The Relationship between the Pictorial Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the Ilkhanid and Timurid Paintings

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Member of Department of Painting at University of Zanjan

2 faculty member of art university

10.30480/vaa.2020.2883.1459

Abstract

Abstraction
Characters, elements and motifs can be seen among the paintings left from Ilkhanid and Timurid periods which are not only no trace of them can be found in earlier periods, but also cannot be studied or recognized by sources such as pre-Islamic painting, Manichaean art, Sogdian painting, Chinese art, and even Christian art which had an effect on Persian painting.
With the domination of Mongol in Iran and the establishment of the Ilkhanid dynasty prevailed different political, cultural, ideological and religious conditions in this region. In addition to the shamanic beliefs that the Mongols believed in, most Ilkhanid rulers chose Tibetan Buddhism as their official religion. As a result of this and their support, many Buddhist monks entered the court of the Ilkhans from Tibet and Kashmir. They appeared in court as "Bakhshi" and built many Buddhist temples in Iran.
Tibetan Buddhism has a very rich pictorial tradition. This pictorial tradition is the result of a combination of mental imagery in the shamanic and “Bon” beliefs‌, with Buddhism Which has been able to create one of the richest pictorial traditions of Buddhist art in this region. Now the question is: whether the pictorial tradition of Tibetan Buddhism could have been an influential source in the emergence and formation of these elements in Mongol painting.
The aim of this study is to place the pictorial tradition of Tibetan Buddhism as a source along with other influential sources on the painting left from Ilkhanid and Timurid periods. The method used in this research is based on inductive reasoning. The evidence which is presented to substantiate this claim will be pursued in two ways: First, the evidence of the presence of Buddhism in Iran and its relationship with Tibet in historical texts. Then, images and paintings from the Ilkhanid and Timurid periods that have the influences of Tibetan Buddhist art are studied in three section: form, structure and composition, context and subject, and finally the Images created by descriptions provided in the historically texts. In the last section, possible criticisms of the discussed manuscripts and the position of the pictorial tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in relation to other sources will be answered. It seems that the Mongols beliefs in Tibetan Buddhism and in general the mental patterns of the Mongols before entering Iran and facilitate communication across their vast territory from east to west. In conclusion, we can say that the arrival of Tibetan Buddhist monks in Iran due to the support of the Ilkhanid rulers and the construction of Buddhist temples in different parts of Iran have been effective in shaping elements and motifs. This result can introduce Tibet as a source for understanding Iranian painting along with other sources and factors which had an effect on the Ilkhanid and Timurid painting.

Keywords

References

 
A.Gifford, J. (2011). Buddhist Practice and Visual Culture; The Visual Rhetoric of Borobudur. Routledge.
‌Bee, R. (1999). the Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs. London: Serindia Publication.
Berlekamp, P. (2011). Wonders, Image, & Cosmos in Medieval Islam. Londen: Yale University Press.
Bjerken, Z. (2004). Exorcising the Illusion of Bon "Shamans": A Critical of Shamanism in Tibetan Religious. Retrieved from www.CNRS.com.
Campbell , J. (1974). The Mythic of Image . Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Carboni, S. (2013). The ‘Book of Surprises’ (Kitab al-bulhan)of the Bodleian Library. La Trobe Journal, 22-34.
Chakraverty, A. (1998). Sacred Buddhist Painting. Singapore: Luster Press.
Chandra, L. (2002). The Tibetan Iconography of Buddha, Boddhisattvas and other Deities: A Unique Pantheon . New Delhi : D.K Printworid.
Eliade, M. (1972). Shamanism. Princeton .
Faryamanesh, M. (2017). Religions and sects in the Ilkhanid Era. Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
Grabar, O. (2002). Mostly Miniature:An Introduction to Persian Painting . Princeton University Press.
Gruber, C. (2008). The Timurid Book of Ascension (Mi‘rajnama): A Study of Text and Image in a Pan-Asian Context. Valencia: Patrimonio.
Hillenbrand , R. (Ed.). (2001). Persian Painting From the Mongol to the Qajar. London: I.B.Tauris.
Jaschke, H. (1987). A Tibetan-English Dictionary. Motilal Banarsidass.
Jungeon Oh, L. (2005). Islamicised Pseudo-Buddhist Iconography in Ilkhanid Royal Manuscripts. Persica, 91-154.
Kadoi, Y. (2009). Buddhiam in Iran under the Mongols: An Art-historical Analysis. Ninth Conference of the European Society for Central Asian Studies, (pp. 171-80). Newcastle.
Kadoi, Y. (2009). Islamic Chinoiserie. Edinburgh University Press.
Kadoi, Y., & Szanto , I. (Eds.). (2013). The Shaping of Persian Art. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholar Publishing.
Komaroff, L., & Carboni, S. (Eds.). (2002). The Legacy of Genghis Khan. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pal, P. (1969). The Art of Tibet . Los Angeles : The Asia Society of Art.
Prazniak, R. (2014). Ilkhanid Buddhism: Traces of a Passage in Eurasian History. Comparative Study of Society and History, 650-80.
Rossabi, M. (1989). Khubilai Khan. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Rossabi, M. (2015). The Mongol Empire and Its Impact on the Arts of China. In Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors (pp. 214-227). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Sagaster, K. (2007). The History of Buddhism among the Mongol. In D. Sinor, & N. Di Cosmo (Eds.), The Spread of Buddhism. Boston: Leiden.
Sims, E. (2002). Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its sources . London: Yale University Press.
Sperling, E. (1990). Hulego and Tibet. Acta Orientalia Academia Scientiarum Hungaricae, 145-57
Journal of Visual and Applied Arts
Volume 16, Issue 40
July 2023
Pages 5-31

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics