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Document Details : Title: Mīrak-i Sayyid Ghiyās and the Timurid Tradition of Landscape Architecture Author(s): SUBTELNY, M.E. Journal: Studia Iranica Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Date: 1995 Pages: 19-60 DOI: 10.2143/SI.24.1.2003982 Abstract : Despite increased interest in the Islamic garden, little remains known about the designers and builders of the formal gardens of the Timurids or even about the layout of the gardens themselves, which were to have represented the pinnacle of medieval Iranian landscape design. This study follows the author's earlier 'A Medieval Persian Agricultural Manual in Context: The Irshād al-zirā'a in Late Timurid and Early Safavid Khorasan' (Studia Iranica 22), which examined the political and socio-economic context in which the agricultural manual, Irshād al-zirā'a, was written in Herat in 921/1515 and which identified the chief source of information and inspiration for this unique work on agriculture as practiced in the Herat region during the late Timurid period as a master landscape architect by the name of Sayyid Niẓām al-Dīn Amīr Sulṭān-Maḥmūd - better known as Mīrak-i Sayyid Ghiyās - who was active during the reign of the last significant Timurid ruler, Sulṭān-Ḥusain-i Bāyqarā Mīrzā. On the basis of a wide variety of primary sources, the study attempts to reconstruct the chronology of Mīrak-i Sayyid Ghiyās and establishes that he was the member of a hitherto unknown family of landscape architects from Herat, whose speciality was the chahārbāgh, the quadripartite architectural garden, the layout and planting of which are described in the last chapter of the Irshād al-zirā'a. By tracing the careers of members of this family from Safavid Herat to Uzbek Bukhara and to Mughal Agra and Delhi, it is possible to document the transfer of the Timurid tradition of landscape architecture to both Central Asia and India and thus to confirm the conclusions reached by architectural historians on stylistic grounds regarding Iranian, specifically Timurid, influence on Mughal Indian architecture in particular. Malgré l'intérêt croissant porté à l'étude du jardin islamique, on ne sait presque rien des gens qui ont créé les jardins timourides, ni même de la disposition de ces jardins qui devaient représenter le véritable aboutissement du jardin iranien médiéval. Cette étude est la suite de l'article 'A Medieval Persian Agricultural Manual in Context: The Irshād al-zirā'a in Late Timurid and Early Safavid Khorasan' (Studia Iranica 22), qui a examiné le contexte historique et socio-économique dans lequel le traité d'agriculture, Irshād al-zirā'a, a été écrit à Hérat en 921/1515; celui-ci a identifié comme source principale d'information pour cette oeuvre unique sur l'agriculture de la région de Hérat à l'époque timouride un architecte paysagiste qui s'appellait Sayyid Niẓām al-Dīn Amīr Sulṭān-Maḥmūd, surnommé Mīrak-i Sayyid Ghiyās, qui travaillait pendant le règne du dernier Timouride, Sulṭān-Ḥusain-i Bāyqarā Mīrzā. Basée sur des sources diverses, l'étude tente de reconstruire la chronologie de Mīrak-i Sayyid Ghiyās et constate qu'il appartenait à une famille, inconnue jusqu'ici, d'architectes paysagistes originaire de Hérat dont la spécialité était le chahārbāgh, le jardin architectural quadripartite, qui est décrit dans le dernier chapitre de l'Irshād al-zirā'a. En suivant leurs carrières de Hérat safavide à Bukhara uzbèke et à Agra et Delhi moghols, il est possible de documenter le transfert de la tradition timouride d'architecture paysagiste à l'Asie Centrale et à l'Inde moghole et ainsi de confirmer les conclusions des historiens d'architecture concernant l'influence iranienne, spécifiquement timouride, sur l'architecture de l'Inde moghole en particulier. |
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