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 The Muslim miniature-painter Kamāl al-Dīn
Bihzād is considered an unknown episode in the history of human art. Despite
his wide fame as the master miniaturist in Islam, historical sources of art
yield little information of his life and works, which are by far one of the
milestones in the memory of artistic expression.
He was born circa 854 H. (1450 AD) in Harāt,
a town in Afghanistan, heavily bombarded by the Americans in their last war
against Taliban. In the court of the Timurid dynasty, Bihzād received great
artistic opportunities where he lived and produced his masterpieces.
Afterwards, Shah Ismā’īl al-Safawī took him under his patronage. Bihzād
spend the second half of his life in Tabrīz enjoying the Shah’s favors,
until his death in 943 H. (1537 AD). History always refers to him and to
such favors with a certain incident. When the war broke up between the
Ottomans and Shah Ismā’īl, the latter kept Bihzād and the calligrapher Shah
Mahmūd al-Naysābūrī in a secret cellar until the end of the war; fearing
that otherwise the two could be captured by the enemy.
Bihzād painted many miniatures. He excelled
in illustrating miniatures within written manuscripts, as the divans of
Bustān, ‘Orchard’ by Sa‘dī al-Dīn al-Šīrāzī and Nizāmī’s Khamsa.
Let’s us consider some of the miniature
paintings of Bihzād to see how he represented his innovative prospective and
high sensitivity towards colors. We should keep in mind, while contemplating
them, how the inserted text units and miniatures embrace and flow smoothly
around each other creating a sense of harmony and balance. |
