Persian jewelry spans more than 2,500 years, from the gold armlets of the Achaemenid kings to the gem-covered regalia of the Qajar shahs. Ancient Persian goldsmiths favored heavy bracelets and torques ending in animal heads, often inlaid with colored stones. Iran also had its own famous gem, the sky-blue turquoise of Nishapur, and its later rulers gathered one of the largest collections of jewels in the world, now kept in Tehran.
Achaemenid gold
The Achaemenid empire, founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC, stretched at its height from Egypt and Anatolia to the Indus. It absorbed the workshops of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Lydia, and Persian court jewelry drew on all of them.
Greek writers were struck by how much gold Persians wore. Herodotus describes the elite Persian troops known as the Immortals going to war adorned with gold. The reliefs on the Apadana staircase at Persepolis show delegations from across the empire bringing gifts to the king, and several of them carry armlets and bracelets. The Persian king rewarded loyal officials with gifts of gold jewelry, so a bracelet or torque could be a public mark of royal favor.
Achaemenid style has a few clear features:
- Heavy armlets and bracelets with open ends finished as animal heads, such as lions, ibexes, griffins or rams
- Torques, rigid neck rings, worn by men as signs of rank
- Inlay of turquoise, lapis lazuli and carnelian set into gold cells, a technique related to cloisonne
- Gold appliques sewn onto clothing, often stamped with lions, rosettes or winged figures
The Oxus Treasure
The Oxus Treasure is the largest surviving group of Achaemenid gold and silver. It came to light in the late 1870s, reportedly near the Oxus River (the Amu Darya) in what is now Tajikistan. Merchants carrying it were robbed on the road to India, and a British officer recovered much of it. Most of the hoard eventually reached the British Museum.
The treasure includes about 180 objects. Among them are a small gold chariot pulled by four horses, gold plaques showing figures in Median dress, and a pair of armlets whose ends are horned griffins. The empty cells on those griffins once held inlays of colored stone or glass. Some pieces in the hoard have uncertain origins, and scholars still discuss how much of it belongs together, but the armlets are standard examples of Achaemenid court jewelry.
Parthian and Sasanian jewelry
Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid empire in the 330s BC, and Greek tastes mixed with Persian ones under his successors. The Parthians, who ruled Iran for several centuries afterward, wore earrings, necklaces and belt plaques that blend Greek and Iranian ideas. The Sasanian dynasty, from the 3rd to 7th centuries AD, is known for silver vessels, engraved gem seals and royal portraits on coins and rock reliefs. Those portraits show kings wearing large pearl earrings, pearl necklaces and tall crowns, each king with his own distinct crown design.
Turquoise of Nishapur
Iran's best-known gem is turquoise from the mines near Nishapur in the Khorasan region of northeast Iran. These deposits have been worked for well over a thousand years and possibly much longer. The finest Persian turquoise is an even, intense sky blue with little or no matrix, and "Persian blue" became a trade name for that color around the world.
Persian goldsmiths set turquoise in gold and silver, carved it with inscriptions, and used it to cover the hilts of daggers, horse trappings and the domes of small objects. The stone's color was associated with the sky, and many people in the region wore turquoise as a protective charm against the evil eye, a belief still common in parts of the Middle East. The word turquoise itself comes from the French for "Turkish," because the stone reached Europe through Turkish trade routes.
Safavid jewelry
The Safavid dynasty ruled Iran from the early 16th to the early 18th century, with its capital at Isfahan for much of that time. Court jewelers worked with gold, enamel, rubies, spinels, emeralds and pearls. Many large gems reached Persia through trade with India, and some carried the inscribed names of successive owners. Red spinels were often engraved with the names of Persian or Mughal rulers, a practice described on our spinel page.
European travelers to the Safavid court, including the French jeweler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, wrote about the jewels they saw there and traded gems with Persian buyers.
Nader Shah and the jewels of Delhi
In 1739 the Persian ruler Nader Shah invaded Mughal India and sacked Delhi. He carried away an enormous quantity of jewels, including the Mughal Peacock Throne and famous diamonds. The Koh-i-Noor diamond left India in this plunder and later passed to Afghan rulers, then to the Sikh empire, and finally to Britain. The Darya-i-Noor, a large pale pink diamond from the Golconda mines, stayed in Persia. These events link Persian and Indian jewelry history closely, and the Golconda diamond mines page traces where those stones came from.
Qajar jewelry
The Qajar dynasty ruled from the late 18th century into the 1920s. Qajar portraits show shahs and courtiers covered in jewels: pearl-strung armbands, jeweled belts, aigrettes on the turban and jewel-studded robes. The Kiani Crown, made for Fath Ali Shah, is covered in pearls, red spinels and emeralds.
Qajar workshops also produced enameled gold in bright pinks, blues and greens, often painted with flowers, birds and portraits. Under Naser al-Din Shah in the 19th century, court jewelers made the Globe of Jewels, a gold globe set with tens of thousands of gems, with the seas in emeralds and the land in rubies and spinels.
The Iranian crown jewels
The Iranian crown jewels are held in the Treasury of National Jewels, a vault beneath the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran that has been open to visitors. The collection includes the Darya-i-Noor, the Kiani Crown, the Globe of Jewels, a jeweled throne often called the Peacock Throne (a later Qajar throne, distinct from the Mughal original), and the crown made for Reza Shah Pahlavi's coronation in the 1920s. Because the jewels back the national currency, the collection has rarely left the vault.
The Persian love of pearls runs through the collection, much of it supplied by the Persian Gulf beds that the Bahrain pearl page describes.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Oxus Treasure?
It is a hoard of about 180 Achaemenid gold and silver objects found in the late 1870s near the Oxus River in Central Asia. Most of it is in the British Museum, including one of its two famous gold griffin armlets. The other armlet is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Why is Persian turquoise famous?
Turquoise from the mines near Nishapur in northeast Iran has been prized for centuries for its even, intense sky-blue color. "Persian blue" became a trade term for the best turquoise color.
Where are the Iranian crown jewels kept?
They are in the Treasury of National Jewels, a vault at the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran. The collection includes the Darya-i-Noor diamond, the Kiani Crown and the Globe of Jewels.
Did the Koh-i-Noor diamond belong to Persia?
Nader Shah took the Koh-i-Noor from Delhi in 1739. After his death it passed to Afghan rulers, then to the Sikh empire in the Punjab, and it entered the British crown jewels in the 19th century.