Farangi-Sazi () was a style of Persian painting that originated in Safavid Iran in the second half of the 17th century. This style of painting emerged during the reign of Shah Abbas II (r. 1642–1666), but first became prominent under Shah Solayman I (r. 1666–1694).
Farangi-sazi paintings depicted many types of different scenarios, varying from traditional Iranian scenes, such as portrayal of kings and aristocrats, to European depictions, sceneries, biblical, and mythological events. The style because an item of significance, for it was used to amplify core values and beliefs in the Safavid community.
Only a few 17th-century artists made paintings in the style of Farangi-sazi, with the most prominent ones being Aliqoli Jebadar, an artist that raised through the ranks of the Safavid court, and Mohammad Zaman, the one who introduced Farangi-sazi and the painter of one of the most famous Farangi-sazi paintings: Bahram Gor with the Indian Princess.
The terms & characteristics Note: "Saz" refers to the artists and "sazi" their works.
The term "Farangi-sazi" as used today seems to have developed in the early 20th century. Specific to late Safavid painting & its derivatives, it excludes the work of later European-trained painters like Sani al-Mulk and Kamal ol-Molk. The word, Farangi, means "Frank" in English, deriving from the word "Franc", as that word has been used across Asia and Africa to describe people of European descent, foreigners, or Western influence in general. Farangi-sazi, in simple terms, means "Frank style", or European art style.
The 17th century artist Jani sometimes signed his paintings "Farangi saz" while he was working for a doctor in Isfahan. He filled a forty-five page sketchbook for him, but outside of that, no other contemporary use of the term is known.
Per Negar Habibi, "Farangi-sazi" requires more than a "discreet use of a European technique, a mere presence of chiaroscuro or perspective... The Occidentalist character of some late 17th-century Persian paintings is borne out by the presence of European cultural elements, not in an exhaustive or scientific way, but rather in order to capture some evocative traits and fantasies.” Many of these said "fantasies" includes stories from noble courts and religion, both from Christianity and Islam.
Characteristics Multiple methods and manners were added into the traditional artwork to create "Farangi-Sazi." Innovations associated with "Farangi-Sazi" include the following:
The use of perspective to indicate depth within paintings. The importance given to landscape and describing what occurred in the world. Chiaroscuro, the use of contrast between light and dark colors, promoting shading and highlighting other features. The use of watercolor and stippling, a technique that uses small dots to promote shading or different degrees of solidity. The use of stippling may have been inspired by paintings on imported enamel objects, like hand watches. Different bodily proportions that mimics the European Renaissance's style that Islamic artisans took inspiration from. Despite taking heavy inspiration from these standards, these innovations don't always strictly follow European conventions. The direction of lighting, for example, is often unclear except in candlelit night scenes, and its exposure is often inconsistent.
Artists
Mohammad Zaman ibn Haji Yusuf Qumi
Source:
Mohammad Zaman seems to have been active between 1649 and 1704. He died sometime before 1720/21. Very little is known about his life aside from his (and his pupils') inscriptions.There was a belief that he studied in Rome, converted to Christianity, and fled to India, however that has been rejected by Anatoly Ivanov, a Russian interdisciplinary artist, and other art creators.Ivanov, A. A. “The Life of Muḥammed Zamān: A Reconsideration.” Journal of Persian Studies 17 (1979): 65–70. https://doi.org/10.2307/4299675.
He is best known for his narrative illustrations for the Khamsa of Nizami and the Shahnameh as well as his variants on European prints. He is sometimes known as "the father of Farangi-Sazi".
He is often associated with the signature "ya sahib al-zaman", however he wasn't the only one to have used it.There were a series of painters who signed their works with this inscription in the 18th century
See object description: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/448442
For other "Zamans": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Shah_Abbas_II,_by_Mohammad_Zaman_III_(active_1758-1795),_Qajar_Iran,_second_half_18th_century.jpg
Deux filles | Musées d'art et d'histoire de Genève (mahmah.ch)
Un rossignol et une rose | Musées d'art et d'histoire de Genève (mahmah.ch)
File:Eagle on a Tree - Agha Zaman II - Islamic Consultative Assembly Museum of Iran.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
File:Sheikh San'an and the Christian Girl - Agha Zaman II - Islamic Consultative Assembly Museum of Iran.jpg - Wikipedia
:File:Rose and Nightingale - Agha Zaman II - Islamic Consultative Assembly Museum of Iran.jpg
https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/351869?position=351869 https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/arts-of-the-islamic-world-l09723/lot.68.html Family
Not much is known about his family, but he did have a brother named Haji Mohammad Ebrahim Note: The Grove Encyclopedia entry for Muhammad Zaman says he had a brother named Muhammad Ibrahim (ibn Hajji Yusuf) but does not mention him using "Haji Muhammad".
However, the Iranica article on Farangi-sazi by Negar Habibi does mention Muhammad Zaman having a brother named "Haji Mohammad-Ebrahim". Also see the listing here: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454014 and two sons, named Mohammad AliFor some of his works:
https://hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/228498 & Mohammad Yusuf,Axel Langer "Pencase" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;sw;Mus21;9;enhttps://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG12636 all of which were artists themselves.
Haji Mohammad Ebrahim produced some surviving lacquer paintings. He may have worked with his brother on a privately commissioned Khamsa in the Morgan Library; however, this attribution has been disputed.Skeptics point out how its illustrations are of poorer quality than Muhammad Zaman's better-known illustrations in royal manuscripts. Langer suggests this "uncharacteristic haste" can be explained by the fact that the manuscript was produced for a private patron, perhaps on a tight schedule.
Aliquli Jabbadar His last name, Jabbadar, suggests that Aliquli Jabbadar was a steward of the Royal Armoury (Jebakhana).
It is speculated that he is from Georgian or Albanianhttps://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6099293 origin, based on details in his inscriptions, like referring himself as farangi , "the Frank". He also referred himself as ghulāmzāda-i qadimi ("former slave"), beg ("lord"), naqqash-bashi ("head of mosaics") and jabbadār ("keeper of the armory").
Close copies of European prints are rare. Instead, his derivative works are often composites of elements taken from multiple sources. Per Habibi, his work is characterized by bright colors, a rejection of outline, and an avoidance of heavy contrasts.
He also produced group portraits recording court ceremony & activities. Several are in the St. Petersburg Muraqqa. Many of his other art pieces remain in museums in Russia and the United States.
History and context
Background After Tahmasp's kitabkhana closed in 1555, miniature production shifted towards standalone pieces, spawning new genres like single-figure portraits and the nude. These also included ghulam-i farangi, depictions of young men in European dress reflecting the growing European presence in Abbas I's reign.
European printsIn the reign of Abbas I, one Alessandro Scudenoli ran a shop with Italian art in a Isfahan bazaar made an impression on local artists, occasionally leading to the borrowing of poses and motifs.A similar process occurred at the same time in the Mughal Empire (and Deccan Sultanates) with greater frequency and intensity. See Farrukh Beg's portrait of a Sufi sage based on Durer's Melancholia I, dated 1615 after his return to Agra. Take the series below, which Stuart Cary Welch suggested was based on a Marcantonio Raimondi engraving.European visitorsand also the shah's Armenian subjects; see Langer for recorded instances often brought works of art as gifts to the Safavid court,These included the medieval Morgan Bible (gifted to Abbas I,1608) as well as portraits of Charles I of England and his wife Henrietta Maria (gifted to Shah Safi, 1638; not extant). They also included decorative objects like enameled watches and a few worked as artists themselves, like Philips Angel II (ca. 1653-55).However, none of their works are known to survive
The New Julfa Armenian community also played a role in transmitting European artistic influence. A few poorly documented Armenian painters- "Marcos"Three signed works from him are in the Royal Collection Trust (one is linked) and "Minas"Minas studied under a Dutch artist in Aleppo. No known works by him survive.- were producing oil-on-canvas portraits in Isfahan in the 1630s & 40s.Babaie, Sussan. “Shah ʿAbbas II, the Conquest of Qandahar, the Chihil Sutun, and Its Wall Paintings.” Muqarnas, 1994, Vol. 11 (1994), pp. 125-142. Brill. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523214 Note similarities between the Europeanizing murals of Chehel Sotoun and some wall paintings in New Julfa; precedence uncertain.
The style develops
The late Safavid Europeanizing style possibly originated in building projects like Chehel Sotoun (mid-1600s), whose wall paintings were a blend of variety of artistic traditions- Persian, European, Armenian.Landau, Amy S. “From Poet to Painter: Allegory and Metaphor in a Seventeenth-Century Persian Painting by Muhammad Zaman, Master of Farangi-Sazi." Muqarnas 28 (2011): 101–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23350285.
European paintings & prints held in the Khazanae.g. Royal Treasury & JebakhanaRoyal Treasury may also have served as a model. Aliquli Jabbadar's name suggests he was once a steward of the Jebakhana.Habibi, Negar. “The Making of New Art: From the Khazana to Its Audience at the Court of Shah Soleyman.” Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires, 2021. doi:10.5040/9780755633814.CH-018.
Maturity By the 1670s, Farangi sazi was used to depict quintessential Persian subjects: scenes from the Shahnameh,See this 1663-69 Shahnameh in the Metropolitan Museum Nizami's Khamsa, and contemporary court life.
The style was one of several that coexisted in the 17th century. Through Mo'en Mosavver and others, the tradition of Reza Abbasi persisted without strong European influence, while other artists like Sheikh Abbasi and his son Ali Naqi worked in an Indian-influenced mode. Still others- among them Reza Abbasi's son Mohammad Shafi- pioneered genres like the gol o morg (flower and bird), sometimes influenced by European and Mughal models. These artists took cues selectively from European & Mughal conventions, adopting a new approach to light and shadow and to landscape.
Later developments The hybrid Isfahani style continued at regional centers like Shiraz after the fall of the Safavid state. Painters active in the style included Mohammad-Ali ibn Mohammad Zamanson of Muhammad Zaman and Mohammad-Ali ibn Abdu'l Naaisha's Ibn Ali-Quli Jubbadar.grandson of Aliquli JabbadarDiba, Layla. "Persian Painting in the Eighteenth Century: Tradition and Transmission." In Muqarnas, 1989. https://www.academia.edu/33526034/Persian_Painting_in_the_Eighteenth_Century_Tradition_and_Transmission