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VOLUME 9
Edited by
Kishwar Rizvi
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: “Ascetic in meditation,” c. 17th c. artist, Mu’in Musavvir (1617–1697). The Vera M. and John
D. MacDonald, b.a. 1927, Collection. Courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery.
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 2213-3844
isbn 978-90-04-34047-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-35284-1 (e-book)
2 Who’s Hiding Here? Artists and Their Signatures in Timurid and Safavid Manuscripts 45
Marianna Shreve Simpson
6 The City Built, the City Rendered: Locating Urban Subjectivity in Eighteenth-Century
Mughal Delhi 148
Chanchal Dadlani
8 Mevlevi Sufis and the Representation of Emotion in the Arts of the Ottoman World 185
Jamal J. Elias
Index 211
Acknowledgements and Note on Transliteration
Affect, Emotion and Subjectivity in Early Modern In this book, Arabic, Urdu, Ottoman and Per-
Muslim Empires: New studies in Ottoman, Safavid sian words occur in a range of contexts, from court
and Mughal art and culture first took shape as a chronicles to epigraphic Qurʾanic verses. In order
symposium in the History of Art Department at to attain consistency we have chosen the translit-
Yale University in Spring 2014. Funding for the eration conventions established in the Internation-
symposium and this book were provided by the al Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Geographical
Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial names are rendered according to current scholarly
Fund from the MacMillan Center for Interna- convention not pronunciation, for example, Isfa-
tional and Area Studies at Yale University. The han instead of Esfahan. Names and terms, such as
editor gratefully acknowledges their support, Hassan or Sufism, that are commonly used in the
without which this publication would not have English language, have been rendered without dia-
been possible. critical marks or italics.
List of Figures
0.1 Timurid Album Page, mid-15th c. 2 1.12 Kerman, Ganj ʿAli Khan Caravanserai. View
0.2 Zayn al-Abidin and the Black Stone, History of the toward the iwan on the east side of the
Immaculate Imams (Tārīkh-i āima-yi māsumīn) of courtyard 37
Veramini, 1526 4 1.13 Kerman, Ganj ʿAli Khan Caravanserai. The iwan
0.3 Masjid-i ʿAli, Isfahan (completed c. 1523) 6 on the east side of the courtyard with the signa-
0.4 Babur greeting a visitor, Bāburnāma, c. 1590 8 ture of master architect Ustad Muhammad Sul-
0.5 Jahangir embracing Shah ʿAbbas, c 1600–30 10 tan Miʿmar-i Yazdi 38
0.6 Portrait of Abdur Rahim, 1608 12 1.14 Kerman, Ganj ʿAli Khan Hammam (public
0.7 Portrait of Sir Robert Shirley, c. 1622 13 bathhouse) 39
0.8 Tomb of Jahangir, detail, Lahore (1627–37) 14 2.1 ʿAbdullah Shirazi, Headpiece to Yusuf u Zulaykha.
0.9 Chahar Bagh Avenue, Isfahan, c. 1718 by Cornelis Haft awrang of Jami, folio 84b 47
de Bruyn 15 2.2 Masʿud Ahmad, “Afrasiayb on the Iranian Throne.”
0.10 Portrait of a dying Inayat Khan, attributed to Bal- Shahnama for Shah Tahmasb, folio 105a 49
chand, 1618 17 2.3A ʿAzud, Headpiece. Divan of Khusraw Dihlavi,
1.1 Mashhad, Qibla iwan at the Mosque of Gawhar folio 1b 50
Shad in the Shrine complex of Imam Riza, com- 2.3B ʿAzud, Headpiece. Divan of Khusraw Dihlavi,
pleted 1418 22 folio 1b, detail 51
1.2 Mashhad, Qibla iwan at the Mosque of Gawhar 2.4 Sultan Muhammad, “Celebration of ʿId.” Divan of
Shad in the Shrine complex of of Imam Riza. One Hafiz 56
of the two foundation inscription panels 23 2.5 ʿAbdullah Shirazi, Frontispiece. Divan of Sultan
1.3 Isfahan, western iwan of the Friday Mosque 26 Ibrahim Mirza, folios 1b–2a 59
1.4 Isfahan, Masjed-i Jadid-i Abbasi (Masjed-i Shah, 2.6 ʿAbdullah Shirazi, Frontispiece. Bustan of Saʿdi,
or royal mosque). Entrance iwan complex, folio 2a 59
1611–1638 28 3.1 Sinan oversees the construction of Süleyman’s
1.5 Isfahan, Masjid-e Jadid-e Abbasi, view toward the mausoleum, Ẓafarnāma, 1579 69
principal foundation inscription above the door- 3.2 Frontispiece of Dīvān-i Ḥusaynī, 1492 71
way of the entrance iwan 29 3.3 Sultan Selim hunting and courtly assembly,
1.6 Isfahan, Masjid-e Jadid-e Abbasi, detail from the Divan-i Selimi, 1515–20 73
inscriptions above the doorway of the entrance 3.4 Frontispiece of Selīmnāme, 1597–1598 74
iwan complex 30 3.5 Final image of Dīvān-i Ḥusaynī with the artists,
1.7 Isfahan, Harun-i Velayat Shrine, entrance façade, 1492 76
dated 1513 32 3.6 Portrait of Karabagi, Lokman, Osman and Sinan,
1.8 Isfahan, Harun-i Velayat Shrine, detail of the Şehnāme-i Selīm Ḫān, ca. 1571–81 77
foundation inscription above the doorway of the 3.7 Lokman and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha in Sultan
entrance façade 33 Selim ii’s audience, Şehnāme-i Selīm Ḫān, ca.
1.9 Isfahan, Shaykh Lutfallah Chapel-Mosque, the 1571–81 79
entrance façade 34 3.8 Selim ii watching the Imperial Council; below
1.10 Isfahan, Shaykh Lutfallah Chapel-Mosque, view the author, artists and scribes of the manuscript.
of the mihrab signed by the architect Baqir Şehnāme-i Selīm Ḫān, ca. 1571 80
Bannaʾ 35 3.9 Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and Feridun Ahmed
1.11 Kerman, Ganj ʿAli Khan Caravanserai on the east Beg Mourning the death of Sultan Süleyman,
side of the Maydan of Ganj ʿAli Khan 36 Nüzhetü’l-aḫbār der sefer-i Sīgetvār, 1568–69 82
List of Figures ix
3.10 Sokollu Mehmed Pasha’s Council, Nüzhetü’l- 4.11 Detail of Figure 4.10, showing the Prophet Muham-
aḫbār der sefer-i Sīgetvār, 1568–69 84 mad’s facial features overlaid with gold paint 114
3.11 Astronomer Takiyüddin, Nuṣretnāme, 1584 86 4.12 The Prophet Muhammad at the Kaʿba after
3.12 Governor of Kars Yusuf Beg presents booty to the conquest of Mecca, Hafiz-i Abru, Kulliyat-i
Lala Mustafa Pasha, Nuṣretnāme, 1584 87 Tawarikh (The Collection of Histories), Herat,
3.13 Asafi battling Safavids, Şecāʿatnāme, 1586 88 modern-day Afghanistan, 1415–16 115
3.14 Talikizade. Şehnāme-i humāyūn, 1596 89 4.13 ʿAli storms the Fortress at Khaybar, Hafiz-i Abru,
3.15 Talikizade, Nakkaş Hasan and a scribe at work, Kulliyat-i Tawarikh (The Collection of Histories),
Şehnāme-i Meḥmed Ḫān, early 17th c. 90 Herat, modern-day Afghanistan, 1415–16 116
4.1 The persecution of Muslims, Rashid al-Din, Jamiʿ 4.14 The Prophet Muhammad and ʿAli break the
al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), Tabriz, idols at the Kaʿba in Mecca, Mirkhwand, Raw-
Iran, 1314 97 dat al-Safa (Garden of Purity), Shiraz, Iran, ca.
4.2 The torturing of Bilal, Rashid al-Din, Jamiʿ 1585–95 118
al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), T abriz, 4.15 Detail of Figure 4.14, showing a vocative inscrip-
Iran ca. 1350–1400 98 tion on Muhammad’s facial veil and the loss of
4.3 The Mubahala (Day of Cursing), al-Biruni, Al- paintwork on ʿAli’s facial veil 119
Athar al-Baqiya ʿan al-Qurun al-Khaliya (The 5.1 Textile fragment, signed by “Ghiyath” (Ghiyath
Chronology of Ancient Nations), Tabriz or al-Din ʿAli-yi Naqshband), 1600–1700 127
Maragha, Iran, 1307 102 5.2 Textile panel: Safavid Courtiers Leading Georgian
4.4 The investiture of ʿAli at Ghadir Khumm, al- Captives, mid-16th century 128
Biruni, Al-Athar al-Baqiya ʿan al-Qurun al- K
haliya 5.3 Prince with a falcon, circa 1600–1605 132
(The Chronology of Ancient Nations), Tabriz or 5.4 Emperor Jahangir weighing his Son Khurram in
Maragha, Iran, 1307 103 Gold, circa 1615 133
4.5 The investiture of ʿAli at Ghadir Khumm, al- 5.5 Emperor Jahangir holding a ceremonial crown,
Biruni, Al-Athar al-Baqiya ʿan al-Qurun al- K
haliya circa 1620 134
(The Chronology of Ancient Nations), Isfahan, 5.6 Young Prince, mid-16th century 135
Iran, 1647 104 5.7 Emperor Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Sheikh to
4.6 The investiture of ʿAli at Ghadir Khumm, al- Kings, circa 1615–1618 136
Biruni, Al-Athar al-Baqiya ʿan al-Qurun al- K
haliya 5.8 Shah-Jahan Receives His Three Eldest Sons and
(The Chronology of Ancient Nations), Ottoman Asaf Khan During His Accession Ceremonies (8
lands, ca. 1560 105 March 1628), Padshahnama, 1656–57 138
4.7 Abu Jahl hurls a rock at the Prophet Muhammad, 5.9 Textile panel of silk, late 16th century 145
al-Darir, Siyer-i Nebi (Biography of the Prophet), 6.1 Map of Delhi highlighting Shahjahanabad, Ni
Istanbul, Ottoman lands, 1594–95 107 zamuddin, and Mehrauli 150
4.8 The Prophet Muhammad witnesses an idol- 6.2 Plan of the Dargah of Bakhtiyar Kaki, Zafar Mahal
worshipper prostrating to his idol, al-Darir, Siyer-i Palace, Moti Masjid and burial enclosure of Baha-
Nebi (Biography of the Prophet), Istanbul, Otto- dur Shah, Delhi, 14th–20th centuries 151
man lands, 1594–95 108 6.3 Moti Masjid and burial enclosure of Bahadur
4.9 The Prophet Muhammad’s celestial ascension, Shah, Delhi, 1709 152
Nizami, Khamsa (Quintet), probably northeast- 6.4 Gateway of Farrukhsiyar, dargah of Bakhtiyar
ern Iran, ca. 1475–1515 110 Kaki, Delhi, c. 1713–19 154
4.10 The Prophet Muhammad rides into the Battle 6.5 Screen of Farrukhsiyar, dargah of Bakhtiyar Kaki,
at Badr, Hafiz-i Abru, Kulliyat-i Tawarikh (The Delhi, c. 1713–19 154
Collection of Histories), Herat, modern-day
6.6 Gateway and screen of Farrukhsiyar, dargah of
Afghanistan, 1415–16 113 Bakhtiyar Kaki, Delhi, c. 1713–19 155
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x List of Figures
6.7 Burial enclosure of the Nawabs of Loharu, dargah 8.2 The Funeral of Jalal al-Din Rumi 191
of Bakhtiyar Kaki, Delhi, 1802 155 8.3 A samāʿ during the Leadership of Rumi’s Succes-
6.8 Burial enclosure of Muhammad Shah, dargah of sor, Husam al-Din 192
Nizam al-Din, Delhi, 1748 156 8.4 Dogs in a Market 193
6.9 Plan of the dargah of Nizam al-Din, Delhi, 13th– 8.5 Jean-Baptiste Vanmour, Whirling Dervishes 198
20th centuries 157 8.6 Bernard Picart, La Danse des Dervis 199
6.10 Dargah of Nizam al-Din, Delhi, 13th–20th 8.7 Photograph of the head of the Mevlevi lodge
centuries 158 in Galata, Istanbul, with posing Mevlevis in the
7.1 Women celebrating Holi 174 background 203
7.2 Women bathing in a lake 177 8.8 Postcard of Whirling Dervishes 204
7.3 Yogini in a Landscape 179
8.1 Rumi meets with his disciples for the last
time 190
Notes on Contributors
(University of North Carolina Press, 2015), which writing. He currently serves on the editorial board
received the 2017 Charles Rufus Morey Book Award of the Journal of Persianate Societies, Studies in Per-
from the College Art Association. Her earlier pub- sian Culture (Brill), and Murty Classical Library of
lications include The Safavid Dynastic Shrine (2011) India.
and the anthology, Modernism and the Middle East:
Architecture and Politics in the Twentieth Century Marianna Shreve Simpson
(2008), which was awarded a Graham Founda- is an independent scholar of Islamic art, and has
tion publication grant. She is currently working on published, taught and lectured widely on medi-
a new book on the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas and eval and early modern Islamic art in general and
global early modernity. the arts of the book (especially Persian illustrated
manuscripts) in particular. Her professional ca-
Sunil Sharma reer has included administrative and curatorial
is Professor of Persian & Indian Literatures at positions at the National Gallery of Art, Freer/
Boston University’s Department of World Lan- Sackler Galleries and Walters Art Museum, and
guages & Literature. He received his Ph.D. from numerous visiting professorships throughout the
the University of Chicago’s Department of Near us. Most recently, she served as President of the
Eastern Languages & Civilizations. He has held Historians of Islamic Art Association, Guest Cura-
prestigious fellowships at various institutions and tor at the Princeton University Art Museum, and a
is the author of several books and articles. His Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania
research interests are in the areas of Persianate (2012–present).
literary and visual cultures, translation, and travel
Introduction: Affect, Emotion, and Subjectivity
in the Early Modern Period
Kishwar Rizvi
Artists working in the imperial ateliers of the and their responses, remain to be fully addressed
Safavids, Mughals, and Ottomans were keenly
through closer study of personal diaries, portraits
aware of their role within the art historical canon. and chancellery documents. The goal of this an-
Genealogies were constructed of great artists thology is to further this discourse and contribute
(calligraphers and painters) and albums were new research that expands our understanding of
compiled of their works. The artist displayed his art and culture in the Persianate Islamic world.
mastery over pen and brush, utilizing his tools to In the early modern period, the arts of writing
show his knowledge of older precedents while at and depiction were intertwined with the social
the same time creating that which transformed practice of connoisseurship. Modes of evalua-
them entirely. The past, present, and future were tion, by kings and courtiers, were tabulated in
mobilized through a mark on the page, through al- the prefaces of poetic and literary texts, as well
lusions and references, and through the material- as the emerging genre of art historical collecting
ity of the ink, paint, brush, and paper, themselves. in the form of albums, or muraqqas.1 The album
By looking closely at the traces left by the artists, preface became an important site for setting forth
be they painters, poets, or architects, the art histo- rationalizations for creating certain works and es-
rian may gain insight into the cultural production tablishing standards for appreciating the arts of
of these great empires of the early modern period. writing and depiction. Calligraphic exercises were
Over the past thirty years scholars of Islamic juxtaposed next to sketches by master draftsmen
art and architecture, in keeping with trends in and artists. The traces of the artists’ hands were
art history more generally, focused on the social indexed through physical gestures and the impres-
and historical contexts of the works they studied. sion made by a brush loaded with ink or a reed
Issues of patronage and politics were foremost sharpened to perfection.2
among the concerns of art historians. This was a The massive folios collectively known as the
shift away from the formalist roots of a discipline Timurid Workshop Album provide opportunities
that had earlier focused on questions of attribu- for examining the criteria for judgement and evalu-
tion and connoisseurship. Thus we now may un- ation in the fifteenth-century.3 The pages are mas-
derstand the motivations behind great works of sive (680 × 500 mm) requiring at least two hands
art and architecture, the ways in which they were
funded, and the roles they played within their 1 The work of David Roxburgh is seminal in the study of al-
broader political and religious contexts. Less work bums and their prefaces. Roxburgh, Prefacing the Image:
has been done on how those objects and buildings The writing of art history in sixteenth-century Iran, (Leiden;
were received and, in some case, how they func- Boston: Brill, 2001).
2 On calligraphy, see David J. Roxburgh, “‘The Eye is Favored
tioned. For example, despite the use of the term
for Seeing the Writing’s Form’: On the Sensual and the
“Islamic” as a descriptor, there remains much to
Sensuous in Islamic Calligraphy,” Muqarnas, 25 (2008):
be known about devotional practices in the early 275–98.
modern period or the manner in which ritual spac- 3 Topkapi Saray Museum, H 2152. As examined in David
es and objects were used. Questions about recep- Roxburgh, The Persian album, 1400–1600: From dispersal to
tion and intentionality, as well as about audiences collection, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005).
Figure 0.1
Timurid Album Page, mid-15th c.,
(Topkapi Saray Museum, H. 2152).
to turn a single page. They comprise mostly of cal- within it, but also those that encountered the
ligraphy exercises, as well as hand-drawn sketches object through visual and tactile means. In its gi-
and preparatory drawings (see Fig. 0.1). Together gantism, the album overpowers the senses of the
they lend credence to the idea of “the albums’ beholder, especially if considered in the context
unique potential as sources for the study of how of illustrated manuscripts, which were often de-
art history and aesthetics were theorized in pre- signed to be intimate objects, primarily (though
modern Iran.”4 The album also requires us to think not exclusively) for individual reading and view-
of the embodied experience of art and what that ing. Monumental calligraphy, of which there are
meant not only to the makers of the artworks also examples in the album, would have been less
unexpected, given that elite calligraphers were of-
4 Persis Berlekamp review of The Persian Album, in caa. ten commissioned to design architectural epigra-
Reviews, June 19, 2006. http://www.caareviews.org/re phy. Yet what s paces – physical and intellectual –
views/858. Accessed June 21, 2015. would the large sketches of animals, lovers, and
Introduction 3
warriors, have occupied? What was it about the yi māsūmīn) of Veramini of 1526, which illustrate
Timurid period that inspired such a breathtaking stories from the lives of the imams (see Fig. 0.2).5
object, in which works referencing other artistic The scene is centered on the Kaʿba; on one side the
traditions (European and Chinese, for example) Imam is shown gesturing towards the stone, his
were collected alongside other examples of Per- hand raised in a manner indicating conversation
sian drawing and calligraphy? What was being or communication. On the other side of the stone
represented through these enigmatic sketches, stands a bearded man, his uncle. The black stone
preparatory drawings, poems, and to whom were is shown as a gaping void in the Kaʿba, like an open
they directed? And importantly, what did the pro- mouth or an oracle. As if in response to the mi-
duction of the album mean in terms of the chang- raculous event of the stone’s oral response, a group
ing status of the artist? Questions such as these of men standing and kneeling on the opposite side
occupy the authors in this volume, who address of the page raise their hands and eyes in prayer.
the personal and the political, the affective and An image such as this does something more
emotional, and what these inquiries imply for an than simply illustrate a story or provide visual ex-
expanded history of art that breaks away from its egesis on an important episode from Shiʿi h istory.6
traditional disciplinary parameters. By calling attention to the authority of the black
stone, the image also draws attention to its own
materiality. It invites the viewer to consider what
Art as Affect the affective as well as instructive role of the
work of art may be. It should be noted that the
There is a story in the Dalāʾil al-imāmah (“Signs of image is part of a series of such visual narrations
the Imamate”) of Abu Jafar Muhammad al-Tabari throughout the manuscript. The paintings were
(d. 923) that centers on the fourth Shiʿi imam, ʿAli meant to act as corollaries to the text but also to
bin Husayn, “Zayn al-Abdin.” After the death of evoke in the reader a pious response. Focusing on
Imam Husayn in Karbala, his young son returned miraculous events, the images reveal the goal of
to Madina, where his divine authority was chal- visual exegesis.
lenged by his uncle, Muhammad Ibn al-Hanafiyya. In early sixteen-century Iran the cult of Shiʻi
In order to find a fair judgment, the two sides imams was patronized by the ruling Safavid
agreed to consult the Ḥajjar al-aswad, the black elite and, as with the popular hagiographies of
stone embedded on the side of the Kaʻba which Sufi shaykhs, were centered on the spiritual and
was believed to “present itself on the Day of Judg- miraculous power of the chosen. Buildings, books,
ment, with eyes and lips, to bear witness.” They
repaired to Mecca and upon arriving at the Kaʿba,
5 This is a fifteenth-century text, now in the Russian Nation-
the uncle addressed the stone first. There was si- al Library in St. Petersburg (Dorn 312), which was recop-
lence. Next Zayn al-Abdin asked of the stone, “Oh ied and illustrated around 1526, two years after the death
Ḥajjar al-aswad …, if you know that I am the Proof of Shah Ismaʿil, the founder of the Safavid dynasty. The
of God (ḥujat-i khudā) speak to us so that my uncle manuscript is a large codex and consists of seventy-eight
renounces his claim.” The stone spoke, “Oh Muha- chapters and thirty-nine paintings, although some pages
mad ibn ʿAli, listen and submit (samīʿ wa matīʿ) to have curiously been left blank. Two richly illustrated cop-
Zayn al-Abdin, for he is the Proof of God.” The un- ies were compiled in the early sixteenth century and kept
in the library of the Safavid dynastic shrine in Ardabil.
cle listened and submitted, and the black stone fell
6 Certainly it highlights the Safavids’ ideology – writ large
silent, having testified to Zayn al-Abdin’s imamate. on the folds of the kiswa fabric draped on the Kaʻba which
The encounter of Zayn al-Abdin with the professes not only the oneness of God and his messenger,
black stone is the subject of a painting from the Muhammad, but also the favored status of Imam ʿAli, the
History of the Immaculate Imams (Tārīkh-i ʿaima- walī Allah, a common theme in Safavid art and ideology.
4 Rizvi
Figure 0.2 Zayn al-Abidin and the Black Stone, History of the Immaculate Imams (Tārīkh-i āima-yi māsūmīn) of
Veramini, 1526 (Russian National Library, Dorn 312).
and objects were all called upon to bear witness and hope – among others – and illustrates how
to the charismatic power of the imams and, by “discourses of personal and public experience
extension, their Safavid descendants. These works shape and structure cultural meaning.”7 In doing
of art were believed to be affective testimonials of so they require imaginings that move away from
the religious and imperial power embodied by the the faculty of sight alone, and employ embodi-
Shah. Thus, seemingly inanimate objects came to ment both as a practice and process of representa-
life, imbued with Divine vision and the capacity to tion. That is to say, one may consider affect to be a
impart knowledge. physical or mental response to artistic and cultural
The affective response, in a case such as this,
would be one that represents feelings of piety, fear, 7 Erika Doss, “Affect,” American Art, 23/1 (2009) 9–11; 9.
Introduction 5
productions that are themselves manifestations of Durmish Khan’s deputy at the time.9 The recogni-
personal, social, and communal experiences. The tion on the façade of this important edifice is in
essays in this volume consider the issue of affect as keeping with Husayn’s modest beginnings and his
performative as well as responsive to certain emo- peripheral status in Ismail’s court – a position that
tions and actions, thus allowing us insights into would change drastically over the next decade.
the motivations behind the making and, in some The construction of the Harun-i Velayet brought
cases, the destruction of works of art. They also the young courtier to Shah Ismaʿil’s attention. By
consider the impact that these actions may have building an important shrine in the heart of the
on individuals and their communities. city, Mirza Shah Husayn was displaying his iden-
tity as a loyal servitor of the court and an imple-
menter who had access to the most desirable site
Self-representation in the city, off the Maydan of the Great Mosque
of Isfahan. The shrine project would prove to be
Identities in the early modern period were fluid Husayn’s introduction into Shah Ismaʿil’s inner
and expansive. A figure such as the Safavid court- circle. At the height of his power he was the pos-
ier, Mirza Shah Husayn, is described in contempo- sessor of great wealth and authority, with property
rary chronicles as an architect-builder (mimār). in Isfahan and Kashan.10 According to the histo-
He began his career in Isfahan (c 1503–4) and rian Khwandamir, his “threshold became a resort
was soon appointed clerk of the imperial divan. of the great and powerful and his magnificence
The darughā (governor) of the city was Durmish increased as the Shah’s favor shone on him.”11 As
Khan Shamlu, a Qizilbash amir, who chose to stay a sign of his closeness to the imperial household,
at court with Shah Ismaʿil and thereby nominated in 1528 Husayn was made the guardian (lālā) of
Husayn to be his vazīr and naʾib (deputy) in Isfah- the future Shah Tahmasb. It was at about this time
an, a post Husayn held until 1519. A European visi- that he undertook another important architectur-
tor to Isfahan at the time, Gil Samoes, described al project, the renovation of the Masjid-i ʿAli, also
Husayn as a young man who was versed in many in his hometown, Isfahan.
languages, a skill that no doubt served him well in The small Masjid-i ʿAli is located a few steps
the multi-confessional and multi-ethnic milieu of opposite the Harun-i Velayet shrine.12 The portal
early modern Iran.8
It was during his tenure as Durmish Khan’s dep- 9 Qazi Ahmad Qummi, Khulāsat al-Tawārīkh, 2 vols. ed.
uty that Husayn built the Harun-i Velayet shrine in Ehsan Eshraqi, (Tehran, 1359–1363); 79.
10 The Kashan property was awarded to him by the king,
Isfahan (completed in 1513), a monument mark-
and it is often noted that he held many lavish recep-
ing the Shiʿi proclivities of the newly established
tions for Shah Ismaʿil there. Ghiyas al-din Muhammad
empire. The patron and builder are named in a Husayni Khwandamir, Habīb al-siyar, Tehran, 1334. Vol-
cartouche below the foundation inscriptions of the umes 3 and 4 translated by W. Thackston, Jr. as Habibu’s
shrine, which reads, “With the attention of Khan Siyar, Tome Three: The reign of the Mongol and the Turk,
Durmish, the powerful, this memorable edifice (Cambridge, ma: nelc, Harvard University, 1994).
(bina) was made possible by Husayn.” The histo- 11 Khwandamir, Habīb al-siyar, 565–66.
rian Qazi Ahmad Qummi includes this couplet in 12 The mosque, which was built during the Seljuk pe-
riod (supposedly by Sultan Sanjar), consists of a small
Husayn’s death notice in his Khulāsat al-Tawārīkh,
arcaded courtyard one side of which leads into the
thus identifying “Husayn” as Mirza Shah Husayn,
domed prayer area. The most striking feature of the
building is its old minaret, which acts as an architec-
tural counterpoint not to its own dome, but to that of
8 Roger Savory, “Principal Offices of the Reign of Ismaʾil the Harun-i Velayet shrine located diagonally across
(907-30/1501-24),” bsoas 24, (1960): 91–105; 98. the street.
6 Rizvi
of the mosque is covered in intricate glazed brick long last his protection of justice over the east and
and tile mosaics, and the inscriptions extol the the west.” The anonymity of the builder (merely
greatness of Shah Ismaʿil. In brown mosaic are Husayn) witnessed at the Harun-i Velayet is now
select Qurʾanic verses referring to the leadership complemented by the characterization of a grand
of Ismaʿil, thereby conflating the prophet and the courtier, who is proud to display his skill as an ar-
Shah.13 Overlaid in white is the foundation inscrip- chitect (the builder of great mosques) and as a bu-
tion, dedicated to Ismaʿil (see Fig. 0.3). In a sig- reaucrat loyally serving his king.14
nificant divergence ffom the epigraphic program Mirza Shah Husayn was assassinated in 1523 by
of the inscriptions on the shrine, those on the a jealous rival, yet he is included in the antholo-
Masjid-i ʿAli focus on the builder. Certainly, Shah gies of poets and artists and in every important
Ismaʿil is praised as the holder of the keys of for- court chronicle written in the sixteenth century,
tune and he is equated with the Divinely chosen attesting to the breadth of his influence and the
imams; nonetheless, it is Mirza Shah Husayn who complexity of his persona. Interestingly, in his
is equated with the revered Shiʿi imam, Husayn, eulogistic death notices Husayn is described first
and portrayed as a pious believer and builder of as a notable architect and second as an important
sacred mosques. He is named fully, as the splen-
dor (kamāl) of the empire, “Mirza Shah Husayn,
14 The Safavid prince, Sam Mirza, in his anthology of po-
ets and artists, devotes a long section to Husayn, who
13 Such as (19:54) “And mention Ismaʿil in the Book; surely he writes was possessed of a most delicate nature. Sam
he was truthful in (his) promise, and he was an apostle, Mirza Safawi, Tazkirā-i tuhfa-yi sāmī, (Rukn al-Din Hu-
a prophet.” mayunfarruk, ed. Tehran: Ilmi, n.d).
Introduction 7
courtier.15 It becomes clear that for men like him, Selfhood from Petrarch to Descartes,” one would
the designation was an important status symbol, be remiss is assuming either the uniqueness of the
one that also provided an avenue toward social “Western self” or even of ascribing strict distinc-
and political mobility. The myriad ways in which tions between temporalities, such as the Middle
he is described also provide insights into the ways Ages and the Renaissance. Instead, he points us
in which identity was constructed in the early to what may be understood as common concerns
modern period, through institutions as well as per- in the Muslims empires as well, namely, ques-
sonal ambition. tions of self-knowledge; the uniqueness of the
Mirza Shah Husayn’s is an example of how an individual; and an inquiry into the mechanics of
individual in sixteenth-century Iran could fashion self-consciousness.17
his public persona.16 The examples in this volume For the literati of the early modern Muslim em-
demonstrate that the construction of identity and pires, an increasingly popular genre to explore was
its multiple representations were not uniquely the autobiography. Life stories had certainly been
European or derived from the humanist traditions penned before, under the rubric of saintly hagi-
associated with the Italian Renaissance. Recent ographies, imperial chronicles, or anthologies of
scholars have shown the shortcomings of ascrib- famous poets or theologians, but in the sixteenth
ing singularity either to the definition of selfhood century, the personal memoir began to take shape.
or that of the early modern period. It is i nteresting, Among the most well-known of these is that of the
thus, to consider parallel developments in the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Zahir al-din Babur
fields of art and architecture and the history of (d.1530), who wrote the Bāburnāma, a remarkable
ideas within a broader, more global, context. As account of his own life and times. The book is or-
Peter Burke notes in his essay, “Representations of ganized chronologically, giving it the impression
of being a court history. However, the voice of the
author dominates the narrative, from his astute
15 Mirza Shah Husayn’s career, while extraordinary, was
impressions of people to his likes and dislikes of
not unique. Earlier, in the fifteenth century, archi-
tects had risen to prominence in the Aq Qoyyunlu
certain types of food. Early in the book, Babur
and Timurid courts, such as Aga Kamal al-din Musibi gives the account of his first marriage, when he
the grandfather of the historian Qazi Ahmad Qummi, was a shy and quiet young man of seventeen, in-
who had moved from Iraq to Qum during the reign of secure about being intimate with his wife. In con-
Shahrukh Mirza and was later an architect under Uzun trast, he writes of his love for a boy from the camp,
Hasan. Musibi was the builder of many edifices, in par- who Babur couldn’t bear to look in the eye, filled as
ticular the imperial harem in Qum which was used by he was with bashful desire. He writes that “in the
the Safavid family. A century later, during the reign of
throes of love, in the foment of youth and mad-
ʿAbbas I, court o fficials such as Mirza Muhammad Taqi
ness, I wandered bareheaded and barefoot around
(Saru Taqi) built palaces for the royalty and for them-
selves. In addition, governors such as Allahverdi Khan the lanes and streets and through the gardens and
and Hatim Beg were important patrons of architecture, orchards, paying no attention to acquaintances or
both having overseen the construction of their respec- strangers, oblivious to self and others.”18
tive tombs in the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad.
See Sussan Babaie, “Building for the Shah: The Role of
Mirza Muhammad Taqi in Safavid Royal Patronage of 17 Peter Burke, “Representations of the Self from Petrach
Architecture,” in Safavid Art and Architecture, S. Canby, to Descartes,” in Roy Porter, ed. Rewriting the Self: Histo-
ed. (British Museum Press: London, 2002). ries from the Renaissance to the present, (London; New
16 Comparisons may be found in Joanna Woods-Marsden, York: Routledge, 1997).
“Self-Fashioning in Life and Art,” Renaissance Self- 18 Zahir al-din Babur, The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur,
portraiture: The visual construction of identity and the prince and emperor, translated, edited, and annotated
social status of the artist, (New Haven; London: Yale by Wheeler M. Thackston; introduction by Salman
University Press, 1998.). Rushdie (New York: Modern Library, 2002); 89.
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8 Rizvi
Figure 0.4 Babur greeting a visitor, Bāburnāma, c. 1590 (Metropolitan Museum of Art 67.266.4).
Introduction 9
Two aspects of Babur’s biography are of particu- pictures” that were illustrated by the court artist
lar relevance. The first is the externalization of and khānazād (a term used for those brought up
the author’s feelings in a way that makes them in the court) Abul Hasan reveal the complex inter-
familiar and universal. The second is the unprece- play of allegory and illustration. Based on dreams
dented representation of the author, which allows described by the emperor, Abul Hasan’s paintings
entrance into a world (whether true or contrived) have a strange intimacy to them, as though the
that Babur alone had access to. Interestingly, the artist has gained access into the subliminal hopes
Bāburnāma was among the most popular and and fears of the king. In “Jahangir embracing Shah
heavily illustrated texts of its time, appreciated ʿAbbas,” the two early modern rulers are seen
not only as a document marking the foundation of clasping each other closely, Jahangir looming over
the Mughal Empire, but as a self-representation, his Iranian counterpart (see Fig. 0.5). They stand
a portrait of the founder and a worldview (see on the backs of a lamb (Shah ʿAbbas) and lion (Ja-
Fig. 0.4). Similar autobiographies would be penned hangir), calmly resting on a globe showing Europe,
by Babur’s neighboring ruler, Shah Tahmasb (d. Africa, and Asia. Recent scholars have interpreted
1577) of Iran, who wrote of his dreams and in- this image through the lens of race and gender
spirations in his Tazkira.19 Babur’s grandson, dynamics, as well as the cartographic obsessions
Prince Salim, would also leave us with one of the of early modern artists and rulers.21 Allegory, as a
most insightful biographies, the Jāhangīrnāma, a particular attribute of early seventeenth-century
chronicle no doubt inspired by the Bāburnāma.20 imperial iconography, has also been explored most
In all these examples, the self-representation is recently by Ebba Koch, who writes that Mughal rul-
presented as intimate and reflective, the first per- ers relied on Christian symbols (such as the imag-
son voice allowing the reader a view into what ery of the lion and the lamb) “in search of suitable
appear to be the lived experiences and innermost ideas and symbols to broaden their image as uni-
thoughts of the writer. versal rulers with yet another deifying element.”22
These issues are prominent in the image, but they
can also overshadow the unique vision and ability
The Portrait of the artist, Abul Hasan.23 According to the king,
Abul Hasan was born as khānazād, the son of an
Jahangir left behind not only one of the most inter- artist-courtier, whose talents were nurtured from
esting works of literary biography, but a fascinating
corpus of visual material. Priding his own connois- 21 For example, Juan Cole, Sumathi Ramaswany, Ayesha
seurial abilities, he supported an inventive cadre Ramachandran, Beach, et al.
22 Ebba Koch, “The Mughal Emperor as Solomon, Maj-
of artists, who merged allegory and story-telling
nun, and Orpheus, or the Album as a Think Tank for
with new visual tropes gleaned from other visual
Allegory,” Muqarnas 27 (2010): 277–311; 288.
cultures, such as Christian devotional art. Thus 23 Abul Hasan is the focus of Milo Cleveland Beach, “The
for example, the sequence of so-called “dream- Mughal Painter Abuʾl Hasan and Some English Sources
for His Style,” The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery,
19 Shah Tahmasb, Tazkira-i Shāh Tahmāsb, Abd al-Shukur, Vol. 38 (1980): 6–33. For a more recent study, see Jas-
(Berlin-Charlottenburg), 1343 (1964). per C. von Putten, “Jahangir Heroically Killing Poverty:
20 On the Baburnama, see also, Azfar Moin, “Peering Pictorial sources and pictorial tradition in Mughal al-
through the Cracks in the Baburnama: The Textured legory and portraiture,” in The Meeting Place of Brit-
Lives of Mughal Sovereigns,” Indian Economic and So- ish Middle East Studies, Amanda Phillips and Refqa
cial History Review, 49: 4 (2012): 493–526; Taymiya R. Abu-Remaileh, eds. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge
Zaman, “Instructive Memory: An Analysis of Auto/Bio- Scholars Publishing, 2009). However, the focus of the
graphical Writing in Early Mughal India,” Journal of the two essays is on the sources of influence for Abul
Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 54, No. 5 Hasan’s style, rather than a broader contextualization
(2011): 677–700. of his oeuvre.
10 Rizvi
Figure 0.5
Jahangir embracing Shah ʿAbbas, c 1600-30
(Freer Gallery of Art, F1945.9).
an early age. Jahangir gave him the sobriquet, “Na- innovations and particular style of painting be-
dir al-Zaman” the “Wonder of the Age” and wrote stowed on them a singular position in the history
of him that he had no rival or equal.24 at art itself?25 Jahangir was well aware of such con-
What would a title such as “Wonder of the Age” cerns, as would have been his artists, who actively
mean in the context of seventeenth-century India? sought to insert themselves into the rhetoric of
Was it simply a form of praise or did it come with image-making. This was done either through the
professional recognition at the imperial court? Did manipulation of earlier models (that is in emulat-
the issue of time, central to the title, place Abul ing the works of past masters) or through literally
Hasan within a lineage of great masters, whose including themselves in the image. Authorship in
the early modern period was a complex issue, in
which artists and compilers of albums viewed the
24 Jahangir, The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Em-
history of art as a chain of transmission, of skills as
peror of India. Translated, edited, and annotated by
Wheeler M. Thackston (Washington, d.c.: Freer Gal-
lery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1999); 267–68.
Also quoted in Beach, “The Mughal Painter Abuʾl 25 Indeed, Jahangir wrote that Abul Hasan could only be
Hasan,” 19, and von Putten, “Jahangir Heroically Killing surpassed by previous Timurid masters, Bihzad and
Poverty,” 112. Abdul Hayy. Jahangirnama, 268.
Introduction 11
well as concepts.26 The act of making was a perfor- called upon to represent the man. In a single-sheet
mative response to history, and the artist was one painting from a dispersed album (now at the Yale
who replicated and perfected earlier models. University Art Gallery), Rahim is shown in profile,
Portraits served to narrate the social and politi- wearing a modest tunic of white cloth specked
cal status of the person depicted, often the ruler, with gold; the waist is cinched with a patkā fabric
through similitude or suggestion.27 Commoners belt, while mauve pāi-jāmā trousers hug tightly at
and courtiers were also subjects for documenta- his calves (see Fig. 0.6). A cap woven with white
tion, as the eye of the artist moved towards the and gold thread sits on his head as Rahim gazes
quotidian, sketching dervishes as well as elite gov- intently into the distance. Jahangir was fond of
ernors. One such image is that of the renowned having his courtiers and close associates painted
Mughal courtier, Abdur Rahim (1556–1627), who by his favorite artists, and those images would be
was brought up in the court of Akbar. He was a collected in his albums of painting and calligra-
polyglot, “proficient in Turkish, Persian, and Hin- phy. His involvement is apparent in the inscription
davi, and he is said to have known Arabic, Sanskrit, on the painting, running sideways on the left-hand
and Portuguese.”28 He was also a renowned states- side, which reads, “Likeness (ṣūrat) of Abdur Ra-
man and poet, credited with expressing himself him Khan-i Khanan 1017 (1608).”30 The inscription
in both Persian and Hindavi and patronizing po- appears to have been penned by Jahangir himself,
ets who wrote in both languages. According to a in a hand that is identifiable to ones on other
biography he commissioned towards the end of single-sheet paintings collected in the Shah Jahan
his life, Rahim established important ateliers in Album, such as the portrait of Maharaja Bhim
cities that he was sent to govern, such as Thatta, Kanwar, by the artist Nanha, now at the Metropoli-
in Sindh, and Burhanput, in the Deccan. Here, po- tan Museum of Art.
ets as well as painters were gathered, to write on a Jahangiri’s handwritten inscriptions run along
range of topics, from Perso-Islamic literature to re- the side of the painting, lending an intimacy to
tellings of Hindu classics, such as the Ramāyāna.29 the image. He took great pride in his ability to rec-
Textual records provide important insights into ognize and nurture artistic talent, and it is clear
Rahim’s patronage, his ambitions, his interests from his biography and the works themselves
and abilities. However, visual sources were also that he was closely involved in their production.
But what of Abdur Rahim; how do we “find” him
26 Discussed also in David Roxburgh, “Kamal al-Din Bi- in this image? Does the painting reduce and mask
hzad and Authorship in Persianate Painting,” Muqar- his achievements, restricting him to the role of
nas 17 (2000): 119–46. “Jahangir’s courtier?” Certainly, his representation
27 “A ‘suggestive’ portrait, [is] one in which attaining is less opulently adorned in the accoutrements of
a physical likeness was secondary to portraying the
power; there are no jewels, no sword hilt or grand
attributes of the king.” Kishwar Rizvi, “The Suggestive
headgear. Rather, Rahim stands in obeisance, his
Portrait of Shah ʿAbbas: Prayer and likeness in a 1605
Safavid Shahnama (Book of Kings),” The Art Bulletin hands folded at his waist. Nonetheless, his acu-
94/2, (June, 2012): 226–50. men and vision is seen in the intensity of his gaze,
28 Corinne Lefevre, “The Court of Abd-ur-Rahim Khan-i which is at once serene and perceptive. A poet
Khanan as a Bridge between Iranian and Indian Cul- and a warrior, Rahim personified early modern
tural Traditions,” in Culture and Circulation: Literature Mughal India, surrounding himself with figures
in motion in early modern India, Thomas de Bruijn and of different religions and linguistic and cultural
Allison Busch, eds. (Leiden: Brill, 2014); 75–106.
29 For a discussion of Abdur Rahim’s atelier, see John Se-
yller, Workshop and Patron in Mughal India: The Freer 30 Jahangir’s handwriting was first identified on this page
Rāmāyaṇa and other illustrated manuscripts of ʻAbd al- by Ebba Koch when she visited the gallery in March
Raḥīm, (Zürich, Switzerland; Washington, d.c.: Artibus 2011. She speculated that the page is likely from a late
Asiae Publishers: Museum Rietberg in association with Shah Jahan album, for which it was resized with new
the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1999). margins and marginalia.
12 Rizvi
Figure 0.6
Portrait of Abdur Rahim, 1608 (Yale
University Art Gallery, 1983.94.11).
backgrounds. His ideas and likenesses circulated composition of autobiographies as well as in the
widely, influencing the courtly milieu of which emphasis on verisimilitude and portraiture. New
he was an intrinsic part. That an individual such technologies affected architectural production,
as Rahim could deploy or be a part of such di- and a broadening social sphere changed the way
verse representations, points to the multiplicity in which urban spaces were described and experi-
of m
edia available to early modern audiences and enced. Capital cities, such as Isfahan and Istanbul,
the complex manners in which they were brought were not only conceptualized as seats of religious
together. and imperial power, but were thriving metropo-
lises that were home to diverse populations and a
range of public institutions.
Mobility and Temporality The art, architecture and urbanism witnessed
in this period was part of global trends, and we
The aspirations of chroniclers, poets, architects, would be remiss to think of Iran, Turkey, and India
and artists that that were part of the Ottoman, Safa- in geographic or temporal isolation. Recent schol-
vid, and Mughal courtly milieu were evinced in the arship has indeed questioned the universality
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Runo loi silmänsä alas ja veri nousi hänen kasvoihinsa. Hän tunsi
Haapasen. Se oli rangaistu vekselin väärennyksestä ja oli täysi
renttu.
Hänkö nyt tulisi sellaisen miehen toveriksi —? Mutta eihän hänen
tarvitse alentua Haapasen tasalle, lohdutteli hän itseään.
— Tehkää hyvin!
— Kiitos osanotostanne!
— Olen.
— Mutta voinko minä nyt täysi mies tulla teidän luoksenne elätille?
Ajatelkaa! Onhan minullakin kunniantuntoa.
— Ette.
— Ajattele maalaispappilaa, siistiä ja pienoisten puiden lomassa
suuren kosken yläpuolella! Hanki kiiltelee kevät-auringon säteissä,
ilma on kirkas ja raitis. Mennään varhain levolle ja noustaan aikaisin
aamulla ja lähdetään aamukävelylle hangille katsomaan koskea. Sitte
tehdään päivällä kohtuullinen työ. Luetaan ääneen ja soitetaan illalla.
Elämä on aamusta iltaan raitista, tarkoituksellista ja virvoittavaa. Tule
meille! Tuollaisen elämän me sinulle tarjoamme luonamme maalla,
kuvaili Aina.
— Kunniantuntoni ja — ja —
— Ja mikä?
— Hylkään.
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.