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Safavid official and poet skilled in calligraphy, killed at the battle of Čālderān in Raǰab 920/August 1514. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 105-106 ʿABD-AL -BĀQĪ YAZDĪ, Safavid official and poet skilled in calligraphy, killed at the battle of Čālderān in Raǰab, 920/August, 1514. He was a descendant of the founder of the Neʿmatallāhī order, Nūr-al-dīn Neʿmatallāh (q.v.; 730-834/1330-1431). He has been called the son of Naʿīm-al-dīn Neʿmatallāh Ṯānī, but a different line of descent from Nūr-al-dīn was suggested by Ī. Afšār ( Yādgārhā-ye Yazd, Te…

a five-storied building overlooking the Maydān-e Šāh of Isfahan.. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 871-872 ʿĀLĪ QĀPŪ (literally “lofty gateway”), a five-storied building overlooking the Maydān-e Šāh of Isfahan from the west (Figure 32). The name refers to the vaulted passageway at its center leading to the area once occupied by the Safavid palace. Flanking that passageway are two stories of smaller rooms. Surmounting it is an open portico, or tālār, with a roof supported by eighteen wooden columns. Behind the gateway and its portico…

(or MĪR ʿALĪ TABRĪZĪ), 8th/14th century calligrapher who is often credited with the invention of the nastaʿlīq script. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 881 ʿALĪ or MĪR ʿALĪ TABRĪZĪ, 8th/14th century calligrapher who is often credited with the invention of the nastaʿlīq script. Little is known about his life except that he was a sayyed and a contemporary of both Tīmūr (d. 807/1405) and the poet Kamāl Ḵoǰandī (d. 803/1400); he is also said to have been a poet. Modern scholars have been uncertain which of the two Mīr ʿA…

(d. 1516), Timurid court official, poet, scribe, and musician. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 202-203 ʿABDALLĀH B. ŠAMS-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD MORVĀRĪD KERMĀNĪ, ŠEHĀB-AL-DĪN (d. Raǰab, 922/August, 1516), Timurid court official, poet, scribe, and musician. His father, Moḥammad Morvārīd, had moved to Herat from Kermān during the reign of Abū Saʿīd (855-73/1451-69) and later became that ruler’s vizier. Subsequently he performed the same function for Ḥosayn Bāyqarā until retiring to become custodian ( motavallī) at the shrine of ʿAbdallāh Anṣ…

miniaturist (late 8th/14th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 115 ʿABD-AL -ḤAYY, ḴᵛĀJĀ, miniaturist of the late 8th/14th century and the beginning of the 9th/15th century. The earliest patron with whom he is associated is the Jalayerid Ovays b. Ḥasan (r. 757-76/1356-74). Dawlatšāh (ed. Browne, p. 262) states that Ovays’s skill in drawing was so great that he became ʿAbd-al-Ḥayy’s teacher; the particular style of drawing they practiced is called qalam-e vāseṭī, but the precise artistic significance of the term is uncertain. A …

(1248-1312/1832-95), a scholar, calligrapher, poet, and physician active in Qajar court circles. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 290-291 ABU’L- FAŻL B. FAŻLALLĀH MAJD-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD SĀVAJĪ (1248-1312/1832-95), a scholar, calligrapher, poet, and physician active in Qajar court circles. His father had moved to Tehran from Sāva, but his family was descended from Ḥasan Khan Šāmlū, the Safavid governor of Herat under Shah ʿAbbās I and Shah Ṣafī. Abu’l-Fażl was precocious, attaining renown a…

revered as the calligrapher who gave šekasta script its definitive form. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 127 ʿABD-AL -MAJĪD ṬĀLAQĀNĪ, revered as the calligrapher who gave šekasta script its definitive form. Born in the Ṭālaqān district of Qazvīn about 1150/1737-38, he was educated in Isfahan where he died (1185/1771-72). Of an ascetic disposition, he is also known as Darvīš ʿAbd-al-Maǰīd (Fażāʾelī, Aṭlas, pp. 618-19; Bāmdād, Reǰāl II, p. 301). He composed poetry using as taḵalloṣ both Maǰīd and Ḵāmūš (Fażāʾelī, Aṭlas, p. 618). Šekasta script, w…

Paintings signed by ʿAbdallāh are of two types: compositions showing strong influence from Herat painting of the late 15th and early 16th centuries and studies of couples, often in a garden setting, a theme which appears to have been especially popular in Bokhara. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 193-195 ʿABDALLĀH BOḴĀRĪ, a painter active in Bokhara during the middle decades of the 16th century. His paintings are very similar in theme and execution to those of his contemporary Maḥmūd Moḏahheb, who may have been t…

the use of consciously designed patterns to embellish building surfaces and objects for aesthetic effect. Despite progress in identifying or classifying the features of Persian decorative patterns, few scholars have attempted to explain why particular designs were used in specific periods, regions, or circumstances. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 2, pp. 159-197 DECORATION, the use of consciously designed patterns to embellish building surfaces and objects for aesthetic effect, one of the most characteristic features…

usually known as SOLṬĀN-ʿALĪ, calligrapher active in Herat and Tabrīz during the late 9th/15th and early 10th/16th centuries. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 870 ʿALĪ QĀʾENĪ, usually known as SOLṬĀN-ʿALĪ, calligrapher active in Herat and Tabrīz during the late 9th/15th and early 10th/16th centuries. Nothing is known of his family, though his nesba suggests a connection with the region of Qāʾen southwest of Herat. Both his calligraphic style and the texts he copied underscore his ties to the latter city. M. Bayānī …

calligrapher and poet active in western Iran during the second half of the 9th/15th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 143 ʿABD-AL -RAḤĪM B. ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN ḴᵛĀRAZMĪ, calligrapher and poet active in western Iran during the second half of the 9th/15th century. Apparently born and trained in Shiraz, where his father worked as a calligrapher, ʿAbd-al-Raḥīm’s style of calligraphy was influential there until the late 9th/15th century. The exact date of ʿAbd-al-Raḥīm’s birth is unknown; b…

Although Ettinghausen’s official role at the Berlin Museum ended in early 1933 because of decrees issued by the National Socialist Party, he retained an admiration for the work of his former colleagues, epecially that of F. Sarre. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 1, pp. 62-63 ETTINGHAUSEN, RICHARD (1906-79), a German-born and educated scholar specializing in the study of Islamic art (Figure 1). His career was largely in the United States, where he held both curatorial and professorial appointments. Although his i…

also known as MĪR ʿALĪ KĀTEB ḤOSAYNĪ, a calligrapher active in Herat, Mašhad, and Bukhara from the late 9/15th century to 951/1544-45. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 864-865 ʿALĪ HERAVĪ, also known as MĪR ʿALĪ KĀTEB ḤOSAYNĪ, a calligrapher active in Herat, Mašhad, and Bukhara from the late 9/15th century to 951/1544-45. A specialist in the nastaʿlīq script, he excelled in its use for manuscripts, architectural inscriptions, and qeṭʿas (calligraphy specimens, often mounted as album pages); he also composed poetry in both Persian and Turkish with a pench…

master painter, proverbial for his skill, active in Herat during the reign of the Timurid Ḥosayn Bāyqarā (1470-1506). A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 2, pp. 114-116 BEHZĀD, KAMĀL-AL-DĪN, master painter, proverbial for his skill, active in Herat during the reign of the Timurid Ḥosayn Bāyqarā (875-912/1470-1506). Behzād’s name has become synonymous with the high level of artistic skill displayed by the painters of this period, although the precise nature of his personal contribution …

a painter (naqqāš) active in Herat ca. 1419-30, where he was in the employ of the Timurid Bāysonḡor b. Šāhroḵ. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 599-600 ḠĪĀṮ-AL-DĪN NAQQĀŠ, a painter ( naqqāš) active in Herat in about 822-30/1419-30, where he was in the employ of the Timurid Bāysonḡor b. Šāhroḵ. No Timurid author provides any personal details about his life, nor are his other names recorded. His fame derives from a rūz-nāma (diary) that he kept during a trip to the Ming court in China as one of Bāysonḡor’s envoys in a group that numbered more than 400 people, including 200 representing Šāhroḵ and 150 sponsored by Bāysonḡor (Ḥāfeẓ-e Abrū, II, p. 818-19; Maitre, p. 18). During the interval between the party’s departure from Herat on 6 Ḏu’l-qaʿda 822/24 November 1419 and its return on 11 Ramażān 825/29 August 1422, Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn kept a record of points of interest along the route, the places and buildings they saw, the…

calligrapher specializing in nastaʿlīq, active during the middle decades of the 9th/15th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 147 ʿABD-AL -RAḤMĀN KᵛĀRAZMĪ, calligrapher specializing in nastaʿlīq, active during the middle decades of the 9th/15th century. His earliest known work is dated to 839/1436 and his latest to 866/1462. During this period he resided first in Shiraz and then in Baghdad. The Turkish historian Moṣṭafā-ʿAlī claims that ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān lived until 886/1481 and was in …

calligrapher and civil servant, d. 1255/1839-40. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 84 ʿABBĀS B. REŻĀ-QOLĪ KHAN NŪRĪ, calligrapher and civil servant, b. at Tāker-e Nūr in Māzandarān, d. 1255/1839-40 and buried in Naǰaf. According to one account, he joined the entourage of Emām-verdī Mīrzā b. Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah, under whose protection he achieved fame and wealth, including sumptuous residences in Tehran and Tāker. But in 1251/1835, after twenty years of prosperity, ʿAbbās suffered a rev…

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8th/14th century painter. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 652-653 AḤMAD MŪSĀ, 8th/14th century painter. Despite the prominence given him in modern scholarly writing, he remains a vague figure. All evidenc…

prominent painter of the 10th/16th century in the workshop of the Safavid Shah Ṭahmāsp (r. 930-84/1524-76). A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 177-178 ĀQĀ MĪRAK, Sayyed JALĀL-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYNĪ (or Ḥasanī) EṢFAHĀNĪ, prominent painter of the 10th/16th century in the workshop of the Safavid Shah Ṭahmāsp (r. 930-84/1524-76). Little is known about his personal background other than he was a sayyed of Eṣfahānī origin, was a pupil of Behzād, became a confidant and boon companion of the shah, and also wrote poetry. Writing in 951/1544, Dūst Moḥammad mentions him as a figural and portrait painter who worked, along with Solṭān-Moḥammad and Mīr Moṣawwer, on Shah Ṭahmāsp’s copies of the …