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Artisans, Artists, and Workshops

In Byzantium

Artisans are mentioned very frequently in epigraphic and hagiographic texts from Late Antiquity

[1]

. Most of these craftsmen were grouped into corporations and their affluence depended on their metier. The goldsmiths were at the top of the hierarchy and sometimes engaged in usury. In large cities like Constantinople and Thessaloniki, each metier had its specialized quarter.

In Constantinople, the goldsmiths (argyropratai) were located on the Mese, the commercial artery of the city, which had more than fifty boutique-workshops on both sides of the porticoes, between the Milion and the Forum of Constantine

[2]

. The copper craftsmen were concentrated around the Church of the Virgin Chalkoprateia. The mention ‘Archonte of the Zeuxippe’ on a textile discovered in the tomb of Charlemagne suggests that there were silk workshops within the Baths of Zeuxippe. Workshops for artisanal production were also located within major monasteries like that of Stoudios in Constantinople, which commissioned works from many craftsmen, including goldsmiths, coppersmiths, icon painters, and calligraphers

[3]

. This concentrated, elitist demand in Constantinople was strongly stimulated by the imperial demand, and encouraged the development of very skilled luxury craftsmanship that was much sought-after throughout the Empire and well beyond its borders

[4]

. The other major production centres were Thessaloniki and Corinth.

The archaeological digs in the urban centres have been quite limited, so stylistic affinities and the recurrence of the same technical procedures on the great ensembles have made it possible to identify productions that can be attributed to the same workshop, which also had its imitators. During the Meso-Byzantine period, along with Constantinople, Corinth was an important production centre for glazed ceramics and sgraffito. Archaeological remains of this kind of production were found in Amorion in Phrygia. Polychrome glazed ceramics—which is a very high form of quality ceramic production—were used as wall coverings in churches. These were produced in Constantinople, Nicomedia, and Nicaea from the middle of the ninth century to the twelfth century, and were also imitated in Bulgaria.

Also attested at Constantinople is the existence of highly skilled glass craftsmanship, which was required for the production not only of tableware but also mosaics and windowpanes. Artisanal installations were developed in Corinth and Amorion. A major silk industry was centralized in Constantinople. The interruption of this production after 1261 led to the proliferation of provincial silk production centres, like Thebes and Corinth in Greece. The capital also attracted the best goldsmiths and copper craftsmen, who came from regions with a strong metalworking tradition like South-East Anatolia. It was rare for artisans to sign their works. An exceptional example came from the eleventh-century workshop that produced an extensive series of bronze doors that were exported to Italy. These doors attest to a highly organized production system that comprised the division of labour. In 1070, the doors were presented to the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls (Rome), and they bear an inscription indicating two names: that of the caster and the person who designed the decorations

[5]

In Byzantium, the artist’s personality was obscured by the strong presence of the donator, whose pious fervour, zeal, and generosity enabled him to appropriate the work. The dedicatory inscriptions that accompany the churches’ decorative programmes, the illustrated manuscripts, and the precious goldsmithed works all attest to this. Certain painters were, however, exceptions. Pantoleon was the famous Constantinopolitan painter who not only supervised the team of seven other painters—which had participated in the illustration of 430 miniatures of the Menologium of Basil II (Vaticanus graecus 1613), executed for the emperor—, but also painted icons, including one of St Athanasius the Athonite

[6]

. Another famous illuminator and scribe of seventeen manuscripts (which he signed) was Theodore Hagiopetrites, who was associated with the city of Thessaloniki at the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century

[7]

. Painters who worked on monumental programmes are also attested. In the twelfth century, Theodore Apseudes painted the two very fine Cypriot programmes in the Church of St Neophyte in Paphos (1183) and the Panagia Arakiotissa in Lagoudera (1192). During the Palaeologus epoch it was common practice for painters to sign their works. The prestigious decorations in the Church of the Virgin Peribleptos in Ohrid, Macedonia (1294–1295) were executed by the brothers Michael and Eutychios Astrapas, famous painters from Thessaloniki; their signatures were inscribed on very unusual places, like on the sword of the military saint Mercury, and on the chlamydia of two other military saints (Procopius and Demetrios), and their monograms were inserted on many other decorative motifs. This system for signing their works is evident in the series of decorations commissioned by the Serbian king, Milutin, in the Church of St Nikita of Cucer (a little before 1316), and at St George Staro Nagori’ino (1316–1317)

[8]

. A legendary painter from Thessaloniki—and a contemporary of the Astrapas brothers—, to whom is attributed the splendid decorations of the Protaton on Mont Athos, is Manuel Panselinos, who was only documented in late sources

[9]

. Also noteworthy is Theophanes the Greek, the painter of frescoes, icons, and books, who was active in Russia during the last quarter of the fourteenth century and the early fifteenth century. The names of some painters from more modest workshops have also been identified in rural regions of the Empire, like Magne, in the thirteenth century. Village art was usually practised by local painters or those from a neighbouring area, who practised this art as amateurs while earning their livelihoods from primary professional activities

[10]

B. P.

In Islam

In the Muslim world there is no real distinction between the artist and the craftsman, andthe term employed in Arabicthat designates the arts is

sin

‘a
, which is associated with the word for techniques,

fann
. Little material evidence has survived that sheds light on the organization of the workshops or the identity of the artistes and artisans in Islamic lands prior to the fifteenth century. Certain sources, however, have provided indirect accounts of their organization and facilitate our understanding of these workshops. Our knowledge of later periods is often based on administrative documents, as well as accounts of foreign travellers, which all provides a remarkable body of documentation.

The first and most important step is to examine the complex process involved in creating a work. Although no concrete evidence exists, it’s very likely that the arrival of Islam had little effect on pre-existingartisanal structures in the Mediterranean world. The artisans were definitely grouped into workshops and corporations, a system that facilitated both the production of complex objects and relationships with clients and patrons. Oleg Grabar has definedthreelevels of patronage based on the

muqaddima
(Preface) of Ibn Khaldūn [11]: thesovereign’s patronage in connectionwith the caliphal prerogatives involved minting coins, fabricating luxury cloths, and the copyists’ workshops;the patronage of the great cities, which was a more modest version of the preceding example, and was often related to local arts; and lastly, community patronage, which was related to constructions or objects that had significance for all the believers. These various forms of patronage corresponded to production centres with a variety of operational modes.

The most important of these were the caliphal workshops, which were state controlled and were generally located near the power base, like the institution of the

Tir
ā

z
, which may have been of eastern or Byzantine origin. These mills were responsible for creating the official wardrobe and, during the first two dynasties,they were installed in the palace and directed by an official (

s
ā

hib al-tir
). The embroidered inscriptions produced there mention the place of manufacture, the name of the official in charge of the workshop, and less frequently, the name of the artist who made the piece.

The other workshops were indirectly controlled by the state. The tenth-century author, Ibn al-Fath, has provided some clues about the city’s artisans in his description of the Abbasidcity of Baghdad. He described how the traders and artisans were grouped to the south of the

ā
ā

z
, andhow each metier had its own street or its separate market; the metiers were managed by a government-appointed union. These initial developments in the organization of artisans point to a grouping of metiers; this certainly corresponds to corporations,for which there is no specific term in Arabic and the texts use the word

Sar
ā

t al-Karkh
, which means ‘group’. The first author to evoke the metiers and artisans of the Muslim world was al-Jāhiz [12], who declared that the differences between the artisans were planned by God in order to maintain social harmony. This underlying praise for the corporations and their organization was related to their main function, which was the regulation of the relationships between the client and the producer. Like their Western counterparts, the corporations also integrated the notion of the transmission of knowledge, the acquisition of techniques, and their regulation. The rare signatures of artists that have survived attest to the hereditary aspect of the professional status. The corporations were also excellent vectors for integration, as they brought together artisans from various religions (Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, etc.),who, in fact, lived in separate districts.

The Turkish world definitely played an important role in the development of the corporative system. In the thirteenth century, the sources attested to the existence of corporations called

t
in Anatolia. The

’ifa
ī

Akhilik
had meeting places,

Akh
ā

s
,in which they taught young recruits morals andthe ceremonials in use; the members of the

z
ā

wiya
were religious chiefs. The apprentices were placed under the control of a master and each step they achieved was celebrated with a festive and ritualized ceremony (

z
),during which the master gave his pupil an apron. There were three apprenticeship levels that corresponded to the Western equivalents of apprentice, compagnon(journeyman),andmaster.

The sixteenth century was a key period for the corporations, with the introduction of the

wiya
ā

teferrüj
(1524)provides precious information about their internal organization: they had nine grades, the first three being common to the Akhīs, and grades three to six corresponded to those of masters of ceremonies, and the last three to those of

futuwwa
. In the Maghreb, significant Andalusian immigration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesregenerated the corporative system.

Detailed registers exist from the end of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries for the workshops of the Topkapi Palace (

, which had very close links withTwelver or Imami Shīa Islam. The work of Sayyid Mahmat ibn Sayyid ‘Ala’ al-Dīn al-Hüseynī al-Raz‘avi,
ā

Futuwat n
)[13], as well as registers of gifts offered by the court artisans during feasts [14]) and payment registers. They indicate, for example, that in the sixteenth century the organization of the royal painting workshop was under the control of the

me-i kab
, who were members of thecorporations. Some of the artisans,and especially architects, were recruited through conscription from the non-Muslim population in the Balkans, western Turkey, Anatolia,and conquered provinces. It’s documented, for example, that Greek builders from Kayseri (central Anatolia) worked on Suleymanieh’s project in Istanbul in 1557. These recruitments were related to the number of workers required for the various projects underway. The conquests were also a way of acquiring reputable artisans. TheIranianworld and central Asia provide documented examples with the figures of Genghis Khān andTamerlane;the Ottomans had the same policies, and notably captured Iranians (after the battle of Chaldiran), Egyptians,and Hungarians—whether they were artisans or not—, in order to enrol them on imperial projects or in the palace workshops [15]. It’s believed to be the case for the Hungarians, who probably worked in the Corvina Library at Budaanddefinitely contributed to the illustration of works that recounted the conquests of their country, as shown by the details of the costumes and the architecture. The artisans were then placed in apprenticeships to an experienced master.

Lastly, representations of artists and their portraits increased in the sixteenth century, which provides a glimpse of their prestigious status in Ottomansociety. The painting of the

ī
depicts the imperial chronicler Talikizade, facing the calligrapherand the painter Hasan [16], who is also known forhaving produced a number of signed paintings.

J. H.

Bibliography

Byzantium

Economic History of Byzantium. From the Seventh to the Fifteenth Century, 3 Vol., ed. A. E. Laiou, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Washington, DC, 2002

A. E. Laiou and C. Morrisson, The Byzantine Economy, Cambridge, 2007

To Portraito tou kallitechne sto Byzantio, ed. M. Vassilaki, Heraklion, 1997

Islam

Behrens-Abouseif, D., ‘European arts and crafts at the Mamluk Court’, in Muqarnas, v. XXI, 2004, pp. 45–54

Duri, A., ‘Baghdâd’, in Encyclopédie de l’Islam, vol. I, Leiden/Paris, Brill/G.-P. Maisonneuve & Larose S. A., 1991, pp. 921–936

Fisher, C. G., ‘Nakkâsh’, in Encyclopédie de l’Islam, vol. VII, Leiden/New-York/Paris, Brill/G.-P. Maisonneuve & Larose S. A., pp. 931–932

Ghabin, A., ‘Sinâ‘a’, in Encyclopédie de l’Islam, vol. IX, Leiden, Brill, 1998, pp. 649–653

Grabar, O., ‘Le Mécénat dans l’Art Islamique’, in Art islamique and mécénat, trésors d’art du Koweit, exhibition catalogue, Institut du monde arabe, 1992, Paris, pp. 27–39

Heck, C. (dir.), Moyen-age, Chrétienté et Islam, Paris, Flammarion, ‘Histoire de l’art Flammarion’, 1996, pp. 62 and 386

Porter, Y., ‘Les arts and les sciences : ars grata artis’, in L’age d’or des science arabes, exhibition catalogue, Institut du monde arabe, Arles/Paris, Actes Sud/Institut du monde arabe, 2005, pp. 243–252

Raymond, A., Floor, W., Nutku, O., ‘sinf’ in Encyclopédie de l’Islam, vol. IX, Leiden, Brill, 1998, pp. 668–671

Rogers, J.M. (dir.), Topkapi Sarayi, Objets d’art, Paris, Ed. du Jaguar, 1987

Taeschner, F., ‘Futuwwa’, in Encyclopédie de l’Islam, vol. II, Leiden/Paris, Brill/G.-P. Maisonneuve & Larose S. A., 1977, pp. 983–991

Exhibition Catalogues

Art islamique and mécénat, trésors d’art du Koweit, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Institut du monde arabe, 1992

Le calife, le prince et le potier: les faïences à reflets métalliques, exhibition catalogue, Musée des beaux-arts, 2002, Lyon; Musée des beaux-arts, Paris: RMN, 2002

Les Andalousies, de Damas à Cordoue, exhibition catalogue,Institut du monde arabe, Paris, 2000–2001, Paris, Hazan/Institut du monde arabe, 2001

Soliman le magnifique, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1990, Paris, Association française d’action artistique, 1990

NOTE

[1] J.-P. Sodini, ‘L’artisanat urbain à l’époque paléochrétienne (IVe-VIIe s.)’, Ktema 4, 1979, pp. 71–118.

[2] M. Mundell Mango, ‘The Commercial Map of Constantinople’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 54, 2000, pp. 189–207; id., ‘The Porticoed Street at Constantinople’ in Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments, Topography and Everyday life, ed. N. Necipoğlu, Leiden, Boston, Cologne, 2001, pp. 29–51.

[3] Théodore Stoudite. Les grandes catéchèses (Livre I). et les épigrammes (I-XXIX), ed. F. Montleau, J. Leroy, Spiritualité orientale 79, Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 2002, pp. 109–112.

[4] A. Cutler, ‘The Industries of Art’, in Economic History of Byzantium. From the Seventh to the Fifteenth Century, ed. A. E. Laiou, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Washington, DC, 2002, Vol. 2, pp. 555–587.

[5] A. Guillou, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie, Collection de l’École française de Rome 222, Rome, 1996, no. 54, p. 58.

[6] I. Ševčenko, ‘The Illuminators of the Menologium Basil II’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 16, 1962, pp. 243–276; id., ‘On Pantoleon the Painter’, Jahrbuch des Österreichischen Byzantinistik 21, 1972, pp. 240–249.

[7] R. S. Nelson, Theodore Hagiopetrites. A Late Byzantine Scribe and Illuminator, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften 217, Vienna, 1991.

[8] P. Miljković-Pepek, ‘L’atelier artistique proéminent de la famille thessalonicienne d’Astrapas’, Jahrbuch des Österreichischen Byzantinistik ‘The Evidence of Church Inscriptions’, Cahiers archéologiques 42, 1994, pp. 139–158. 32.5, 1982, and pp. 491–494; S. Kalopissi-Verti, ‘Painters in Late Byzantine Society’.

[9] Manuel Panselinos and his Age, ed. L. Mavrommatis, The National Hellenic Research Foundation, Institute for Byzantine Research, Byzantium Today 3, Athens, 1999.

[10] M. Panayotidi, ‘Village Painting and the Question of Local “Workshops”’, in Les Villages dans l’Empire byzantin, IVe-XVe siècle, Réalités byzantines 11, 2005, pp. 193–212. ed. J. Lefort, C. Morrisson, J.-P. Sodini

[11] Completed in 1377.

[12]End of eighth to ninth centuries, the Hujaj al-nubuwwa epistle in his Rasā’il (epistles), cited by A. Ghabin.

[13] Unfortunately, although they were kept until 1512, only those that concern the reign of Bāyazīt II have been published (registers for the year 909 H/AD 1503–1504).

[14]There are several representations of artisans, like, for example, those of the Surname of Murad III (c.1582), with its procession of the corporations;a painting from the nakkashkhāne of Topkapi can be seen in theShahname-i Mehmed III.

[15]A register of the artisans working for Soliman dating from Rabi II 932/March 1526 (Topkapi Sarayi archives, D 9706/1), lists 56 goldsmiths, 22 damascene workers, and 9 engravers, who were mostly Bosnian, Tabrizian, and Egyptian; as well as Russians, Albanians, Georgians, Circassians, and Greeks, and a westerner, Bāstīyān Efrenc.

[16] In the background is the library, which supplied the modelsand was an important source for the chroniclers. The best light was reserved for the painter, who was placed near the window, which shows that the position of each person in the workshop was a deliberate and rational choice.