The Arab conquest of the 7th century AD brought Persia into the newly forming Islamic world. Yet it was in Persia that this new artistic movement encountered its greatest test. The conquerors were confronted with a people whose culture reached back millennia and whose artistic achievements ranked among the most sophisticated in the ancient world. Inevitably, this contact left a profound mark on Islamic art.
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Introduction to Islamic Art in Persia
When the Abbasids established Baghdad as their capital (close to the former heart of Sassanian rule) Persian artistic and cultural traditions began to flow strongly into the new empire. The caliphs, as well as the courts of semi-independent dynasties such as the Samanids and the Buwayhids, consciously embraced and revived elements of Persian art and literature. This blending created a distinctly Persian strand within the larger fabric of Islamic culture.
Wherever possible, the artistic inheritance of pre-Islamic Persia was given renewed life. Customs and forms alien to early Islam were sometimes retained or adapted. Islamic painting, metalwork, and decorative arts reveal heavy reliance on Sassanian techniques, while Persian methods of vaulting and spatial design deeply shaped Islamic architecture. Few secular buildings from the early Islamic centuries survive, but evidence suggests that many retained features of Sassanian palaces, such as domed audience halls and ground plans arranged around central courtyards.
The most significant change of the new era lay in the regulation of figural representation. Lifelike portraits and naturalistic depictions of historical events were discouraged in accordance with sayings attributed to the Prophet:
“On the Day of Resurrection, God will consider image-makers as the men most deserving of punishment.”
Three-dimensional representations of living creatures were largely forbidden in religious settings. Persian craftsmen, however, responded with extraordinary inventiveness. They refined an already rich vocabulary of abstract and ornamental motifs; executed in stone, stucco, tile, or manuscript decoration. Many motifs harked back to ancient Near Eastern traditions: fabulous composite creatures such as winged sphinxes and griffins, mythic birds like the phoenix, as well as floral devices, rosettes, grapevines, and medallion patterns.
In secular contexts, however, attitudes could be more flexible. Wall paintings in palaces and bathhouses often depicted hunting, feasting, and romantic scenes for the entertainment of patrons, with little opposition.
The Persians were also quick to recognise the aesthetic and spiritual power of the Arabic script. Calligraphy emerged as the highest art form of the Islamic world, and in Persia it reached new heights.
The fluid elegance of ta‘liq (the “hanging script”) and its celebrated derivative nasta‘liq, formalised in the 13th century but rooted in much earlier traditions, are said to have evolved from pre-Islamic Sassanian writing styles. Manuscripts were further adorned by illuminators and, occasionally, miniature painters, who brought subtle narrative illustration to the written word.
Despite centuries of conquest and foreign domination by Arabs, Turks, Mongols, and others, Persia’s cultural tradition proved remarkably resilient. Persian art developed continuously, preserving a strong sense of identity while contributing to the broader Islamic aesthetic. The adherence of much of the Persian population to Shi‘ism, often less rigid in artistic restrictions than Sunni orthodoxy, also helped sustain local traditions. By the time the Seljuks established rule in the 11th century and stricter interpretations of Islam gained ground, the Persian element in Islamic art was already so deeply embedded that it could not be erased.
The Abbasid Period (750 – 1285 AD)
After the first shock of conquest had passed, the Persians turned to the task of assimilating their new rulers. Artists and craftsmen placed their skills at the service of the caliphs, while the language of Islamic architecture and ornament absorbed the materials and methods of Sassanian art. Brickwork, stucco, and vaulted forms became the foundation of Abbasid building, while Persian taste shaped much of the artistic vocabulary.
Architecture
The most imposing monument of the period is the Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq (848–852), built under the caliph al-Mutawakkil. At the time of its construction, it was the largest mosque in the Islamic world, covering an area of 748 by 512 feet. Its most striking feature is the spiral minaret (al-Malwiyya), with an external staircase winding upward in a bold gesture that still dominates the Mesopotamian plain.
The architecture of Samarra reveals both continuity and adaptation: the use of baked brick recalled ancient Mesopotamia, while stucco ornament and varied arches provided surfaces of great decorative richness. The scarcity of timber in the region encouraged the development of vaulting techniques, which were repeated throughout the Islamic world.
In Persia itself, early mosques such as that of Nayin (c. 960), east of Isfahan, testify to the spread of Abbasid styles. Its hypostyle hall, with rows of brick columns adorned with delicate stucco, echoes the motifs of Samarra while beginning to shape a distinctly Persian expression.
Ceramics
It was in the decorative arts, and especially in pottery, that the Abbasid era saw its most remarkable advances. By the 9th century, Persian potters had mastered the use of cobalt blue on white slip, producing bold designs of striking clarity. They also perfected the art of lustre-painting, applying metallic pigments in tones of red, gold, green, or brown to create iridescent surfaces that glittered like precious metals.
Nishapur became a major centre of production. Here, plates were painted with Kufic inscriptions bearing moral proverbs, such as “The beginning of knowledge is bitter, but the end is sweeter than honey”, as well as with stylized birds, animals, or geometric designs. Striped wares in olive-green, black, and red-brown reveal the influence of Tang China, with whom the Abbasids maintained lively contacts through trade. By the 12th century, Persian ceramics from places like Gorgan displayed turquoise glazes, arabesque designs, and even mythical figures such as the Simurgh, showing both innovation and continuity.
Painting and Frescoes
Fragments of wall paintings discovered at Samarra reveal scenes of dancers, musicians, and banquets—decorations reserved for palaces and private quarters rather than mosques. Their style owes much to Sassanian court art, with echoes of Hellenistic naturalism in the treatment of figures. In eastern Iran, a painted female head from Nishapur (late 8th–early 9th century) shows close affinity with the Samarra style, though with less classical influence and more distinctly Persian stylization.
Manuscripts and Illustration
In the later Abbasid period, pictorial art shifted into manuscripts. Scientific, medical, and literary works were copied and illustrated, especially in Baghdad. While these early miniatures were modest in scope, they laid the foundation for the great Persian traditions of book illustration that would flourish under the Buwayhids and Seljuks.
As the Abbasid caliphate waned, regional dynasties rose to prominence, and in Persia, new courts fostered a flourishing of art and culture that would carry the Persian spirit into ever more distinctive expressions.
The Samanid Period (819–1005 AD)
With the decline of Abbasid authority in the 9th and 10th centuries, local dynasties once again rose to power in Persia. Among the most important were the Samanids, who established their rule in Transoxiana, with Bukhara and Samarkand as their capitals. Under their patronage, these cities became renowned centres of learning, literature, and the arts, celebrated throughout the Islamic world.
Architecture
The most enduring monument of Samanid art is the Mausoleum of Ismail the Samanid in Bukhara (c. 907). This square, domed structure is remarkable for its masterful use of baked brick, both structurally and decoratively. Complex geometric patterns in brickwork adorn both the interior and exterior, creating a play of light and shadow that anticipates later Persian architectural styles. It remains one of the earliest and most sophisticated examples of brick used as a medium of ornament in Islamic architecture.
This domed square displays one of the earliest and most spectacular uses of brick in Iranian architectural decoration. Brick patterns appear inside and outside the building.
Ceramics
Samanid pottery is among the most fully documented and influential of the period. By the 9th and 10th centuries, ceramic wares from Transoxiana were prized across eastern Persia. The most celebrated are the slip-painted bowls decorated with bold black Kufic inscriptions on a white ground. These inscriptions (often moral aphorisms, blessings, or good wishes) represent one of the finest adaptations of Arabic calligraphy to pottery. Their visual impact lies in the power of the word itself, transformed into pure ornament.
While figure decoration was absent from the refined wares of Samarkand and Bukhara, the pottery of Khorasan, particularly from Nishapur, retained narrative and figural imagery. Slip-painted bowls often feature lively hunting scenes, recalling the grandeur of Sassanian royal traditions, surrounded by animals, flowers, and inscriptions. This fusion of text, ornament, and imagery reflects the creative balance between Islamic aesthetics and Persian heritage.
Painting and Frescoes
Very little survives of Samanid painting, apart from a few wall fragments uncovered at Nishapur. One striking image shows a mounted falconer in full gallop; a pose inherited from Sassanian art. Dressed in Iranian style, with steppe influences such as high boots, the figure demonstrates the persistence of Persian themes of nobility, hunting, and kingship well into the Islamic period.
Textiles
The Samanid period was also renowned for its textiles. Workshops in Merv, Nishapur, and across Khorasan produced vast quantities of silk and cotton fabrics, though only fragments remain. Among the most famous is the Sudarium of St. Josse, preserved in Europe.
The inscription wishes ‘glory and prosperity to Abu Mansur Bukhtegin, may God prolong (His favours to him?)’.
This extraordinary textile bears Kufic inscriptions wishing “glory and prosperity” to Abu Mansur Bukhtegin, a Samanid court official executed in 960. Its design features pairs of elephants, Bactrian camels, and decorative borders in a style that closely echoes Sassanian models.
Though the surviving figures may appear rigid, the composition reflects a direct continuity of Persian artistic traditions, now reshaped to serve the aesthetics of the Islamic court.
The brilliance of Samanid brickwork, ceramics, and textiles set a standard for elegance and innovation; their legacy was inherited and transformed by the Ghaznavids, who carried Persian art into new courts and territories.
The Ghaznavid Period (10th–12th Century)
Ghaznavid art takes its name from the dynasty founded by the Turkish ruler Sabuktagin, whose successors governed from the city of Ghazni, in present-day Afghanistan. Their empire extended across eastern Persia, Central Asia, and northern India. Though of Turkic origin, the Ghaznavids spoke Persian, revived pre-Islamic festivals, and promoted Persian literature, becoming powerful patrons of the neo-Persian culture that flourished at their court.
Ghazni itself became a meeting ground between the Islamic and Indian worlds. Indian craftsmen worked alongside Persian and Central Asian artisans, and while Indian monuments left some impression on the conquerors, surviving evidence suggests that Ghaznavid art remained firmly rooted in Persian-Islamic traditions.
Architecture
Ghaznavid architecture demonstrates how decoration was considered inseparable from structure. Brickwork not only provided the framework of buildings but also created striking geometric patterns on their surfaces. Marble was used extensively in Ghazni, often surpassing stucco in importance. Contemporary sources describe its use for the facing of the mosque known as the “Bride of the Sky,” whose splendour was said to rival that of Damascus. Unfortunately, the Ghaznavids’ use of sun-dried brick, combined with the region’s harsh frosts, led to the ruin of most of their monuments.
“Minaret of Mas’ud III”, Two details of the brick decoration, Ghazni, 11th century.
Among the most celebrated remains are the tall minarets of Ghazni, such as that of Mas‘ud III, decorated with bands of Kufic inscriptions and rich brick ornament. In his palace, molded terra-cotta tiles and glazed ceramic plaques in green, brown, and yellow enamel were set into the walls, featuring animals, birds, and floral motifs. These fragments, preserved today in Kabul, show the courtly splendour that once adorned Ghaznavid halls.
One of the most important Ghaznavid innovations was the adoption of the cruciform plan: a central courtyard surrounded by four vaulted iwans. This design became a defining feature of Persian architecture, widely adopted in mosques and madrasas for centuries to come.
Perched on the banks of the Helmand River, the South or Grand Palace was the largest of several royal residences within the palace-city of Lashkari Bazar, a flourishing Ghaznavid capital north of ancient Bust
Painting and Sculpture
Like the Abbasids, the Ghaznavids used figural painting extensively in palaces and private spaces. At Lashkari Bazaar, the palace frescoes show rows of dignitaries in long cloaks, depicted frontally with their feet in profile. The composition recalls the ceremonial processions carved at Persepolis or Susa, suggesting a conscious echo of ancient Iranian traditions of kingship and representation.
Turkic influences also entered Ghaznavid painting, linking it to broader Central Asian traditions. Parallels have been drawn between Persian wall paintings of the period and those found at Bezeklik and Toyuk in Chinese Turkestan.
Bas-reliefs from Ghazni further reveal scenes of courtly life, dancers, musicians, and royal hunts. Horsemen pursuing lions or wild beasts recall Sassanian themes, but with a new refinement of line and fluidity of movement that foreshadows later Persian miniature painting.
Decorative Arts
Marble carving reached an exceptional standard. Large sculptured slabs, often decorated on both sides with vegetal or geometric designs, were used to adorn palaces and religious buildings. These works demonstrate both technical mastery and the Ghaznavids’ taste for monumental splendour.
Calligraphy
Calligraphy flourished under the Ghaznavids, achieving a particular elegance during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim (1059–1099). Kufic script, with ornamental borders, reached its most refined form and became a model for Persian provinces for centuries afterward.
Although only fragments of Ghaznavid art survive, their historical importance lies in the innovations they transmitted to the Seljuks. Monumental towers, cruciform mosque plans, richly carved marble, and the flowering of Persian literature all point to the Ghaznavids as a crucial link between Samanid refinement and the great artistic flowering of the Seljuk age.
The Seljuk Period (11th–13th Century)
The Seljuk era, spanning from the mid-11th century until the rise of the Mongol Ilkhans in the 13th century, marked a turning point in the history of Islamic art and architecture. During these centuries, the centre of political and cultural power shifted decisively toward Persia and Anatolia, with major capitals at Merv, Nishapur, Rayy, and Isfahan.
Despite the Turkic origins of the dynasty, this was a period of profound Persian revival. Beginning with the completion of Ferdowsi’s “Shahnameh” (Book of Kings), Persian language and culture were embraced at court, and the visual arts entered a period of intense creativity. The innovations of the Seljuk period set the course for centuries of artistic development, influencing lands from India to Asia Minor.
Architecture
Seljuk minaret of the mosque at Damghan, Iran. The decorative effect achieved by the use of recessed bricks, forming highly original rhythms and geometric patterns, is characteristic of this 11th century Persian art.
Seljuk architecture is distinguished by the decorative use of unplastered brick, replacing the stucco facings that had previously covered walls. Minarets, such as that of the mosque at Damghan (11th century), display highly original patterns created by recessed bricks, producing rhythmic geometric designs unique to Persian art of the time.
The Seljuks perfected the cruciform mosque plan, first developed under the Ghaznavids. This design featured a courtyard framed by four great vaulted halls, or iwans, a form derived from ancient Sassanian palaces. It became the hallmark of Persian religious architecture, exemplified by the rebuilding of the Great Mosque of Isfahan in 1121. The four-iwan plan continued to dominate Persian architecture, inspiring masterpieces such as the Royal Mosque (Masjid-i Shah) of Shah Abbas in the 17th century.
Stucco reliefs also adorned palace and religious interiors. A celebrated example from Rayy (late 12th century) depicts Sultan Tughril II enthroned in regal splendour, surrounded by courtiers. Inscriptions proclaim him “the victorious, just king,” echoing ancient traditions of kingship in a new Islamic guise.
Ceramics
Persian ceramics reached dazzling heights under the Seljuks. Early wares used carved or moulded decoration under monochrome glazes, while the celebrated silhouette ware employed black slip painting beneath a transparent glaze, often featuring birds, fabulous creatures, or human figures set against foliage.
By the late 12th century, Persian potters pioneered the brilliant minai (enamel-painted) technique. Produced in Rayy, Kashan, and Saveh, minai wares were double-fired, allowing multiple colours and gold to be applied over the glaze. These vessels often depicted courtly scenes, hunting, battles, or episodes from the Shahnameh. Though rapidly executed, the painting is full of life and refinement, linking the ceramic arts with the emerging traditions of Persian miniature painting.
Manuscripts and Calligraphy
Though few Seljuk manuscripts survive due to the Mongol invasions, evidence suggests that book painting was highly developed, mirroring the imagery of ceramics. Qur’ans from 11th–12th century Iran survive in greater numbers, written in majestic Kufic and later scripts, often against foliate backgrounds with coloured diacritical marks. The flexibility of Arabic calligraphy (letters extended horizontally or vertically without losing balance) was exploited to magnificent decorative effect.
Metalwork
Metalwork of the Seljuk period displays extraordinary craftsmanship. Bronze was the most common medium, cast, engraved, or inlaid with silver, copper, and occasionally gold. Openwork perfume burners in animal form, elaborate candlesticks, mirrors, and vessels reveal both technical mastery and artistic imagination.
Luxury tableware. Silver rose-water sprinkler with cap; repousse and chased, with niello decoration and guilding. The very few pieces of Seljuk metalwork in silver point to a serious shortage of that metal.
One of the finest surviving examples is a bronze bucket made at Herat in 1163, richly inlaid with gold, silver, and copper, now preserved in the Hermitage Museum. Its decoration includes courtly figures and hunting scenes interwoven with calligraphy, demonstrating the interpenetration of word and image that characterized Seljuk art. A silver rose-water sprinkler with niello and gilding illustrates the luxury items crafted for the elite, though the rarity of silver pieces suggests the scarcity of the metal.
A Golden Age of Persian Art
The Seljuk centuries stand as one of the most intensely creative periods in the history of Islamic art. From monumental mosques and elegant minarets to lustrous ceramics, illuminated manuscripts, and finely inlaid bronzes, every medium flourished. Regional centres such as Rayy, Kashan, Isfahan, and Herat developed distinctive styles, yet all contributed to a shared Persian aesthetic that shaped the course of Islamic art for generations.
The Seljuks forged a true golden age, where Persian architecture, ceramics, calligraphy, and metalwork set standards of beauty and refinement that resonated across the Islamic world. Yet this brilliance was soon tested by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century—devastating at first, but ultimately giving rise to a new chapter of artistic renewal under the Ilkhans.
Which aspect of Persian-Islamic art from the 7th–13th centuries inspires you most — architecture, ceramics, manuscripts, or metalwork, and how do you feel its legacy lives on today?
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