The epoch of the Samanids was devoted to the creation of a large-scale centralized state. Special attention was given to the formation and flowering of the literatures, sciences, and the arts. The epoch also made major advances in urbanization. It was an era of improving technical methods and nourishing new artistic qualities. Altogether, it was a constructive period during which a new spirit permeated all spheres of the cultural life of Transoxiana and Iran.
     The culture of the Samanid Era was fueled by a feudal ideology and a relatively new religion, Islam. A striking phenomenon, Islam renders an essential influence upon both the architecture and the monumental arts of the region. This influence, which involves a gradual prohibition in the depiction of living beings, is anathema to realism it forces the artist to, gradually, abandon realism. But more importantly, it involves a process that results in the disappearance of the three-dimensional sculpture, of figurative arts, and of the decorative origin of fine arts.1
     This kind of general gap in artistic traditions is quite unusual for the medieval cultures.2 The gap involves a process that forces the ornamental decoration to compensate the loss incurred by prohibition in creation of realistic phenomena. This means that the decorative motifs, originally derived from the world of the plants and from geometry, will have to enter totally new proportions with absolutely original harmony of colors and forms.
     Since, the problems that arise from Islam's interaction with the indigenous cultures, especially with indigenous arts and modes of life, were complex, it is necessary to study the dynamics of these early interactions. By developing appropriate methods, we can not only distinguish the mutual effects on either culture but gauge the benefits and, indeed, the harms that such a processes might entail.
     The ideology of affirmed Islam promoted the appearance of new types of buildings which had been unknown earlier. These included towns and settlements, as well as mosques with minarets, mausoleums, madrasahs, and khaniqahs.3 At the same time, the Samanids spared neither zeal nor resources in erecting magnificent palaces, administrative centers, caravansaries, covered markets, public baths, bridges, and canals. According to the tenth-century Bukharan chronicler, Muhammad Narshakhi, the beauty of some of those palaces had become proverbial.4 In this regard, Narshakhi makes the following interesting remark, "The most skillful masters and architects of the time were invited to Bukhara to create a complex of splendid palaces surrounded by beautiful parks and open spaces. The beautiful palace called Jui Mullian, which itself resembled the much longed-for paradise, is an example."5 Apparently similar country-palaces and architecturally-organized gardens were built all over the region. All these complexes were built according to blueprints created by skilled architects, specialists in laying out parks and devising systems for distribution of scarce water.
     Raw brick-pakhsa (derivative of loess) and wood-continued to remain the major materials used in constructions in general. According to information from the ninth and tenth centuries, in Samarqand, Kesh, and Bunjikent (Panjekent) wood and clay were major elements used in the construction of houses."6 Narshakhi provides us with a good description of several fires that, at different times, had destroyed whole housing complexes in Bukhara.7 Could this have been a consequence of the wide application of wood in clay-frame walls, plane floors, and in the provision of supports? The separate, well-preserved wooden details of buildings provide materials not only about the tectonics of the buildings, but about the artistic value of carved wood as well.
     Widespread application of baked brick in the construction of the ninth and tenth centuries monumental structures created an upheaval not only in the architectonics of buildings, but in the infusion of original artistic ideas. We observe that although baked brick was used in more ancient structures, it was not used widely. During the excavation of the Parthian capital of Nisa (third to second centuries, BC), for instance, baked bricks were discovered in both square and curved shapes.8 In spite of this, until the ninth century, baked bricks were used only in very special circumstances. One such circumstance was its use in areas that were in need of high durability, i.e., in the foundations, plane roofs, domes, pillars, steps, and the surfaces of the yards.9
     There were other aspects that contributed to the appeal of using baked bricks in constructions. These included the high level technical qualities of the material, as well as its lightness and adaptability to diverse tones. Combined, these features allowed baked bricks to become one of the main contributors to the creation of architectural decorations in the ninth and tenth centuries. The monochrome ornamental processing with baked brick is gradually becoming the means of artistic enrichment of the interior and exterior walls of monumental buildings. Connected constructively with the principal brickwork, it is meant to impart a chiaroscuro perspective and a concrete texture. Rather than hiding, it uses artistic means to highlight the main architectural forms of the building.
     The use of bricks in pairs, although one of the simplest types of decorative brickwork, was unknown in pre-Islamic architecture.10 A row of brick work was usually inlayed, with a pair of bricks in which one brick was placed on top of the other. Owing to this device, the rows turned out not only twice as thick but as accurate vertical seams. This device provides a striking example for a situation, in which, the intention to simplify a process results in the birth of a new artistic technique in brickwork. Later masters filled the space between the pair of bricks with gaj (alabaster) and formed a wide vertical seam to emphasize the effect of the invention. Further along in the process, the stripes of gaj were enlivened with simple ornamentation. This remarkable combination of brickwork and alabaster then formed the basis for subsequent developments in the application of still more decorative techniques.11
     Apart from the ornamental motifs, epigraphic ornaments played an increasingly larger role in the decoration of monumental buildings. The genesis of this motif, too, was related to Islamic ideology. Calligraphic inscriptions, executed in geometrical print, or "Kufic," were among the earliest and the most universal. In fact, thanks to the peculiarities of the Arabic script, some extraordinarily wonderful decorative images were provided in this way. That these decorative images could easily be accomplished in baked brick was a bonus.12
     The mausoleum of the Samanid Amir is a precious complex indeed. Resembling a pearl in Central Asian architecture, it displays the indissoluble unity of architectural form, construction, and decoration visually. Furthermore, this unique monument crowns the achievements of centuries of experimentation, unsurpassed craftsmanship, composition, attention to details, and ornamentation. The composition of the mausoleum is strictly pivotal, i.e., all four facades are identical (10.8 x 10.8 m). The cubic building of the mausoleum is completed with a high refined arcade and cupola. The high-powered round columns, at the coins, and the light bordering of the walls, give the monument an impressive outlook.
     The surface of the interior and exterior walls, the tympanums of the arches and the details of the arcade are all covered with elegant geometrical and plant ornamentation. The original brickwork, comprised of small square bricks stacked horizontally and vertically, produce the illusion of wicker-work. The narrow plate of the bricks (22-23 x 22-23 x 3cm) permits the use of ornaments. The brickwork of the interior achieves an unusual artistic form in the tier of the cupola drum, where form and plasticity combine. Here brickwork achieves its polished and ornamental composition. The interplay of light and shadow of a distinctive brick mosaic, festively decorated, imparts a certain charm to the mausoleum, a charm that allows the complex to join the other masterpieces of ornamental art.
     The tendency to artistically expose the decorative characteristics mentioned above, as primary building materials, is increased in the Arab-Ata mausoleum, in the hamlet of Tim. While the texture of baked bricks prevails and the covered gaj inlays appear only in insignificant amounts in the Samanid mausoleum ornamentation, the Arab-Ata complex is a combination of brick and gaj. The carved gaj does not completely plaster the facade of the Arab-Ata mausoleum, of course, but it organically combines with the brickwork, filling the wide seams. In certain places, like the small arches belonging to the portal arches, the carved gaj covers the surface completely, as would plaster. Other instances include Kufic inscriptions. An imitation of figure brickwork was provided above in the context of gaj coating in tomb interiors. By using this device, a patterned unity was introduced to underlie the exterior and the interior spaces in the decorative design of buildings.13
     The carved stucco was of wide-spread use as a decorative device. In this regard, a number of brilliantly executed ornamental panels were discovered in the excavations of the ancient town of Afrasiyab. A study of these panels, I am sure, will add much to our understanding of this aspect of the architecture of the time. As the Varakhsha wall relief, with rich portrayals of animals, birds, and man shows, the high culture of this branch of the art was also affected by the structures discussed earlier in this study.
     The ornamentation motifs of Afrasiyab fragments are efficient examples of monocharacter patterns. They draw on a combination of geometrical designs, which represent some organized base, and plan motifs, which serve as filler. The rightness of the geometric patterns and the construction of their intersections indicate a knowledge of applied geometry. The craftsmanship of the ornamentation and the refinement of the patterns, combined with their rhythm for geometrical contours, produce an excellent technique for fretwork on alabaster. Side by side with this, some ornaments are preserved which date back to the early Middle ages: a roller with scaly ornament and strips of intertwined vine stems.
     A. M. Prybitkova remarks that this pattern is notable for a lesser reality of representation than the same type of ornament found in Varakhsha and Panjekent. The vine motif, which is repeated in ornaments of different times periods, endures the process of abstraction quite well. It can, therefore, serve as a standard for the dating the monuments.14
     The carved decoration of the Afrasiyab panels has a number of analogs in the Tarikh (Nu Gumbad) mosque, in Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan), dated to the ninth and the first half of the tenth century.15 There, carved gaj covered all the interior and exterior surfaces of the mosque. Because of its instability in the face of adverse atmospheric conditions, gaj was very seldom used in the building of the facades. Among the preserved monuments with exterior decoration, the Arab-Ata tomb, the portal of which is decorated with gaj, and the Nu Gumbad mosque, are distinct. To raise the durability of alabaster, thin ears of cereals were included in the composition.16
     The tympana of the arches, the round capitals of massive pillars, and the base of the pillars and columns of the Nu Gumbad mosque were covered with ornamental fretwork, entirely on gaj. In various places, the fretwork turns into sculptural decoration, so that the rosettes which, adorn the tympana of the interior arches, appear as distinct three-dimensional sculptures. The geometrical and stylized plant motifs are combined in mosque ornamentation. Here the fine-laciniate vine is more naturalistic and, probably, belongs to an earlier period than the Afrasiyab panel which prevails in plant decoration.17
     One cannot help marveling at the ancient, remarkable, covered mihrab of a mosque at Dahistan burial-ground in northern Khurasan, a mihrab also known as the Shir Kabir Mosque.18 In spite of a lack of security for the mihrab, its spectacular carved stucco decoration discloses its general composition. The plant, geometrical, and epigraphic motifs fill the splendid mihrab. Although in complete contrast to the Afrasiyab decoration,19 it has a wide circle of analogs among the religious buildings in Samarra, Cairo, and Nain.20
     There has existed an ancient (pre-Islamic) artistic tradition of combining plaster work with woodwork. This tradition is evidenced in the magnificent monuments in carved wood in the Zarafshan river valley; columns in the mountainous settlements of Kurut, Obburdon, Fatmev, Urmitan, the mihrab of the settlement of Iskodar and the wooden freeze from Obburdon. The columns are dated about the ninth to the tenth centuries. Only the more recent columns from Urmetan, and the mihrab from Iskodar, are exception.21
     In the wooden decorations, images of living beings whimsically interlace with the floral, geometric, and epigraphic motifs. The ornament, which is carved deep, and which is supplemented by prominent details, is accompanied by a beautiful flair of stylization. On the whole, the arrangement is concentrated on the capitals. The capitals of the columns of Obburdon and Urmitan contain rich animal subjects, including portrayals of animals, fishes, and birds. The prominent eyes, scales, and tail fins, and the heads of the birds on their long necks, are reproduced with a great deal of imagination, finesse, and delicate taste. Additionally, there is a cylinder, the composition of which includes zoomorphic elements in the form of playing fish and four projections on columns with wonderful owl figures decorating their trunks.
     The floral ornamentation of the column at Kurut absorbs the images of the animals in their entirety. One views only the fish, which is depicted in a wonderful, stylized form, within the pattern of the column. At Fatmev, the deep and rich floral ornamentation completely covers the column, while geometric and epigraphic motifs dominate the Iskodar mihrab.
     V. L. Voronina relates the zoomorphic subjects of the Zarafshan columns with intricate patterns, dating to pre-Islamic local traditions reflected in folk mythology.22
     The priceless architectural ornamentation of the epoch of the Samanids bespeak a richness of creative forces that is unsurpassed in artistic qualities and in expressive equilibrium. The artistic aspect of the architecture is indissolubly connected with the best traditions of ancient times. Nevertheless, the new qualities appear more clearly: the organic unity of constructive and artistic aspects of the architecture combined with a wide use of baked bricks. In the constructions, the decorative wealth of the brickwork is expressed not only in the ornamentation, but also in architectural volume and space.