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THE ART OF ANCIENT IRAN has a place of its own in the cultural heritage of the East. For centuries it has been admired for its lyrical quality and finesse combined with classically lucid, pure style. The finest specimens of Persian art have long been regarded as true standards of beauty and impeccable artistic taste.

The roots of Persian art date back to the hoary past. A mature farming  culture existed on the Plateau of Iran as early as the 4th millennium B.C. The history of Iran abounds in dramatic events, highlighted by the rise and fall of mighty empires and sanguinary wars.

In the 6th to 5th centuries B.C. Iran was the hub of the vast Achaemenian Empire, reaching from Egypt to India, and the home of Achaemenian monarchs. to this day the ancient land of Iran is dotted with majestic tombs, ruins of palaces and petroglyphs. The campaign of Alexander the Great cut down the power of the Achaemenian kings. The subsequent rise of Hellenistic states in Iran's territory and the growing commercial exchange with the West resulted in the interaction of Iranian and Hellenistic cultures. From the 3rd to the 7th centuries the traditions of Persian art were carried on by the Sassanian state. It left us magnificent monuments of architecture and peerless specimens of applied arts: textiles, gems, gold and silver articles.

The Arab conquest, which in the 7th century wrecked the Sassanian state, signified a new stage in the history of Persian art. As Islam began to spread and gain in strength, with the bulk of the population embracing it by the 11th century, decorative - orna - mental art came to the fore. The ancient tradition of figure subjects nevertheless persisted within the confines of the ornament.

The following centuries of Iran's history were clouded by incessant wars and the devastating conquests of the Seljuk Turks, the hordes of Genghiz Khan and Timur, and the Afghan tribes. Yet the Iranian people invariably managed to rise again. Despite the ordeals that fell to their lot the people were able to preserve the highly distinctive character of their ancient culture. Art relics dating from this period attest to the florescence of the famous art of miniature painting and the high level of decorative applied arts primarily ceramics and metalwork.