyond as it demonstrates the affinity of the visual arts with literary culture that prevailed at the time. This fusion not only informed the literary qualities of visual culture but also led to a proliferation and transformation of figurative representation in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A key motif from this period is the uniform and unisex aesthetic of the ‘moon face’ (mâh-rû in Persian) featured on this bowl. This facial type was extolled in medieval Arabic and especially Persian poetry, where it is associated with the Turkic identity and Asian features of the aloof yet beguiling beloved.
The essence of the moon face as depicted in the visual arts – a round visage with delicate features – is ultimately a sign of the shifting demographics of the medieval Islamic world and the irreversible entrance of Central Asian Turkic peoples into the culture of the Near East.
Another group portrait of moon-faced figures appears on the manuscript page. Eight attendants frame an enthroned figure who holds a bow and arrow. The static and symmetrical placement of the figures and their relative sizes, point to a strict adherence to the requirements of social hierarchy by the artist. The central figure is thought to be an idealised representation of Badr al-Din Lu’ lu’, the military commander who ruled Mosul (in northern Iraq) in the early thirteenth century. This frontispiece painting, dated to the second decade of the thirteenth century, introduces a volume of the Book of Songs, a colossal tenth-century Arabic work, describing songs, musicians and musical gatherings performed in courtly settings of the early Islamic period. The enthronement scene may depict the ceremonial court reception of a performance, linking the image to the content of the Book of Songs. In doing so, it conceptually unites the image of authority with the ambience of courtly pastimes, presenting the commander and his entourage enjoying the cultivated pleasures of the visual and performing arts.
Visual interpretations of literary culture and performances such as these became increasingly prevalent following the political disintegration of the Great Seljuk dynasty, which led to the emergence of multiple centres of artistic patronage. The Great Seljuks, the first Turkic dynasty to make its mark on the central lands of the medieval Islamic world, gave rise, in the second half of the twelfth century, to a host of rival successor states from eastern Iran to the eastern Mediterranean. The resulting competition for cultural prestige and legitimacy and the absence of an imposing central power encouraged the mobility of artists and poets and provided the impetus for creative cross-fertilisation and innovation.
Perhaps the most remarkable artistic outcome of this fluid environment was the transformation and expansion of figurative representations which embellished the architecture, portable arts and coinage of the period. This new emphasis on figuration also led to a flowering in the production of illustrated manuscripts from the thirteenth century onward. Building on the secular tradition of figurative representation in Islamic visual cultures, the late Seljuk period witnessed the rise of a new human image in arts and letters which was a product of the prevailing humanist notions about mankind’s potential to achieve a noble nature.
• This feature first appeared in RA Magazine as ‘Dynastic Visions’. For more Turks features visit www.ramagazine.org.uk
• Click here to buy tickets for this exhibition, or telephone +44 (0)870 8488484.
• Click here to buy the Turks catalogue from the Royal Academy’s main website.
