Iran archive

I worked on Iran for over ten years – so I’ve got an extensive archive of work.
I’d especially like to share my favourite building; my work on the Bakhtiari; on Shah Abbas and his 1200 km walk: with craftsmen; and on Sefer Muratowicz and the unique carpets he bought.
My Iran-related publications, teaching, conferences and lectures are here.

  • Along the way, we met lots of other families, all migrating. Only one of these women is married – it is the unmarried girls who wear the layered and brightly coloured dresses. It is usual for the smallest child to carry the all-important kettle – ready for action as soon as they halt.
  • This stunning tour-de force of Timurid wallpainting is in NE Iran. The eight-pointed star ‘floating’ on the ceiling is covered with interlaced 5, 6 and 8-pointed stars, and there is a perfect 16-pointed star in the small central dome.
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  • This is the mountain castle where Layard - the same man who rediscovered Nineveh - stayed when he visited, and fought with, the Bakhtiari. Image from: Early adventures in Persia 1887
  • Me on the Sang Farsh
  • Kazem is Golsanem’s first child and the whole extended family doted on him. Look at the wee-tube feeding into the cup hanging off the end – a smart move when there are certainly no disposable nappies and the nearest water is a donkey-ride away
  • Here is a packed brick kiln. The red colour means that these bricks have been fired. The clay walls of the kiln, buttressed by bricks, are used and re-used
  • This crater like trap was used for the primitive local oil industry. The lighter fractions were burned off, and when the oil reached the desired consistency, it was drained off using an underground channel. 1926 ARC224931_3429 Copyright: BP plc.
  • Muqarnas, sometimes called ‘stalactite vaulting’, are a three-dimensional form of architectural decoration of domes, niches and the underside of vaults. For the craftsmen-constructors, they require the application of detailed geometric principles; for the viewer, they allow infinitely imaginative reviewing
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  • Here, the ustad (master craftsman) is adding more small pieces of the ‘artificial stone’ to smaller defects in the memorial. Unusually, this ustad is a young man – most are much older