Book painting from Iran and Herat

Persian Painting

Pages lifted out of Persian books, painted between about 1340 and 1740. Isfandiyar meets his dragon, dervishes turn in a garden, birds gather along a stream, two lovers lean into one another on a ground of gold. Firdausi's Shahnama gave most of the stories. Riza-yi 'Abbasi and the painters around him worked small, in bright mineral colour and gold, and left a border of script running around the picture.

As a puzzle

One to take slowly. The colour is bright and laid down flat, so a piece of scarlet coat or gold sky belongs somewhere obvious, and the ruled frame hands you a clear line to build along. The script in the margins is the slow part, because one line of it looks much like the next. Nearly all of them are taller than they are wide.

A good size here: 60–250 pieces.

Subjects here: Animals Portraits Myths and Legends Music and Dance

16 pictures, pick one to build

"The Feast of Sada", Folio 22v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp Abu'l Qasim Firdausi, ca. 1525

"Dancing Dervishes", Folio from a Divan of Hafiz Hafiz, ca. 1480

"Portrait of a Persian Lady", Folio from the Davis Album Unknown artist, dated 1149 AH/1736–37 CE

Folio from a Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ash'ar (The Free Man's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi, dated 741 AH/1340–41 CE

"Diana, Goddess of the Hunt", Folio from the Davis Album Attributed to 'Ali Quli Jabbadar, early 17th century

"The Wedding of Siyavush and Farangis", Folio 185v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp Abu'l Qasim Firdausi, ca. 1525–30

"Portrait of the Russian Ambassador, Prince Andrey Priklonskiy", Folio from the Davis Album Painting by 'Ali Quli Jabbadar, dated 1048 AH/1673–74 CE

Composite Camel with Attendant Unknown artist, third quarter 16th century

The Lovers Painting by Riza-yi 'Abbasi, dated 1039 AH/1630 CE

"Isfandiyar's Third Course: He Slays a Dragon", Folio 434v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp Abu'l Qasim Firdausi, ca. 1530

"The Concourse of the Birds", Folio 11r from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds) Painting by Habiballah of Sava, ca. 1600

Portrait of a Man Attributed to Riza-yi 'Abbasi, ca. 1600

"Yusuf Tending the Flocks", Folio of a Yusuf and Zulaykha of Jami Maulana Nur al-Din `Abd al-Rahman Jami, 1523–24

A Stallion Painting by Habiballah of Sava, ca. 1601–6

"Yusuf Arriving in Egypt and Leaving the Ship in the Nile", Folio of a Yusuf and Zulaykha of Jami Maulana Nur al-Din `Abd al-Rahman Jami, 930 AH/1523–24 CE

Portrait of a Lady Holding a Flower Painted by Muhammadi of Herat, 1565–75