Plants, pools, and pavilions : 16th century Safavid garden paintings and expressions of authority

In the realm of Persian manuscript painting, gardens and their associated structures are rarely endowed with a purpose in the scene’s larger narratives. However, the addition of various plant forms and built spaces within the garden instead function within essential Safavid ideals about sovereignty and the landscape. Looking specifically at a pair of 16th-century paintings originating from Qazvin, I argue that landscapes are not simply beautiful, but that depictions of these complex spaces indicates a mastery over nature, function to legitimize rulers and their territory, and operate within a distinctly Safavid conception of kingship. By examining the conditions of Safavid Qazvin politically, and the way gardens functioned within such a society, I connect painted gardens to their physical counterparts in the late-1500s, and to larger ways these paintings aided Safavid goals in affirming empire and solidifying cultural identity. These scenes are deliberately delightful and referential of the ideal—but they are also part of a larger cultural program aimed at creating and embellishing on the social fabric of Persian cities. Through the course of this thesis, I take a closer look at what is and is not included in the landscaped ‘background’, and why these choices are part of a larger conversation that should preclude them from their seeming status in the shadowsArt Histor