This is a detailed study of the illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsah, in which twenty discourses are followed by a brief parable, and four romances. Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) lived the greater part of adventurous life in Delhi; he composed in Persian, and also in Hindi. From the point of view of manuscript illustration, his most important work is his Khamsah (Quintet'). Khusrau's position as a link between cultures of Persia and India means that the early illustrated copies of the Khamsah have a particular interest. The first extant exemplar is from the Persian area in the late 14th century, but a case can be made that work was probably illustrated earlier in India.

A stunning catalog of Persian miniature paintings and manuscripts from The al-Sabah Collection, placed in their historical and artistic context

Jewel-like colors, rich patterns, precise execution and virtuoso draftmanship characterize the best of Persian miniature painting: the perfect realization of an ideal world. This fully illustrated book provides a concise account of Persian painting from about 1300 to 1900. Beginning with the materials and tools which enabled the artists to achieve their remarkable effects, Sheila Canby goes on to survey the stylistic development of Persian painting and the influences upon it of over six centuries of Iran’s turbulent history.

"This book is a survey of the historical evolution of Persian painting, and the factors, internal as well as external, which shaped its development and brought significant changes in the subject matter and forms of representation. As these forms changed, so did their status and the hierarchies of values they embodied, coming to reflect changing views on the status of images and the nature of painterly skill. Thus, an age when monumental painting largely determined the character of the representational arts gave way to a period when books and book painting defined artistic taste, while subsequently a fashion for paintings and drawings on single sheets created a taste for painting in oils on canvas. The final chapter of the book is an attempt to reconstruct one of the most famous albums, the so-called St. Petersburg Muraqqa."--BOOK JACKET.

Collected articles on Iranian art from the Qajar dynasty. The thirteen articles in this volume were originally given as presentations at the symposium of the same name organized in June 2018 by the Musée du Louvre and the Musée du Louvre-Lens in conjunction with the exhibition The Empire of Roses: Masterpieces of 19th Century Persian Art. The exhibition explored the art of Iran in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while the nation was under the rule of the Qajar dynasty. The symposium set out to present research on previously unknown and unpublished objects from this rich period of art history. This volume, published with the Louvre Museum in France, is divided into four sections. The first, "Transitions and Transmissions," is dedicated to the arts of painting, illumination, and lithography. The focus of the second section, entitled "The Image Revealed," also considers works on paper, looking at new themes and techniques. "The Material World" examines the use of materials such as textiles, carpets, and armor. The articles in the final section discuss the history of two groups of artifacts acquired by their respective museums.

This book is the first survey of the figural arts of the Iranian world from prehistoric times to the early twentieth century ever to consider themes, rather than styles. Analyzing primarily painting - in manuscripts and albums, on walls and on lacquered, painted pen boxes and caskets - but also the related arts of sculpture, ceramics, and metalwork, the author finds that the underlying themes depicted on them through the ages are remarkably consistent. Eleanor Sims demonstrates that all these arts display similar concerns: kingship and legitimacy; the righteous exercise of princely power and the defense of national territory; and the performance of rituals and the religious duties called for by the paramount cult of the day. She describes a variety of superb works of art inside and outside these categories, noting not only how they illustrate archetypal themes but also what it is about them that is unique. She also discusses the ways that Iranian art both influenced and was influenced by invaders and neighboring lands. Boris I. Marshak discusses pre-Islamic and also Central Asian art, in particular the earliest Iranian wall paintings and their pictorial parallels in rock carvings and metalwork, and the richly painted temples and houses of Panjikent. Ernst J. Grube considers religious imagery, and provides an informative bibliography.

The first comprehensive survey of modern and contemporary Iranian art by a noted expert in this field.