IRAN AND THE WORLD IN THE SAFAVID AGE
Abstracts 

Canby, Dr. Sheila, British Museum, Department of Oriental Antiquities, London, Illuminating the Mughals - The Influence of Iran on Early Mughal Manuscript Illumination

In 951-952/1544-45 Humayun, the second Mughal emperor of India, sought refuge with his neighbour, the second Safavid shah of Iran, Tahmasp.  Having received reinforcements so that he could return to India and reclaim his throne, Humayun asked for and received permission from Shah Tahmasp to 'circumambulate the tomb of Shaykh Safi' at Ardabil.  On the 10th of Rajab 952, corresponding to September 17th, 1545 Humayun honoured the shrine with the gift of a grand Qur'an. Now in the collection of the Muze Melli in Tehran, this Qur'an has an ornately illuminated double-page frontispiece, and text written in gold with sura headings in white on an arabesque ground.  Text pages consist of eight lines in cursive rayhani script separated by a central line of bold muhaqqaq.  Above and below are more illuminated bands while vertical cartouches decorate the edges of the script panels. Some text pages have two lines of muhaqqaq, one at the top of the page and one at the bottom, with the illuminated sura heading in the centre of the page.

From a stylistic point of view not much indicates whether this Qur'an was produced in India or Iran.  Recalling the dramatic stories of Humayun's flight from Sind into Iran, we well might imagine that the only valuable objects he brought with him were the balas rubies and a 71 gram diamond that he presented to Shah Tahmasp.  However, we can also be fairly certain that Humayun or his retinue would not have made the journey without a Qur'an.  It thus seems more likely that this Qur'an was written and illuminated in India and brought to Iran.  The use of orange in the illumination and the warm tone of the pink paper may be indicators of Indian manufacture. Comparative material from India of the same date either does not exist or has not been published, while illumination in fifteenth-century Indian Qur'ans is stylistically distinct from that of Humayun's Qur'an.  By contrast, a fine illuminated Qur'an in the British Library dated 981/1573-4, copied by Hibatullah al-Husaini, shows marked similarities in the use of orange for arabesques and the combination of muhaqqaq, naskhi, and rayhani scripts.

This paper aims to examine how the Persian style of illumination influenced that of early Mughal India and to discuss the ways in which Mughal and Safavid illumination developed differently. It will also discuss the sources of Mughal illumination and the means of transmission of the new ideas that came to be incorporated in illuminated Mughal manuscripts.

  
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