PERSIAN PAINTINGS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20176, 3 March 1931, Page 5

PERSIAN PAINTINGS.

~ ...Jh 1 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. (moil on* own coasxsponssKT.) LONDON, January 20. At the International Congress on Persian Art a paper was read which had been written by the late Sir T. W. Arnold. ' Jin this it was .stated that the origins of Persian fainting presented a* problem which had not yet -received thorough investigation". The", problem,', briefly, -was, how was the gnlf td be bridged between' the . earliest examples of painting that had survived from the Mohammedan period and the schools ' of painting that undoubtedly existed in Persia before tho rise of Islam f The earliest examples of such Mohammedan .paintings were exceedingly rare. In the -Mohammedan world the. painter lacked' the 'sympathy. and encouragement which afefotrtfedJls! working in a Buddhist or Christian society to produce works of 'art in the service xrf religion, and thus Islamic art had always lacked one of the strongest incentives to artis* tie ; production which the world' had known*' v - Another circumstance that had' contributed to narrow field of possible investigation had been the. appalling 4ttCo9Mibtt~of destructive agencies that had swept away examples of pictorial art. ;It ~*dio&* by easier to'recognise "what influences froiA the art of Persia 'in pre-Mohammedan time's' had survived ;|apae>f fIOK many centuries Ifmore monuments of Sasanian art had survivedT£e groat rock sculptures gavfe some idea ;of the stately decoration of the .Sasfciian' palaces. Still more helpful ■ indications were provided by the Sasanian. iilvejr vessels preserved ehiefiy In' 'the museums of . Russia,-■ with oxaiples tilso in London and Paris. -JThat:. painting'was also encouraged by the, Sasanian Kings .was known from historifeal jrecprda, , Ohriatian Designs. , While . there was historical evidence to ahow that the traditions of Sasanian art survived' among the 2oroastrtans Persia aftSr the Arab conquest, v it mast be remembered that.-there were' jn PeVsia other Religious communities, likewise of" an indigenous , stock—namely, ihe members of the Christian Church in Persia, which'had'a continuous'history ."for 'several" centuries after -Islam/ became 'the.-dominant faith in thei*. native 'country. Among the pieces of Sasanian silver, work that had survived, there-was « dish, covered with Christian .designs, such-as the Denial'of Peter, the Crucifixion. -the Marys at the and "the Ascension, This dish .-afforded evidence ofx.the existence-of either Christian workmen or Christian influence in ' the ariistia activity of Persia, before the iMohammedan conquest,and such activity #ight well have been carried ,on even jander the changed political conditions.. How large a part the Persian-Christians played, in'the, artistic 'life of their .eountrf had not yet been determined# Trot when such aninvestigation was undertaken .the rich artistic output of the city of Ray wobld forjfcvpArt' Of the anbject matter pf such an investigation, for tiat city, was at one time the seat ofV a, Nestorian- Metropolitan, and probably'Vcontained" a'-.toonsiderable ..Christian community up to the time of * its destruction.

* Parents" of Jarge families in France receive money prizes from a fund which provides 92 donations of £2OO each and '142 of £BO each/ Among some recently honoured •'Were'two families of" fifteen children each,'three with' fourteen, and eight,wiik\thU;teen. -