FROM THE “THEORY OF THE TWO QALAMS” TO THE “SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF PAINTING”: THEORY, TERMINOLOGY, AND PRACTICE IN PERSIAN CLASSICAL PAINTING

Abstract

Sura 68 of the Koran begins with the phrase, "Nfin wa'l-qalam wa mayasturin .. ." (Nin. By the pen and by what they inscribe ... ). This enigmatic sentence, in which the angels seem to dip their pen in the inkwell of the niin,l as well as later interpretations (tafsTr) and traditions (hadith), greatly contributed to the kind of divine homage given to Islamic calligraphers. 2 Painters did not benefit from such grace, however, as we know from later religious texts like the hadith, in which opposition to painting was even more open. 3 It is amazing, therefore, to see the efforts Persian painters (and poets!) made to link these two forms of expression. The efforts are particularly exemplified in the arts of the book that were so magnificently practiced in Iran during the period termed "classical."4 These attempts to link calligraphy and painting have a long history, and their evolution-in illuminated manuscripts as well as in literary production-can be followed through various stages. The Iranian world has a well-established tradition of images that goes back to antiquity; an example of the coexistence of text and image in this area can be traced as far back as Achaemenian times, with the inscription of Darius the Great in Bisutun (sixth century B.C.). The structural relation between text and image became increasingly intricate in illustrated manuscripts, at least from the middle of the fourteenth century onwards. These links can be observed, among other things, through the composition and layout of the paintings, which were achieved with the help of calligraphic ruling (the mastar). These relations seem to be expressed in some Persian poetical texts. It would be interesting to know if this relationship between calligraphy and painting found during the classical period of Persian painting had some theoretical basis, and, if it did, whether we have any chance of discovering what it was. Two "theories"-one, the so-called theory of the two qalams and the other known as the "seven principles of painting"-can throw some light on the subject. Although probably drawing on an earlier literary tradition, both of these theories appeared in Safavid Iran, and both represented an attempt to link painting to calligraphy in order to give the former some sort of legitimacy in Islamic art. Some introductory remarks on the Persian literature on art are first necessary to provide a general framework in which these theories appeared and a glimpse of the place the artist occupied in that literature. Although some of these texts have been translated into Western languages, others have not and therefore remain out of the reach of the majority of scholars. One of the first Persian texts to be translated was Qadi Ahmad's Gulistdn-i hunar.5 This biographical account of calligraphers and painters was written between 1596 and 1606 and can be considered fundamental to the history of the arts of Safavid times. As the great Iranian scholar M. T. Danish-Pazhuh has shown, however, some parts of Qadi Ahmad's text were in fact taken from the works of 'Abdi Beg Shirazi.6 Among these borrowings, one passage in particular led specialists to what has been called the "theory of the two qalams."? This theory will therefore be analyzed in the light of 'Abdi Beg Shirazi's original poem, the Ayin-i Iskandart (The Rules of Alexander, ca. 1543),8 which has never been translated, and the works of his followers. The study of such a theory-even if the term is certainly exaggerated-can throw some light on the relations which existed between calligraphy and painting. From the formal relation between text and image, we can then move on to a more intellectual correspondence between form and meaning, with the help of Sadiq Beg Afshar's Qanf2n al-suvar (Canon of