The ruler seeking help in a mosque, Folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan

• Accession Number:AKM272.f195r
• 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 "The ruler seeking help in a mosque" 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 

 
Here, several figures are depicted diagonally to each other and form three rows in front of a pulpit. Only the floor and the back wall of the interior can be seen. The pulpit on the right and the women with white headscarves behind the windows at the back wall suggest that the action takes place within a mosque. However, there are no other architectural elements to identify this setting, and the presence of three horses in a mosque is confounding. A crowned figure sits on the lower steps of the pulpit and all of the other figures in the room look toward him.  
 
The text clarifies the visual conundrum. The ruler of Bukhara seeks refuge—together with his relatives and horses—in a mosque. The result is another take on a traditional setting for miniature paintings: the interior scene, often featuring a crowned figure enthroned. 
 
- Elika Palenzona-Djalili 
 
 
References 
Eleanor Sims. Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN:9780300090383