Textiles Studies
Art: Crafts, Technology, and Material Culture: A Review of the "Encyclopaedia Iranica"
Date of this Version
1998
Document Type
Article
Citation
Bier, Carol. “Art: Crafts, Technology, and Material Culture.” Iranian Studies, vol. 31, no. 3/4, 1998, pp. 349–59.
Abstract
Combining aesthetic intent with utilitarian value, hand-crafted objects may be beautiful as well as functional. Crafts rely upon human ingenu- ity and productivity. They encompass both the products and the processes of production that comprise most aspects of material culture. The crafts of pre- industrial Iran achieved distinction for their high levels of technical and aesthetic accomplishment. At different times in Iranian history, crafts sustained local economies, generated income from trade, and brought international fame. As with all arts, crafts tend to be culturally expressive, exhibiting styles that may be geographically and temporally defined. Determinants of style may include availability of materials, local traditions of craftsmanship, levels of state intervention and other sources of influence, as well as aesthetic preferences. In Iran, from household production for home consumption to cottage industry and commercial city workshops, and from nomadic encampments to court ateliers, crafts represent products of nomads, rural villagers, city dwellers, and courtiers. Each craft utilizes a different technology with its own evolutionary history, requirements for raw materials, and dependence upon different skills. The techno- logical know-how pertaining to crafts has typically been passed on by oral tadi- tion, often esoteric, so that there often remains relatively little written documen- tation. For all of these reasons, the rationalized organization of knowledge about crafts in Iran poses a particular set of problems, a situation reflected in the arrangement of information within the Encyclopedia Iranica.
Comments
Published by Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society of Iranian Studies
Link to article @ JSTOR