Patterns and Motifs
Riza Quli Khan Hidayat was a 19th century Persian writer who was sent as a representative of the Qajar dynasty to reclaim the steppes between the Caspian Sea and Oxus River, which fell between modern day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (Khazeni 2010, 592). In his travels, he mapped the path of the Oxus river that brought cultivation in the steppes and wrote, “During winters, the river is frozen over, allowing caravans to pass over it, while the water flows beneath the ice" (Khazeni 2010, 599).
Riza Quli Khan Hidayat also noted that regular encounters and exchanges occurred amongst the nomads he met in his travels who would partake in twice-weekly bazaars in the city of Khiva (located in Uzbekistan) (Khazeni 2010, 604). What likely took place in these bazaars was not only an exchange of material goods, but also a barter system of cultural exchange. Along the Silk Roads, oasis towns typically served as centres of exchange where travellers, pilgrims, and settlers would coexist, trade and sometimes adopt artistic styles and practises from one another (Khazeni 2010, 604). This first-hand historical evidence serves the purpose of encapsulating the dynamics of exchanges along the Silk Roads and further, opens up the discussion for how more than just material items were exchanged but also ideological, symbolic, and cultural meanings were simultaneously adopted in these encounters. Within these exchanges, I argue that patterns and motifs were perhaps some of the most physically noticeable shared items among cultures, peoples and religions.
The Pomegranate: Health, Fertility and Resurrection.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition titled “An Enduring Motif: The Pomegranate in Textiles” outlined the popular depictions of the fruit with its origins tracing back to Persia thousands of years ago. In this exhibit, the pomegranate is acknowledged as a fruit symbolizing health, fertility and resurrection (Blum et al.). It highlights the different depictions of the fruit, whether through art, textiles, poetry or use of the physical fruit amongst different cultures. One primary example of the symbolic meanings of the fruit in Islamic culture is demonstrated through Islamic legends where the pomegranate’s seeds were each a gift descended from Paradise. (Blum et al.) The exhibit features a Turkish Quit made in the Ottoman Empire between the 17th-19th centuries with embroidered imagery of the pomegranate motif. Perhaps the maker of this quilt intended for the symbolic qualities of the pomegranate to be gifted to the user of the quilt.
John Gillow’s Textiles of the Islamic World offers insight on the various styles of textiles around the Islamic world. In his findings, Tajikistan textiles, especially prayer cloths depicting a “Mihrab” (an arched wall in a Mosque pointing to the direction of Mecca) often used the pomegranate motif to symbolize happiness and fertility (Gillow 2010, 212). In these representations, the pomegranate is illustrated as a flat circle, given the illusion of pointed ends through the surrounding vine-like motifs and the stem typically placed at the bottom. The enduring presence of the pomegranate amongst cultures both within and outside of the Islamic world represent a notion of shared ideologies. Prior to the Islamic world’s symbolic depictions of the pomegranate, the same fruit was found buried in the tombs of the Ancient Egyptians who believed the pomegranate possessed the ability to help the deceased journey into a second life through resurrection (Blum et al.). The purpose of identifying these separate depictions of the pomegranate is to illustrate the enduring symbolism of the fruit throughout time and space where, even if adopted from another culture, the motif then becomes constructed with its own meaning in a new cultural context.
Suzani
The embroidered flower-like motifs of the robe bear a strong resemblance to a Persian-inspired textile called Suzani, a style commonly produced in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan (Gilchrist 2020).
In my initial research process of the AKM PS24 artefact, I initially came to the conclusion that the robe likely came from Uzbekistan or Tajikistan on the basis of the Suzani pattern, which in my opinion at the time, beared a strong resemblance to the floral or pomegranate-like motifs adorned on the robe. However, upon more current research and exposure to similar patterns across Islamic art styles, I came to realize that my obsession with attempting to narrow the origins of the robe would likely lead me to a path of unanswered questions. It soon became evident that the more important objective was to trace the sharing of such motifs between various cultures, religions and peoples in order to paint the broader picture of the robe being an artefact of shared origins rather than one singular origin.
Uzbek and Tajik Suzani textiles are typically created on cotton or silk, however, in line with the notion of shared origins, the wool AKM robe could be regarded for its similarities in motif styles with the Suzani textiles, as opposed to its material. The motif is debated among scholars to either represent a flower or fruit like a pomegranate; both objects hold talismanic and protective functions in Persian textiles (Sumner, p. 370). Regardless of its meanings which likely varied between cultures, the Suzani motifs reveal a similarity to the flower-like pattern on the AKM robe that suggest patterns were often exchanged and re-used. In this way, the sharing of motifs, patterns and artistic choices indicates a story of cultural exchange where patterns and images were adapted into one’s own culture along the Silk Roads.
The Garden of Paradise / Jannat
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَهُمْ فِي رَوْضَةٍ يُحْبَرُونَ
"Then as to those who believed and did good, they shall be made happy in a beautiful garden.(30:15)"
In Islam, Jannah or, the "Garden of Paradise" is a final place of eternal rest and peace, where the faithful and righteous followers of Islam are rewarded for their efforts (Currim 2012, 8). After the British invasion of the Mughal empire in India, the once prominent palace gardens that were constructed to mimic Jannah were abandoned and no longer treated as flourishing spaces. (Currim 2012, 17) Instead, depictions of Jannah remained alive through artists who took to representing the “Garden of Paradise” through poems, art, and textiles often using natural elements such as roses, pomegranates, hyacinths and vines to symbolize the beauty of the promised Garden.
For instance, the palmette motif resembles a fanned flower, argued by scholars to be either a vertically-cut lotus or peony with a split leaf (Spuhler 2020, 98). The palmette motif is not exclusive to a singular culture or religion and has roots in Ancient Babylonian, Greco-Roman and Byzantine periods where the pattern first existed as a more simplified fanned decorative piece. In later years, the palmette pattern was highly developed and a common carpet and textile motif in the Safavid Iranian and Ottoman empires. Within these cultures, the symbol was said to evoke the images of a “paradisiacal garden” where the motifs were intentionally drawn with unnatural features to suggest that the garden of Paradise would feature natural elements unlike any worldly plant (Spuhler 2020, 98).
The traditional elements of Jannah, as found in the Qur’an depict the Gardens as filled with trees, fruits, running water, and four rivers of milk, honey, water and pure wine (Currim 2012, 9). The four rivers split the gardens into four separate gardens and perhaps it is no coincidence that the robe too, is split up by four distinct tales - each containing a paradisiacal story of their own.
It is believed that the first representations of the paradisiacal garden spread from the Zoroastrian beliefs of a paradisiacal garden that spread through the Sassanians conquering the regions of Iran, Kushan, Afghan and North India. As previously mentioned, the Mughal dynasty in Northern India often attempted to recreate a physical garden of paradise through reconstructing their outdoor spaces into a divine ‘heaven-on-earth’. The practice of recreating paradise therefore, in nature, poetry and textiles, were utilized by artists to convey the constant reminder of the pleasures and promises of Jannat or, paradise (Currim 2012, 17).
By examining the motifs of the robe, that is, the repeated patterns and icons embedded with symbolic meanings, we can further conceptualize the binding components of the seemingly unrelated stories of the robe. The Aga Khan Centre’s exhibit titled, “Islamic Paradise Gardens and the Garden Within” provides an additional definition for the term Jannat, which aside from “garden”, also means “enclosed by walls” (Clark 2021). For the AKM robe, I imagine the promise of Jannat to be the binding concept of the four stories that within a realm of the unimaginable divine remains four unique tales across time and space, each provided a haven by the garden enclosure so that their stories may continue to exist across time and space.