"Conquest of Baghdad by Timur", Folio from a Zafarnama (Book of Victory)
This folio once illustrated a manuscript of the Zafarnama, a biography of the ruler Timur commissioned by his grandson Ibrahim Sultan. The text glorifies Timur’s many victories on the battlefield, including his 1401 siege of Baghdad, depicted here. The distinctively spare yet highly animated angular compositions are characteristic of manuscript painting produced in Shiraz in this period.
Artwork Details
- Title: "Conquest of Baghdad by Timur", Folio from a Zafarnama (Book of Victory)
- Author: Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi (Iranian, Yazd 1370s–1454 Yazd)
- Artist: Painting by Unknown
- Calligrapher: Ya'qub ibn Hasan, known as Siraj al-Husaini (active Shiraz, Iran)
- Date: Dhu'l Hijja 839 AH/June–July 1436 CE
- Geography: Made in Iran, Shiraz
- Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
- Dimensions: H. 11 3/8 in. (28.9 cm)
W. 8 in. (20.3cm) - Classification: Codices
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1955
- Object Number: 55.121.17
- Curatorial Department: Islamic Art
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Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi
1485–86
Multiple artists/makers
Dhu'l Hijja 839 AH/June–July 1436 CE
Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi
Ya'qub ibn Hasan, known as Siraj al-Husaini
839 AH/1436 CE
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi
dated 887 AH/1482 CE
Maulana Muhammad Ibn Husam ad Din
ca. 1476–86
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