Miraculous Healing, Folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan

• Accession Number:AKM272.f16r
• Creator:Author: Ahmad b. Muhammad Ghaffari, Persian, died 1567 Scribe: Ahmad al-Shirazi
• Place:Iran, Shiraz (probably)
• Dimensions:38.7 cm × 25 cm × 6.4 cm
• Date:1573-74 CE/980 AH/AH 980
• Materials and Technique: Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper

• The miniature painting "Miraculous healing" is from an intact manuscript of Kitab-i Nigaristan, a collection of anecdotes and historical incidents written in prose by the historian and scholar Ahmad Muhammad Ghaffari (1504–1567/68) of Kashan in 1551–2. This illustrated manuscript, dated 1573, was probably produced in a Shiraz workshop.  

   

  See AKM272 for more information about the manuscript and links to the other illustrations. 

    

Further Reading 

 
This miniature painting is divided into two vertical compartments with different widths. Similar to other illustrations in the Nigaristan, this painting depicts two perspectives, one looking inside a room and another looking outside that room. The main scene occupies the left part of the illustration, where an indoor scene is depicted. There, a crowned figure sits in the centre of the room. Next to him, a man shows his bare left leg. Onlookers gather around him while, further down, a bearded figure lies on the ground.  
 
The painting illustrates an anecdote about a man named Ismail who had a deep wound in his leg. He had visited many physicians, who all deemed the wound incurable. However, through a miracle performed by an Imam, it was cured, leaving no sign of the wound. As he showed his healed leg, onlookers fainted out of amazement.  
 
This anecdote belongs to a genre known as nadira, which means "a strange event or happening." Within this genre, anecdotes about oddities and miracles refer to a historical or literary source and are narrated within a historical context. These strange events and miracles occur to rulers, scholars, viziers, and ordinary people in Iranian history from the introduction of Islam to the time of the Safavids (1501–1677). They offer an idealized version of history and often contain a warning or moral lesson. Ghaffari, as a historian, has produced the Nigaristan in such a way that the narratives are carefully sourced, but the content is mostly an idealized version of the history and is told for the benefit of the ruler. This approach to historiography was popular in Safavid Iran. 
 
- Elika Palenzona-Djalili 
 
 
References 
Marzolph, Ulrich. Arabia ridens: Die humoristische Kurzprosa der frühen adab-Literatur im internationalen Traditionsgeflecht. Vol. II. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1992. ISBN: 9783465025504
 
Mathee, Rudi. "Historiography and Representation in Safavid and Afsharid Iran," Iranian Studies 31.2 (1998): p.143-147.