The Instruments and the Gender of the Musicians in the Paintings of an Illustrated Manuscript of Divan of Hafez from the Mughal Court

 
The general subject of this paper is an interdisciplinary study in the field of organology, considering ancient Persian music with a reference to visual narration in Iranian painting. In current research, two significant issues are specifically addressed: first, the identification of musical instruments in the marginal illustrations of an exquisite manuscript of Divan of Hafez; and second, research on the gender composition of the musicians in these paintings. Among the questions are: Generally, which instruments are depicted with how many repetitions and variations in these paintings? Which instruments are primarily in the hands of male musicians? Which are mainly in the hands of female musicians, and which are almost in the hands of both genders? By answering these questions, iconographical knowledge can be obtained based on the images of common or famous instruments at the time and place of the creation and completion of the aforementioned  manuscript. As an implicit purpose, by analyzing the choices of painters in deciding the gender of instrumentalists, it is possible to try out hypotheses about the gender composition of musicians or produce new speculations in this field.
In historical musicology, the musicological studies of images and paintings are known as iconography or iconology. The scope of research in the historical sociology of Persian music has not yet expanded, and the collection of musical literature that has been provided by using visual narratives and considering them as texts has remained relatively poor. Organology is a large branch of musicology with a broad scope; therefore, considering the limited scope of an article and the multitude and variety of research topics, we have to choose a case study regarding the material and its limits. The reigning period of the Timurid dynasty (1370-1507) is of particular significance in musical studies. The music of Iran in the post-Timurid era (especially in some periods of the Safavid era) until the Zand and Qajar eras, in which a rebirth takes place, has been stuck in a kind of stagnation and decline, especially in the theoretical aspect. The study materials in this research are divided into two categories: primary research material and comparative sources. Comparative sources are those sources that will be used for the comparative analysis of the primary material. Numerous books, treatises, and manuscripts about Persian music contain valuable organological information.
The crucial premise of this research, in case of possible estimation and generalization of the gender structure of musicians to the entire musical culture of that time, is that painters did not act arbitrarily in deciding the gender of musicians of different instruments. Instead, according to their own experiences and the traditions of the musical culture of the time, they depicted the so-called ‘masculine’ instruments in the hands of male musicians and the ‘feminine’ instruments in the hands of female musicians. In the tradition of Persian painting, as well as the Indo-Mughal style, not only often are the time and place of the events not precisely known, but the identity and gender of the figures could hardly be determined only by the face. An exquisite copy of Divan of Hafez is held in the British Library under Or. 14319 is the primary material of the present research. Its creation and completion took place between the end of the Timurid era and the middle of the Safavid era, first in Herat and then in the Mughal court of India. What doubles its value and significance in organological studies are the images of the musicians. These images are depicted in the decorative zones in the margins of the poems. Due to the general inaccuracy of painters in drawing details, it is only possible to partially match the rigid descriptions of the ancient musicology with the paintings drawn by the painters. However, in general, the instruments of this collection are divided into several general groups and subgroups:
Group 1
Wind instruments, including:

a) Ney (mizmar) and similar instruments (without reed);
b) Sorna and similar instruments (with reed).

Group 2
Percussions: Dayereh
Group 3
Bowed instruments: Kamancheh (fiddle, with or without a bow) and similar instruments.
Group 4
String instruments, including:

a) Rubab with a vase-shaped bowl similar to a tulip flower;
b) Oud, Tanbur, and similar instruments;
c) Qanun.

It is peculiar that out of the relatively large number of string instruments in this collection, only one example can be matched with our knowledge about the Oud, an essential instrument in ancient Persian music. Therefore, it can be assumed that the creation of the illustrations in this manuscript took place at a time and place when the Oud gradually lost its importance compared to other string instruments, such as the Rubab, and diminished. Among the 34 musicians that we see in the illustrations of this version of Divan of Hafez, about 71% are men, and 29% are women. In addition, in this version:

If we exclude the musicians depicted in the image of the angels, all the musicians of the wind instruments (Ney and Sorna) are men.
Contrary to the widespread belief that Dayereh players were once women, only one out of six are female.
About the musicians of bowed instruments, the creators have considered an almost equal share for men and women.
None of the five Rubab musicians are women.
Compared to wind and percussion instruments, more women are seen playing various string instruments (except Oud and Tanbur).
The Qanun player is shown only once, and that time, according to the standard gender stereotype, is a female musician.

In this research, thirty-four portraits of musicians have been studied. The instruments and gender of the musicians have been identified. Ney and Sorna instruments, Dayereh, Kamancheh or Ghezhak, Rubab, Oud, Tanbur, Seta, Sheshtai or Roohafzai, and Qanun, are present in the present collection. As much as the structure of instruments such as Ney, Sorna, and Dayereh is more straightforward, their design is also easier for painters. That is why half of the instruments in this collection are made up of these three. Also, the striking predominance of the presence of the Rubab compared to the essential instruments of old Persian music, i.e., Oud and Tanbur, indicates shifts in the typical instrument composition in this period (17th century).
The contribution of female musicians in this manuscript could be more impressive. Some instruments such as Qanun and Setar, which stereotypically are considered ‘feminine’ even today, are seen in the hands of women. In addition, if we exclude the three angelic beings, none of the Ney, Sorna, and Rubab players in this collection are women; and this confirms that men often played wind instruments in ancient times. At the same time, we see only one Dayereh musician in the image of a woman.
If this idea and method are used in the study and examination of a more significant number of paintings and manuscripts of the history of Persian art, perhaps it will bring more detailed results regarding the historical sociology of Persian music in terms of the gender composition of musicians. Although the number of images of musicians in this manuscript is significant compared to many others, we need a more reliable and suitable statistical sample to consider the results as generalizable.