Figure 1.-- The tradition of miniature painting and book illumintion reached its heighth at Shiraz and Herat. The Mongol invasion devestated Persian cities and the major culture of Persian culture. This had the impact of opening Persia to cultural influences from Central Asia and China. One of the results was a rare pictoral insight into the Muslim world. Bihzad at Herat painted this scene of Laila and Majnun at school in 1494. It was an illustration for a book of poems, Khamsa of Nizami.

Persia for about 150 years was part of the Timurid Empire. Tamerlane completed the conquest of Persia (1387). This began the rule of the Timurids or Timurid dynasty. There was terrible death and distruction. At Isfahan alone thee Mongols killed over 70,000 people, making mounds of severed heads. The Timurids were thus a foreign, non-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty. At high point, the Timurids controlled all of Central Asia, Iran and modern Afghanistan, as well as large parts of Mesopotamia and the Caucasus. Tamarlane located his capital at Samarkand. He commissioned artists, calligraphers, writers, philosophers, astronomers and mathematicians, from all parts of his empire. He drew these artyisans and scholars especially from Shiraz and Isfahan. Tamerlane thus brought culture and civilization to Samarkand, Bukhara, Herat, Balkh and Mashad. The Timurid prince Zahir ud-Din Babur, the ruler of Ferghana, invaded India and founded the Mughal Empire (16th century). Shah Rukh (1405-1447) and Oleg Begh promoted art and culture throughout Persia. The tradition of miniature painting and book illumintion reached its heighth at Shiraz and Herat. The Mongol invasion devestated Persian cities and the major culture of Persian culture. This had the impact of opening Persia to cultural influences from Central Asia and China. One of the results was a rare pictoral insight into the Muslim world. Koranic criticim of pictorl depections has meant that painting has not been an important art form in the Muslim world. Thus from the 7th century until the invention of photography, we have relatively few pictoral depictiond from the Muslim world. One of the few exceptions are the minatures and book illustrations from the Timurid Dynasty.

Created: 6:43 AM 7/24/2007
Last updated: 6:43 AM 7/24/2007