A Religious Subject on a Persian Qalamkār

Summary

A great deal has already been written about the contrast between the iconomachal teachings of Islam and actual practice in which living beings are portrayed. This contradiction becomes even sharper when it concerns depictions of subjects from the sacred history of Islam such as the lives of the Prophets or, among the Shi’is, of the Imāms. The European is led to ask in such cases whether there is, after all, pictorial religious art in Islam. If by this is meant an ecclesiastical art which has a function in the symbolism of the religion, the question must certainly be answered in the negative. The examples of religious representations which do exist are more or less incidental cases. They are to be found primarily among the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, often among illustrations of entirely profane themes. In general, it may be said that the function of such representations is more decorative than religious, although the possibility that those who commissioned them or the artists themselves had devout intentions is of course not ruled out.

In addition to these examples from the great tradition of Islamic painting, there are religious pictures of a much simpler nature. These are the popular prints and paintings which are found in great variety in almost all Muslim countries. To mention just a few examples: coloured pilgrimage prints and wall paintings on the tombs of saints in Egypt; the wall paintings in the Masjid-i Jāmiʿ of Sidih;3 and portraits of ʿAlī and other holy figures of the Shiʿa exhibited by dervishes on the street during their recitations in Persia. These representations often seem to have a rather close relation with phenomena which are included in the popular forms of the Islamic religion. That in this sphere the impulse to portray the sacred subjects is often stronger than doctrine is not at all surprising. Relations between official doctrine and these phenomena are often quite strained.

The subject of this discussion undoubtedly belongs to this category. It is a cloth which recently came into the possession of the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. A reproduction is given on plate I.