Miniature from a copy of Jafar al-Sadiq’s Falnama. ‘Idolaters Before an Idol’
Iran, Tabriz or Qasvin; c. 1550
Miniature: 57.7 × 43.8 cm
Inventory number 79/2006
A Falnama is a kind of book of divination that can be consulted at random. Opposite each painting in an explanatory text. The text for the museum’s stylistically very unusual painting is found in the Los Angeles County Museum and explains that the scene is enacted in the ‘Azure monastery.’ The omens associated with the miniature are highly inauspicious.
In around 1550, Shah Tahmasp developed a religious aversion to figurative painting, and it is likely that this manuscript was the last to be made in the shah’s studio, probably under the supervision of the painters Aqa Mirak and Abdul Aziz.
In around 1550, Shah Tahmasp developed a religious aversion to figurative painting, and it is likely that this manuscript was the last to be made in the shah’s studio, probably under the supervision of the painters Aqa Mirak and Abdul Aziz.
Published in
Published in
Armen Tokatlian: Falnamah: livre royal des sorts, Montreuil 2007, cat.no. nr. 19;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 41;
Massumeh Farhad and Serpil Bagci: Falnama : the book of omens, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 2009, cat.no. 37;
Kjeld von Folsach, Joachim Meyer: The Human Figure in Islamic Art – Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2017, cat.no. 2, p. 60;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 41;
Massumeh Farhad and Serpil Bagci: Falnama : the book of omens, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 2009, cat.no. 37;
Kjeld von Folsach, Joachim Meyer: The Human Figure in Islamic Art – Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2017, cat.no. 2, p. 60;
Miniature Paintings
Miniature from a copy of Jafar al-Sadiq’s Falnama. ‘Karkhi, Gatekeeper at the Tomb of Imam Reza, is Honored’
Miniature from a copy of Firdawsi’s Shahnama. ‘Shah Anushirvan Captures the Fortress of Saqila’
Miniature from a copy of Sadi’s Kulliyat (Collected Works). ‘A Disappointed Groom’s Revolt’
Double frontispiece painting from a copy of Jami’s Yusuf wa Zulaykha. ‘Picnic in a Tree House’