Imaginary Pole Press: There are more than a thousand kinds of things that need to be suppressed in life, and it is always better to go to the good night with the people you want, even if you love and kill each other in the end, it is always the taste of winning but loving and not being able to do it.
After the death of Tahmasp I, members of the royal family fought in the same room for power. Political upheavals often led to the decline of court art, as exemplified by the rivalry between the brothers Ming Yingzong and Ming Dynasty emperors that led to a thirty-year-long porcelain gap, and Persian miniature painting also experienced a period of unbearable years in the court civil strife in the mid-16th century.
▲ Mussafville, Abbasid the Great and the Squire, 17th century
Fortunately, the stagnation period of miniature painting did not last long. In 1587 Abbasid the Great stood out in the political turmoil, and miniature painting subsequently ushered in its resurgence. Abbasid the Great ruled Persia for a very long time, for 43 years. During this period, he moved the capital to Isfahan, avoiding the entangled aristocratic forces in the old capital, thus consolidating the majesty of centralized power. When Xindu became a super central city integrating politics, economy and culture, the revival of miniature painting was inevitable, after all, the new aristocrats, civil servants and merchants in Xindu who had the ability to consume miniature painting had already taken shape.
▲ Reza Abbasi, 1625, miniature album
▲ Reza Abbasi, "Man in Fur Coat", circa 1600, watercolor on paper, gold miniature, 13.6 x 6.4 cm
Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
But it is precisely because the taste of this group of upstarts has undergone a huge change compared with the old nobles who advocate Kong Wu, so the fine paintings of the Isfahan period are mostly mainly figure paintings, and the war themes of Jinge Iron Horse are becoming increasingly rare, and the people in the paintings are often a fleshless, boneless, full of flattering looks. In the 16th century, Persia had more frequent and direct maritime trade with the West, so that the art of miniature painting was deeply influenced by the "Mannerism" of the late Italian Renaissance in the same period, so it was called "Persian Mannerism". Art is the prelude to the fortunes of the nation, and after this gentle wind blows, the Safavid dynasty shows its decline.
▲ Reza Abbasi, "Lady of White Veil", early 17th century, watercolor on paper, gold miniature, 17 × 8 cm
National Museum of Krakow, Poland
The most famous miniature painter of this period was Reza Abbasi, who introduced the photography and eroticism of Western art to the Persian painting world.
▲ Reza Abbasil, "Partridge Diagram", 1634, watercolor on paper, gold and silver miniature, 10.8 x 18.4 cm
▲ Reza Abbasi's "Jade Body Horizontal Chentu", circa 1590, watercolor on paper depicting gold miniatures
Abasi's aristocratic youth is well-dressed, the ladies are elegant, and the young lovers appear in pairs in the garden, and the simple background sets off their delicate faces and ambiguous movements. The people in the paintings are often dressed in fashion, and the rich folds and exquisite costumes convey the rich and elegant style that the world likes to hear. In addition, Abbasil's paintings are light in color, highlighting the sense of lines rather than the richness of the scenes, which is also rare in persian miniature paintings in the past.
▲ Reza Abbasil, Lover, 1630, watercolor on paper, gold miniature, 17.5 x 11.1 cm
The body is plump, the spring is tight, and the boundless desire blooms in a limited life. Whether it is the emperor who looks at all sentient beings or the sentient beings who look up to the emperor, even the foreigners with completely different values or aesthetic tastes are at one point convergent, that is, everyone loves the flesh that exudes youthful vitality. Color-eating nature also, I have not seen good virtue like lustful people. Drunken prostitutes, flowers before the moon, ladies who cannot stop, saints are forbidden. There are more than a thousand kinds of things that need to be suppressed in life, and it is always better to go to the night with the people you want, even if you love and kill each other in the end, it is always the taste of winning but loving and not being able to do it.