Timurids and friends

[mughalshit]

Two Camels Fighting

by ‘Abd al-Samad

Indian, Mughal, circa 1590 (court at Fatehpur Sikri, or Lahore)

Opaque watercolor and ink on paper

This painting serves as both an homage to ‘Abd al-Samad’s lineage and an appeal to his son Muhammad Sharif not to lose sight of his artistic roots. The artist’s inscription tells us that he has painted this version of a famous original by the master Bihzad (ca. 1450–1535/36) from memory as a gift for his son to serve as a model of what is possible, even for an artist in his eighty-fifth year. The work is a testimony to the dazzling verisimilitude that the finest painters could achieve; witness the power of observation and the skill at rendering every minutia. ‘Abd al-Samad was a master trained in the Persian school, where technical virtuosity was prized equally with poetic sensibility.

[penthesileas]

Art and Architecture - Muqarnas, a decorative element of traditional Islamic and Persian architecture. The earliest examples of muqarnas discovered to date are from Nishapur, Iran, and date from the ninth or tenth century,but they also appear to have developed independently in central North Africa around the same time. 

[timur-i-lang]

Textile fragment

Iran, 17th century

[timur-i-lang]

Dish with three ducks on a pond, surrounded by water weeds

Mashhad, Iran, 1450-1475

[timur-i-lang]

Construction of the fort of Khavarnaq, by Bihzad

Herat, ca. 1494-1495 C.E.

[timur-i-lang]

Shalimar Bagh, Kashmir

[timur-i-lang]

Four captive demons, attr. Muhammad Siyah Qalam (Black Pen).

Iran or Central Asia, 1470–1500

Watercolor and gold on silk

[timur-i-lang]

Mausoleum of Shirin Beg Agha, sister of Timur, at the Shah-i Zinda necropolis in Samarqand.  The exterior decoration of this tomb includes inscriptions attributed to Socrates, including: “In truth the people of this world are like birds rejoicing.”

[suzani]

An Ottoman Tent in Wawel Royal Castle.

A 17th-century Turkish tent currently on display at the Wawel Royal Castle, Cracow is a large and powerful reminder of the historic threat to Europe posed by the Turks and the decisive battle at Vienna with the invading Ottoman armies.

The tent was captured at Vienna on 12 September 1683, when the Holy League army of Polish King John III Sobieski and that of the Holy Roman Emperor defeated the Turkish army commanded by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa. In 1729 the tent was taken by Augustus (II) the Strong to Saxony to lend lustre to military exercises and great parades. It was donated to Wawel in 1934 by Szymon Szwarc.

The roof and walls are decorated with arcades within which are medallions filled with intertwining floral patterns and flowers, including stylised carnations and tulips – the Otttomans’ favourite flower. Above the oval medallions are cartouches of gold satin with blessings written in Arabic script. The tent was originally supported on two poles, the sockets into which these go are reinforced with leather, and a system of pegs and ropes for pulling and stretching the fabric were used. The outer surface is covered in sturdy canvas, impregnated with copper compounds, which gives it its cool, pale green colour.

The tent underwent  restoration from 1991 until 1999: all of the appliqué decoration was removed, the fabrics were cleaned in water baths and then re-applied. Today it is brilliant condition and helps recreate some of the splendour associated with the higher echelons of  Ottoman society, even on military campaign.

[timur-i-lang]

Timurid-style dragon handled jugs.  The bottom two were made in Turkey and China, respectively, but clearly on the Central Asian Timurid model.

Sources: x x x x

[suzani]

Miniature from a copy of Firdawsi’s Shah-nama. “Isfandiyar’s Fifth Ordeal; He Must Slay the Simurgh”. Iran, Tabriz; between 1520 and 1535. Miniature: 26.5 × 23 cm.

[timur-i-lang]

Images of enthroned kings from Rashid al-Din's Compendium of Chronicles, early fourteenth century

[timur-i-lang]

Hi there! I don't know if you've already answered this before, but I'd like to know the reason behind you starting this tumblr. I've been searching for resources such as these and you have curated them nicely. Such a joy to scroll through at ungodly hours. Thank you!

Hi, and thanks so much!  I'm glad you like it.  :)  I started this tumblr because I realized that while I had a general culturally-ingrained knowledge of what the European Middle Ages looked like -- what people wore, what they built, what they looked at, what they thought was pretty -- I had no IDEA what the Central/West Asian Middle Ages looked like.  Calligraphy, I guess?  Geometric designs??  I had taken a history course or two, but that mostly exposed me to words, not images.  I wasn't in school then, so I'd take some time out of my workday every day to just dive into museum websites with search terms like "Islamic" and "Iran".  And now here we are!

I do try to curate as thoughtfully as I can, but I really wish that I knew how to make the tags easily accessible from the main page.  I'm so terrible at tumblr design. I don't even know how you make that happen.

[brassmanticore]

Artefact identified as a handbag from 14th century Mosul, Iraq.  Made of brass, inlaid with gold and silver.  A court scene showing Il-Khanid influence is seen along the top:

A man and a woman (slightly damaged) in Mongol clothing and feathered hats appear seated on a dais, surrounded by attendants and courtiers, including a falconer on the far left, a lute player on the far right and parasol carrier (also on the right).

A page to the right of centre in the above scene is said to be carrying the handbag over their right shoulder, a mirror in their right hand, and a napkin in their left:

(Images and descriptions via the BBC: The world’s oldest handbag?)

#I am not clear on why they think it's a women's handbag specifically #do men at court never need to freshen up? #napkin? mirror? no? #and the way they talk about 'islamic art' in the article kinda irritates me #so read it if you feel like being annoyed

[timur-i-lang]

These tags are so on point. Also, so is the handbag.

[timur-i-lang]

Decorative motif composed of the word "Allah"

Aq Saray palace of Timur, Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan

[timur-i-lang]

Cuerda seca tiles. Turkey, Konya, late 14th c. 

"A brilliant but short‑lived episode in the history of Anatolian ceramic production was the appearance of tiles decorated in the so‑called cuerda seca ("dry cord") technique. In the cuerda seca process, thin bands of waxy resist maintain color separation between glazes during firing, but leave behind "dry cords" of unglazed tile. This technique seems to have been introduced to Turkey from Iran as early as the fourteenth century. These tiles are also distinguished by their curving shape, recalling their original placement—probably on the exterior of the polylobed tower of the Mevlana Turbesi (Tomb of Rumi) in Konya."

[awkwardsituationist]

feeding the doves at the shrine of hazrat ali in mazar-i-sharif. revered by muslims as the tomb of the son-in-law of the prophet mohammed, this fifteenth century mosque in afghanistan’s northern balkh province, near the border of uzbekistan, is also known as the blue mosque for the cobalt blue and turquoise colours of its minarets and domes. photos by (click pic) zekria gulistani, farzana wahidy, steve mccurry and mohammad kheirkhah