Isfahan

A vibrant urban settlement from medieval times and the royal seat of the Safavid dynasty, the city of Isfahan emerged as a great metropolis during the seventeenth century. Using key sources, this book reconstructs the spaces and senses of this dynamic city.

Focusing on nuances of urban experience, Farshid Emami expands our understanding of Isfahan in a global context. He takes the reader on an evocative journey through the city’s markets, promenades, and coffeehouses, bringing to life the social landscapes that animated the lives of urban dwellers and shaped their perceptions of themselves and the world. In doing so, Emami reveals seventeenth-century Isfahan as more than a cluster of beautiful monuments and gardens. It was a cosmopolitan city, where senses and materials, nature and artifice, and ritual and sociability acted in unison, engendering urban experiences that became paramount across the globe during the early modern period.

Drawing extensively on Persian literary and visual sources, including the “Guide for Strolling in Isfahan,” this book casts new light on the history of a major Eurasian city and opens up new possibilities for cross-cultural studies of urban experience in the early modern period.

“Somewhere between a coffee-table book and an academic publication, it beckons the reader with colored plates of Isfahan’s tiled masterpieces, clear reproductions of historical sketches, as well as the author’s own architectural drawings, both floor-plans and angled projections, that bring back the grandeur and elegance of the Safavid capital.”—David Chaffetz, Asian Review of Books

“Rather than a simple factual examination of Isfahan and its architecture, Emami offers a finely textured portrait of the city, a sensory experience that makes readers take in its sounds and smells, allowing them to listen in on the discussions in the coffeehouses flanking the square.”—R. P. Matthee, Choice

“Emami’s approach to Isfahan considers this imperial city as a total lifeworld filled with movement, smells, sounds, and people. His prose is simply superb: it is such a pleasure that it transforms an otherwise deeply researched scholarly study into a spirited page-turner.”—Christiane Gruber, author of The Praiseworthy One: The Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Texts and Images

“Farshid Emami’s ambitious study of one of the most celebrated cities of the Islamic world sheds new light on Isfahan’s urban transformation in the early modern period and reconstructs the way urban dwellers experienced and perceived the city, not only as a work of architecture but as a living space. Essential reading for all those interested in the global history of early modernity, urbanism, and visuality.”—Heghnar Watenpaugh, author of The Image of an Ottoman City and The Missing Pages

Farshid Emami is Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at Rice University.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments

Note to the Reader

Introduction: Isfahan as Urban Experience

Part 1 Rise of a Metropolis

Chapter 1 The Medieval City: The Lore of Isfahan and Early Safavid Developments

Chapter 2 Imperial Plans and Urban Elites: The Construction of Isfahan Under Shah Abbas

Chapter 3 The New Isfahan: The Safavid Garden City and Its Eco- Urban Design

Part 2 Urban Spaces and Experiences

Chapter 4 Sensing Time and Sound: Clocks and the Rhythms of Urban Life

Chapter 5 The Visual Order of the Promenade: The Chaharbagh and Its Sensory Landscape

Chapter 6 Inhabiting a Cosmopolis: Urban Quarters and Civic Selves

Part 3 Lyrics and Subjectivities

Chapter 7 The City Lyricized: Architecture and Literature in Safavid Isfahan

Chapter 8 Urban Sights and Discursive Images: Modes of Visual and Verbal Engagement

Chapter 9 Solitary Wandering and Civic Pleasures: A Daylong Journey in Isfahan

Conclusion: Isfahan as an Early Modern City

Appendix: “Guide for Strolling in Isfahan”

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Download a PDF sample chapter here: Introduction

Art History & Architecture

           Architectural History

           Early Modern

Medieval and Early Modern Studies

           Early Modern Art and Architecture