The Figure of Rostam on Qajar Pictorial Tiles, an Examination of Portals, Buildings and Single Cases

Qajar rule, dominated by the long reigns of Fath Ali Shah and his great-grandson, Nasir ad-Din Shah, provided a relatively stable political environment favorable to the encouragement of ambitious architectural programs and the decorative arts. Here, two concepts of “eclecticism” and “innovation” are among the many intriguing influences that contribute to an understanding of the richness of Qajar cultural life, especially as revealed in the visual arts, where fresh inspiration was possible through the impact of new technology and an expanded iconographic repertoire. All this was supported by the cumulative inheritance of the deep-rooted, colorful, and pictorial tradition of Iran’s arts and crafts, which extend back to the pre-Islamic past of the Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sasanians. The strength of this tradition was such that it survived the period of unrest and civil dispute that interrupted the sequence of Iranian history between the collapse of the Safavids in 1722 and the emergence of the Qajars by 1785. The resources and techniques of architecture and its associated decoration of sculptured stone relief, polychrome tilework, and carved and molded stucco, and of arts and crafts such as book illustration, painted lacquer, knotted pile carpet weaving, painting, printing and embroidering of textiles were at their disposal to be revived, adapted, and exploited. Emphasizing ancestral themes with a look at past heritage was a conscious policy followed by the Qajars to continue and legitimize their reign in the 19th century. Apart from poetry and literature, such a matter manifested itself visually in the portraits and figures of mythological rulers and heroes in different art media, including tilework. After a period of decline in tile production during the 18th century, there was a remarkable revival of tilework decoration during the Qajar period where craftsmen continued the traditional techniques of mosaic, overglaze and underglaze-painting. They experimented with new treatments and themes and introduced a range of bright colors in this period. Rostam, the mythical hero of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Books of Kings) was a subject frequently depicted on Qajar pictorial tiles in public and private spheres, like royal palaces, residences, mansions, houses, bathrooms, bazaars, gates and portals more than any other mythological figures. This constant, growing presence raises some questions as follows: What political and social backgrounds facilitated such heroic manifestation on Qajar tiles? What are the distinct physical features of Rostam in these works? And what other fields could be connected to this subject? Results of the research indicate that the revival of ancient ideology concerning the pre-Islamic Persian great kingships, and that of the ancestral themes by Qajars, especially in the first half of this dynasty, as well as the promotion of folk art foundations and nationalism among the ordinary people created optimal conditions for a visible manifestation of Rostam figure and the Shahnameh stories, most specifically those from Haft Khan (the Seven Labors of Rostam), on the pictorial tiles in architectural decorations of Qajar era.