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| Plate
42. Persia, Mid 15th century,
Formerly in the Martin
Collection, Stockholm Sweden.
Photo Credit
mellat.majlis.ir/archive |
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La Miniature En Orient by Ernst Kuhnel 1925
Translator's Note: While Kuhnel did not attribute
this painting to an artist it is now widely
viewed as the work of Sultan Muhammad. Stuart Cary Welch suggested
that this
miniature was originally intended for the book we
know as the Shah-Nama of Shah Tahmasp.1.
Sheila
Canby takes that one step further by suggesting
that Tahmasp steeped in the artistic tradition of
Herat rejected this piece on stylistic grounds. 2.
One point that both Welch and Canby is the date,
circa 1515 - 1522.
This
represents the pinnacle of the Tabriz Miniature
tradition prior to the arrival of Tahmasp and
Bihzad from Herat. Compared to Bihzad Sultan
Mohammed could be rather clumsy and crude but the
colors and the vitality make this a treasure but
one that did not fit the Herat esthetic.
Detail - The sleep of Rustam
Here we see Rustan one of the great heroes of
epic poetry. The earliest images of Rustan are
Sacian from Central Asia. This hero was grafted
onto Persian legends in the Shahnama (Book of
Kings) by a poet named Firdausi. 3.
This is a beautifully executed but rather typical
portrayal of Rustam. He is normally show in tiger
stripes with a big cat head headdress. This
miniature is especially interesting because of
the jajim that Rustam is sleeping on.
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| Detail
- The sleep of Rustam |
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| Detail
- The sleep of Rustam |
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The coloration of the rocks is a hallmark of the
Sultan Mohammed style.
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| Detail
- The Sleep of Rustam |
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In this enlargement of the above detail shows
us the human like face hidden in the rocks.
- Welch,
Stuart Cary Wonders of the Age.
Cambridge: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard
University. 1979. cat. 84, page 36 and
plate 2.
- Canby,Sheila
R. Persian Painting. New York: Thames
and Hudson, 1993. Page 79 and plate 49.
- Belenitsky,
Aleksandr. Central Asia, Trans.
Hogarth, James. Cleveland: The World
Publishing Company, 1968. page 188.
- N.B. My ongoing translation and
commentary on "La Miniature En
Orient" is a work in progress. I am
publishing it one plate at a time in no
particular order. I flip through the book
and look for one that looks fun and then
I do that one next. I suppose the order
in which I publish them says something
about my taste in art. My primary goal
with this project is not to teach you
about Islamic Art but rather it is to
teach myself a little about Islamic Art.
If I make an error please let me know. I
am also doing the project this way so
that if I make an error perhaps one of
you will catch it for me. By the way I
also decided that this would be a chance
to learn a little more French, since I
barely know enough to make it through a
French menu.
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