The Smithsonian Institution

Review
Reviewed Work(s):
Rapport préliminaire I. Cinq campagnes de fouilles à Suse (1946-1951)
by Roman Ghirshman
Review by: Richard Ettinghausen
Source: Ars Orientalis, Vol. 1 (1954), pp. 220-223
Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the
History of Art, University of Michigan
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629002
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220 BOOK REVIEWS
badly worn coins found at Susa by the French
Archaeological Mission ( 1 946-49). They are
products of the local mint and show interesting
relations between that Persian entrepot and
the Byzantine world in the early days of Islam.
The deciphering and interpretation of these
partly obliterated coins is undertaken by
Walker with great skill and mastery of the
subj ect.
K. Weitzmann, in The Greek Sources of
Islamic Scientific Illustrations, chooses three
Arabic MSS.: the dispersed Jazari MS. on
automata from the Aya Sofia collection; the
dispersed Dioscurides of the Saray collection,
dated I224; and the pseudo-Galen MS. of
Vienna. In a brilliant exposition he demon-
strates that all go back to Classical and Byzan-
tine models and all show the two types of il-
lustration which he distinguishes (a) the dia-
grammatic and (b) the expanded type, which
includes human figures. He shows conclusively
that "Arab illustrators were exposed to By-
zantine influences not only in the stage of the
first reception from the Greek, but long there-
after, since they adapt step by step the inno-
vations which the Greek manuscripts devel-
oped only gradually" ! This reviewer hopes
shortly to furnish further material to illus-
trate this point with new examples from Ara-
bic MSS. The reference in the last paragraph
on page 265 should read, instead of plate
XXXIV, figure 7, plate XXXVI, figure I3.
Reference has already been made to the date
which has to be given to the Paris Dioscurides
arabe 4947 in the review of B. Fares' paper.
D. N. Wilber reviews a number of recent
Persian works which contain valuable histori-
cal and geographical data. For an example
of the usefulness of such works see, e.g.,
W. Henning: The Monumenits and Inscrip-
tions of Tang-i-Sarvak, in Asia Major, vol. 2,
I952, p. 153-
All concerned with the publication of this
valuable volume should be congratulated on
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the production of a worthy monument to
the memory of the great scholar they have
honored.
D. S. RICE
Rapport pre'liminaire I. Cinq campagnes de
fouilles a' Suse (1946-I95I). Par Roman
Ghirshman. Memoires de la Mission
archeologique en Iran, Mission de Su-
siane sous la direction de G. Contenau et
R. Ghirshman. Presses universitaires de
France, I952. i8 pp., 2I figs. i0o francs.
In spite of very intensive archaeological
activities since I897, the French Missions in
Susa have so far published only one volume
devoted to Islamic and, to a lesser extent,
Sasanian ceramics, Raymond Koechlin's Les
ceramiques musulmanes de Suse au Musee du
Louvre." This publication presented a great
deal of material, even of some unknown types,
always carefully described, but no specific
dates could then be given to these discoveries
since the excavators were mainly interested in
the earlier periods, Elamite and prehistoric.
XVhen, in I946, after an interruption of six
years, the French Mission de Suse took up its
work again, now under the direction of G. Con-
tenau and R. Ghirshman, with the last-named
scholar being in charge of the field work, it
was to be hoped that the later periods would
be equally well treated, since M1. Ghirshman's
excavations of Shapuir and his various studies
in Sasanian archaeology during the last decade
have shown his great interest in the art of this
dynasty. In the preliminary report of the first
five campaigns, 1946-i95 I, here under discus-
sion,2 this assumption has proven to be correct
1 Ministere de l'instruction publique et des beaux-
arts, AMeJmoires mission archeIologique de Perse, t. I9,
Mission en Susiane sous la direction de MM. R.
de Mecquenem et V. Scheil, Paris, Librairie Ernest
Leroux, 1928.
2 Published also in identical form in Revue d'as-
syriologie et d'archeologie orientale, t. 46 (1952),
 BOOK REVIEWS 221
and although this first account of the new
excavations is rather short, it nevertheless al-
ready throws some new light on the Islamic
and Sasanian periods, and more is, of course,
to be expected from the final report, to say
nothing of further excavations.
The report deals in particular with the so-
called "Ville Royale," the quarter where the
court functionaries, officials, and merchants
lived, a vast mound east of the tells of the
Acropolis and of the Achaemenid palace area.
Unlike certain other excavations, the aim of
M. Ghirshman was obviously not so much to
find treasures but to excavate scientifically,
that is, stratigraphically, so that all his finds
can now be more specifically dated.
The first and highest level of this particu-
lar site was that of an Islamic town of the
tenth century where a small sanctuary dedi-
cated to one of the four or five religions prac-
ticed in the town was found, as well as many
objects of glass, ceramics, and bronze. An
illustrated bowl from this level represents a
little-known type, decorated with a stylized
floral pattern "'a email noir sur fond gris."
The stucco decorations are executed in the
beveled technique characteristic of Samarra
style C. The second level yielded an Islamic
town of the eighth-ninth centuries in which
polychromed pottery was used for the first
time. Some of this was of the characteristic
pp. I-18, 21 figs. Though not referred to in this
publication, R. Ghirshman has also published several
short official announcements: Une saison de fouilles
a Suse (I946/I947), Compte Rendus de l'Academie
des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Paris (July/Sept.,
I947), pp. 444-449; Campagne de fouilles a Suse en
1947-1948, ibid. (0947/1948), pp. 328-336; Fouilles
de Suse; campagne I949-1950, ibid. (1949/1950),
pp. 233-238; Campagne de fouilles a Suse en 1950-
I95I, ibid. (195o-I95I), pp. 293-30I. A more ex-
tensive report in German was included in Die
franz6sische arcHlologische Forschung in Iran und
Afghanistan (1950-195I), Saeculum IV, No. i (Mu-
nich, 1953), pp. I I5-I23.
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cobalt-blue and white type known from Sa-
marra, while other pieces are related to, or
even identical with, the techniques used in east-
ern Khorasan and the Samarqand region.
Here the stucco decorations resemble those of
Samarra style B, although they seem to be
more advanced and related to the plaster deco-
rations of Rayy and Nishapur. In this town,
also, the excavator noticed imports from the
Far East in the forms of celadon pottery,
white porcelain, a Tang mirror, etc. The
transition from the late Sasanian to the early
Islamic period is represented by a third level
which corresponds to the seventh-eighth cen-
turies and reflects a time of decadence. After
uncovering an intermediary period, M. Ghirsh-
man reached the fourth level, dated from the
first century of Sasanian rule (middle of the
third to the middle of the fourth centuries).
The outstanding find in this town was that of a
large building, possibly a Mithraeum, in the
construction of which architectural parts and,
in particular, columns of the Achaemenid pal-
ace had been re-used, and whose most impor-
tant feature was a large fresco which unfortu-
nately had fallen, face down, into the interior
of the building. Its main section represented,
in double life-size, a hunter on horseback chas-
ing various animals, while another fragmentary
scene revealed a crescent, stars, and stylized
clouds. That this town met a violent end be-
came evident not only from the destruction of
the buildings but also from the remains of
human beings hastily buried in houses, courts,
and streets, and from tombs of children buried
in jars. Since Nestorian crosses were found
to be painted on such burial containers, and
a silver cross was actually excavated close to
an interred adult, Ghirshman, following a ref-
erence in the Acts of Christian Martyrs, as-
sumed that the destruction was due to Sha-
puir II, whose army, with its 3O0 elephants, had
leveled the town. This happened in the middle
of the fourth century when the Christians
222 BOOK REVIEWS
of Iran were suspected of foreign sympathies
and their uprising in Susa was thus mercilessly
suppressed. The fifth city from the Parthian
period also contained a lot of pottery, but of
a type quite different from that of Dura-
Europos. In a bathhouse floor-mosaic com-
posed of black and white pebbles a Greek in-
scription could be made out and possibly an
animal decoration. This town also came to a
violent end, possibly owing to the capture of
the town by Ardashir Babakan, who took it
from the last Parthian king, Artaban V.
Another stratigraphic excavation was un-
dertaken in the\easternmost mound of Susa,
called by Dieulafoy "Ville des Artisans,"
which never before had been methodically
excavated. After three Islamic levels, two of
which were of more recent date than the top-
most one in the "Ville Royale," Ghirshman
found a great many tomb structures which
made him believe that the "Ville des Artisans"
actually was the Necropolis of the Seleucid-
Parthian period. He distinguished two types
of subterranean installations for the sarcoph-
agi, some of which had two-piece anthropo-
morphic covers. In the tombs were found pot-
tery and glass vessels, jewelry, toilet articles,
also numerous spouted lamps. The analysis
of the residue in one of these lamps demon-
strated unexpectedly that the fuel used was
not petroleum, which in this region was known
as a fuel since high antiquity, but rather ani-
mal marrow, which produces less fume. Be-
low the last level of the necropolis a village
was discovered which must have existed from
the seventh century B.C. until Achaemenid
times. Its single large building to house the
whole clan (a type of village similar to that
discovered in Khwarizm) as well as the Ela-
mite and Babylonian tablets and the pottery,
which is identical with that of the Necropo-
lis B of Sialk, provided preliminary but quite
specific conclusions about the date, origin, and
habits of this early settlement.
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There is only a short reference to a trial
excavation at the important Sasanian site of
Eyvan-e Kerkha in the desert iS kilometers
northwest of Susa. Here Ghirshman dug in
the palace and also in a reception pavilion
composed of a triple eyvan. It was in the latter
that he again found traces of frescoes, but for
the time being no further information about
them is available.
Since the cessation of the American exca-
vations at Nishapur, Susa is now the sole site
in Iran where scientific excavations by a West-
ern nation are continued. Although the town
does not seem to have been a leading center in
Islamic times, its material culture seems to
have been varied enough to allow important
conclusions to be drawn about its life, until
its disappearance in the thirteenth century.
It is therefore all the more gratifying to know
from this preliminary report that this site is
now in such experienced and understanding
hands as those of R. Ghirshman. If, at this
time, one should make any comment at all,
it is that the report is rather too modest, con-
sidering the accomplishments made during the
first five campaigns, so that significant finds
published in earlier and at times even more
detailed reports dedicated to specific cam-
paigns are not referred to for further informa-
tion. Thus an important relief excavated in
I947, showing a Parthian king, is only men-
tioned en passant, although it has been dealt
with in a special article,3 after its first an-
nouncement at the International Congress of
Orientalists in Paris in I949; there is no men-
tion made of an earlier announcement of the
finds of the fourth level in the "Ville Royale,"
and of the Seleucid-Parthian necropolis in the
"Ville des Artisans," which is illustrated with
several photographs not included in the Rap-
3 R. Ghirshman, Un bas-relief d'Artaban V avec
inscription en pehlvi arsacide. Academie des inscrip-
tion et belles-lettres. Comm. de la Foundation Piot.
Monuments et memoires, 44 (I950), pp. 97-I07.
 BOOK REVIEWS 223
port Pre'liminaire, I; 4 and, finally, nothing is
said about the discovery and first publication
of an early mosque of the Arab type found in
I947-48 on the mound of the "Ville des Arti-
sans." 5 All these reports, however, make us
look forward with great anticipation to the
final publication of the excavated material,
among which pottery and glass objects, as well
as the frescoes and stucco decorations, are
particularly important.
RICHARD ETTINGHAUSEN
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON
ISLAMIC CERAMICS
Guide to the Collection of Tiles, Victoria and
Albert Museum, Department of Ceram-
ics, London. By Arthur Lane. (Victoria
and Albert Museum, I939.) 75 pp., 48
pIs., 3/6 sh.
This "Guide" is not a mere description of
the objects preserved in the South Kensington
Museum, but an extremely useful compendium
discussing most of the problems concerned
with the tile work. Chapter i, "The Earlier
Tile Work of the Near East," deals with the
production of Samarra, Raqqa, Rayy, and
Kashan; the tile mosaic of Persia and Asia
Minor; and the cuerda seca technique at
Samarqand, Brussa, and Isfahan. Chapter 2
describes the tiles with underglaze painting
from Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Egypt. The
author believes that in Mamluk times the blue-
and-white tiles used in Cairo were mostly im-
ported from Damascus, but that between I495
and I 544 they were made in Egypt itself. He
insists on the importance of Tabriz as a ce-
4 Idem, The town which three hundred elephants
rased to the ground: the newly excavated fourth level
of Susa and the Partho-Seleucid necropolis. The Il-
lustrated London News, No. 33II, vol. 127 (Oct. 7,
I950), pp. 57I-573, I7 figs.
5 Idem, Une mosque'e de Suse du detbut de l'hegire,
Bull. d'e'tudes orientales, t. I2 ( I947-I948).
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ramic center in Saf avid times and attributes to
it the so-called polychrome Kuibachl type. At
Isnik he distinguishes three different styles, the
second being inspired by Tabriz potters settled
there in IS 14. He thinks that the tiles in
Damascus mosques of the late sixteenth cen-
tury are local imitations in the Turkish man-
ner and that the characteristic product of
Kiitahya begins only in the eighteenth century.
Chapter 7, "Spanish Tiles," explains the Mu-
dejar condition of the artists, treats specifi-
cally the alicatado, cuerda seca, and cuenca
techniques, and emphasizes the importance of
Seville and Valencia. Each chapter has a
short, special bibliography. Of the plates,
about 20 are devoted to the Islamic art, giving
in nearly ioo reproductions a well-chosen sur-
vey of the Near Eastern tiles preserved in the
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Oriental Glass of Medieval Date Found in
Sweden and the Early History of Lustre-
Painting. By Carl Johan Lamm. Kungl.
Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Aka-
demiens Handlingar, del 50: i. Stock-
holm (Wahlstrom and Widstrand),
I94I. I I4 pp., 24 pls., Kr. 7.
The writer has already published a de-
tailed review of this important paper 1 so that
this compte-rendu will be limited to a brief
exposition of the results concerning the luster-
painted pottery. Lamm cites several examples
of lustered decoration on glass of the fifth
to the seventh centuries in Egypt and believes
that the technique was adopted by potters in
Iraq about 8oo. He maintains that the eye
pattern on lustered Samarra ware is derived
from millefiori glass imported from Egypt.
Relying on a notice given by Ibn Hawqal, he
considers Tunis as a center for lustered faience
since the late ninth century, introduced there
1 Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. 46 ( 1943),
Nr. 7/8, col. 293-296.