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The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period
'Six Horses' [China] Nushirvan Receives Mihras, the Envoy of the Byzantine Emperor: From the so-called First Small Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Northwestern Iran or Baghdad] Buzurjmihr Masters the Game of Chess: From the so-called First Small Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Northwestern Iran or Baghdad] Nushirvan Eating the Food Brought by the Sons of Mahbud(?): From the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Iran, probably Tabriz] Isfandiyar's Funeral Procession: From the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Iran, probably Tabriz] Rustam Avenging His Own Impending Death: From the Gutman Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Iran (probably Isfahan)] Gushtasp Slays the Rhino-Wolf: From the Gutman Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Iran (probably Isfahan)] Isfandiyar's Third Course--He Slays a Dragon: From the Gutman Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Iran (probably Isfahan)] Copied by Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Husain al-Mawsili: The Paladins of Kay Khusrau Perish in a Snowstorm: From a copy of the Shahnama (Book of Kings) dedicated to the vizier al-Hasan al-Qavam al-Daula wa al-Din
Copied by author and compiler Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi: Page from the Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ashcar (The Free Men's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) Bahram Gur Hunting with Azada: From the Shahnama (Book of Kings) [Iran (Shiraz)]


Tarikh-i jahan-dusha (The Author with a Mongol Prince)

Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Tarikh-i jahan-gusha (History of the World Conqueror), A.H. 4 Dhu’l-hijja 689/December 8, 1290
Probably Iraq (Baghdad)
 Enlarge for more detail
The arts of the book in the Ilkhanid period reached unparalleled levels, not only in quantity but also in quality. The new rulers gave impetus to book production after they settled in their capitals of Maragha, Tabriz, and Baghdad and developed an interest in historical writings as a means to further their claim to rule over a foreign land. Not surprisingly, they chose the Shahnama (Book of Kings) as a sort of official dynastic history in which the Ilkhanids identified themselves with kings and heroes of the Iranian past.

The Mongols' attitude toward the power of the word and the image, however, is not sufficient to explain the unprecedented use of high-quality paper, the richness of illumination, the refinement of calligraphy, and the blossoming of illustration that Iran and Iraq witnessed during the Ilkhanid period (34.24.1; 34.24.3). The Mongols clearly brought with them an excitement about the art of painting. Local artists readily absorbed the new artistic influences from China, transmitted through scrolls (1989.363.5) and drawings, and integrated them into the type of painting with which they were most familiar, book illustration. At the end of the thirteenth century, the early integration of foreign elements was awkward (Tarikh-i jahan-gusha, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris). Within two decades, however, artists had created a new eclectic style that reached a high point with two masterpieces of Ilkhanid painting: Rashid al-Din's Jamic al-tavarikh and the Great Mongol Shahnama (33.70; 52.20.2).

The dynamic, almost dramatic phase of Ilkhanid painting would slowly be replaced during the waning years of the dynasty with a new, understated, and more refined style that provided the basis for developments in the following two centuries. Later Persian scholars were so keenly aware of the importance of these changes that they described the Ikhanid period as the time when "the veil was lifted from the face of Persian painting."

It was in the capitals Tabriz and Baghdad that Ilkhanid art flourished at its highest levels, reaching an apex with the production of the Great Mongol Shahnama. Its dramatic style of painting was replaced by a quiet world that suited the vision of the newly arrived Mongol patrons, the Jalayirids (1340–1411), who were captivated by Persian poetry, in which illustrations of battle scenes and heroic feats became merely symbolic and almost motionless. The Jalayirids played an important role in providing a bridge between the Ilkhanids and Timur (Tamerlane), who saw himself and his dynasty, the Timurids (1370–1507), as the rightful successors of the Mongols.


West Asia, Iran, Book, Manuscript, Painting, Miniature, Painting, Miniature, West Asia, Book, Manuscript, Islamic

Department of Islamic Art, Department of Islamic Art

Art of Book in the Middle Ages, Calligraphy in Islamic Art, Courtly Art of the Ilkhanids, Folios from the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings), Folios from the Jami' al-tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), Folios from the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings), The Legacy of Genghis Khan, Manuscript Illumination in Italy, Manuscript Illumination in Northern Europe, The Mongolian Tent in the Ilkhanid Period, A New Visual Language Transmitted Across Asia, The Religious Arts under the Ilkhanids, Takht-i Sulayman and Tile Work in the Ilkhanid Period, Abridged List of Rulers: Islamic World, Figural Representation in Islamic Art,

China, 1000-1400 A.D., Iran, 1000-1400 A.D., Iraq, 1000-1400 A.D.,

West Asia, 1000-1400 A.D.