The unique character of the Koran, that is its literal identification with the Divinity in the mind of the believer, meant that in its written form Koran occupied a position analog to icon or sacred image in other faiths like the Christian one. This fact explains the absence of sanctified pictorial iconography in Islam and Iran. There is no devotional imagery in the mosques in pictorial form because such a need is filled by the calligraphically written verses of the Koran.

Though this pictorial art cut off might imply an absence of representational imagery in persian civilisation, quite the contrary is true.
Representational art was flourishing and primarily at the service of the monarch in the form of “power themes“, like the submission of an enemy, battles, certain regal animals, the enthroned monarch, the hunt.