File:Badi' al-Zaman Mirza and Muzaffar Husayn Mirza Receive Muqi Beg and Shuja Beg in Herat, following the death of their father, Sultan-Husayn Mirza, attributable to Mu'in Mu.jpg

English: An illuminated and illustrated leaf from a manuscript of Tarikh-i Jahangusha-yi Khaqan Sahibqiran: Badi' al-Zaman Mirza and Muzaffar Husayn Mirza Receive Muqi Beg and Shuja Beg in Herat, following the death of their father, Sultan-Husayn Mirza, attributable to Mu'in Musavvir, Persia, Isfahan, Safavid, circa 1686-90 AD

gouache and ink heightened with gold on paper, 4 lines to the page above and below the painting written in nasta'liq in black ink in clouds reserved against a gold ground, identification inscriptions in red, laid down on card as an album page, within orange border and blue margins illuminated with gold floral vine

painting: 17.7 by 15.2cm.

text panel: 24 by 16.1cm.

leaf: 36.1 by 23.4cm.

This illustration is from a manuscript in prose chronicling the short reign of Shah Isma’il I. The text presents the first Safavid Shah as a princely hero and divine ruler (see Sims 2002a, p.54), and Morton has described it as 'epic in aim if fantastic in detail, heroicizing in tone and image, and of dubious historical value rather than a sober chronicle of events' (Morton 1990, pp.200-2). Examining the British Library manuscript (inv. no.Or. 3248), Morton identified the author of the text as Bijan, 'reciter of Safavid history’, and suggests that he was one of many Georgians in Safavid service (ibid).

The manuscript from which this painting comes is one of three illustrated copies of the text produced within a period spanning 1686-90 (the others are the British Library manuscript mentioned above, and a manuscript held in the Reza-i Abbasi Museum, with dispersed leaves in various collections, including one in the Khalili Collection, inv. no.MSS 1242). The copies are stylistically unified in their illustrations, sharing the pictorial style of Mu’in Musavvir and are referred to as the ‘Mu’in trio,’ (Sims 2022, pp.45 and 54). Thirty-six leaves from the present manuscript have been so far recorded (including the present lot), three of which are in the Khalili Collection (inv. nos.MSS 458, MSS 1241 and MSS 462, Sims 2022, pp.59-62, nos.6-8). The leaf MSS 462 bears the signature of Mu’in and the date 5 Shawal 1099 AH (3 August 1688 AD).

Mu’in Musavvir was a student of the court painter Reza-i Abbasi and was a prolific artist in his own right. His works range from manuscript illustrations, single-figure portraits, and illumination, and he is considered to be the last major representative of classical Safavid painting (see, Sims 2002b, p.73 for more information on the artist). Of the Mu’in trio, the illustrative programme of the parent manuscript of this illustration is superior in terms of scale and execution, suggested to be the earliest of the three and undoubtedly “the best among them” (Sims 2022, p.54).

A key feature of the artist’s palette is a juxtaposition between soft tones of pink and lavender against intense shades of orange and yellow. This characteristic colouration is present here in the pink highlights in the rocks of the landscape, reprised in the border of one of the carpets, contrasting with the predominantly golden-yellow and orange tones in the robes of the figures in the scene.

With the assistance of the late A.H. Morton, Sims has reconstructed the illustrative programme of this manuscript and the present leaf is listed as no.22 (Sims 2022, p.64). The scene depicts Badi' al-Zaman Mirza and Muzaffar Husayn Mirza Receive Muqi Beg and Shuja Beg in Herat, following the death of their father, Sultan-Husayn Mirza. The death of Sultan Husayn Mir occurred in 1506, and the meeting depicted here in late spring 1507.

We are grateful to Eleanor Sims for her assistance in cataloguing this lot. For a fuller discussion and complete list of the recorded leaves from this manuscript, see Eleanor Sims, 'The Safavid Tarikh-i Jahang-usha-i Khaqan-i Sahib-qiran and similar texts', in The Tale and the Image, vol.1, London, 2022, pp.44-67.