Persian Locks

Winner of the Silver Medal in the IBPA Book Awards for Hobbies and Crafts, Persian Locks: 1500 Years of Iranian Padlocks by Parviz Tanavoli is a magnificent exploration of Iran’s ancient and enduring lockmaking tradition.

Across 144 pages and more than 500 color photographs and technical illustrations, Tanavoli presents an extraordinary collection of antique Persian padlocks—works of both utility and art—documenting their evolution over fifteen centuries. In Iran, the padlock developed in remarkable diversity of shapes, materials, and mechanical ingenuity, far surpassing the variety found in Europe. This book reveals those traditions through meticulous documentation, visual clarity, and historical context.

Each lock is carefully catalogued and illustrated, with detailed line drawings that show the workings of barbed-spring, helical-spring, notched-shackle, hook, and revolving-catch mechanisms. Dates and places of origin are noted wherever possible. The collection featured in Persian Locks was first introduced to the American public by the Smithsonian Institution in 1976 under the title Locks from Iran: Pre-Islamic to Twentieth Century. This expanded and revised edition—produced between 2019 and 2020—adds new text and a wealth of previously unpublished images acquired during the forty-four years since the original publication.

Tanavoli, recognized internationally as Iran’s foremost modern sculptor and a founder of the Saqakhaneh art movement, brings both the eye of an artist and the precision of a historian to his study. His fascination with locks stems from their sculptural beauty and symbolic resonance, elements that have profoundly influenced his own artistic work.

Printed in hardcover (25.5 × 21.5 cm), this lavishly produced volume is as much a work of art as the masterpieces it documents—a vital reference for collectors, museums, metal artists, and historians of Persian art and design.