SOLUTION: The absolute height of artistry: The Court of Gayumars, from the Shahnama

The absolute height of artistry: The Court of Gayumars, from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, fol. 20v, attributed to Sultan Muhammad and his workshop, Tabriz, 1522, 47 x 32 cm, opaque watercolor, ink, gold, silver on paper, folio 20v. Safavid culture. Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM165).

Seated in a cross-legged position, as if levitating within this richly vegetal and mountainous landscape, King Gayumars rises above his courtiers, who are gathered around at the base of the painting. According to legend, King Gayumars was the first king of Persia, and he ruled at a time when people clothed themselves only in leopard pelts, as both the text and the represented subjects’ speckled garments indicate.

We see a coming together of many different kinds of people, who have just learned to live in a civilized harmonious way: There are people with Central Asian looking faces, for example, and many different skin tones, Even the animals are seated in pairs, side by side, in absolute harmony.

The painting represents a paradise, a perfect world, that is so lush and fruitful that it spills out of the frame onto the page. However, this paradise is on the brink of being lost: Gayumar’s son, Siyamuk, seated below him on the king’s left side, is about to be killed by the sons of the devil. Gayumar’s gestures toward his son in a foreshadowing of this tragedy.

Source: Dr. Michael Chagnon, Curator, Aga Khan Museum, and Dr. Steven Zucker. Paradise in Miniature: the Court of Kayumars: https://youtu.be/pLHnipC48P0

In this folio, we can see parallels between the painting and the content of the calligraphic text of the poem at the top of the page written in nastaliq script.

“When the sun reached the lamb constellation, when the world became glorious, When the sun shined from the lamb constellation to rejuvenate the living beings entirely, It was then when Gayumars became the King of the World. He first built his residence in the mountains. His prosperity and his palace rose from the mountains, and he and his people wore leopard pelts. Cultivation began from him, and the garments and food were ample and fresh.”

The text was completed before the paintings. When the paintings were finished, illuminators contributed to the overall sumptuousness of the manuscript by adorning the borders, chapter headings, and text frames with gold. The finished gilded pages were burnished with a smooth, hard stone such as agate or rock crystal to give them a polished effect. Once all the pages had gone through this elaborate process, they were brought to a binding specialist who sewed and bound the leaves and attached a decorated leather or lacquer cover to the spine. Finally, the completed book was placed in a jeweled container and presented to the patron

“Meant to be lovingly contemplated.”

Court of Gayumars: “Meant to be lovingly contemplated.” Detail of the Court of Gayumars” by Sultan Muhammad. Painting fom the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, fol. 20v. Tabriz, 1522, 47 x 32 cm, opaque watercolor, ink, gold, silver on paper, folio 20v. Safavid culture. Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM165).

Contemporary sources tell us that Sultan Muhammad worked on this painting for more than 3 years. Perched on cliffs beside the King are his son, Siyamak (left, standing), and grandson Hushang (right, seated). Onlookers peer out from the scraggly, blossoming branches onto King Gayumars from the upper left and right. The miniature’s spatial composition is organized on a vertical axis with the mountain behind the king in the distance, and the garden below in the foreground.

Gayumars was an immortal king, but ultimately decided to give that up for the sake of human society. In a manuscript dedicated to the next generation of rulers, it shows how to behave, how to become a good ruler, and celebrate justice.

There are multiple points of perspective, and perhaps even multiple moments in time, rendering a scene dense with details meant to absorb and enchant the viewer. The swirling blue-gray clouds floating overhead recall Chinese art and Safavid artists often incorporated visual motifs and techniques inspired by Chinese sources.

Sources: Unit 5: chapter 3 The Making of a Persian Royal Manuscript: The Shahnama
(Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp. Courtly Splendor in the Islamic World. Metmuseum.org. (p. 143). https://www.metmuseum.org/learn/educators/curriculum-resources/art-of-the-islamic-world/~/media/Files/Learn/ForEducators/PublicationsforEducators/IslamicTeacherResource/Unit5.pdf

Dr. Filiz Çakir Phillip, Curator, Aga Khan Museum and Dr. Steven Zucker. Paradise in miniature, The Court of Kayumars — part 2. https://youtu.be/LL1upwFTGDQ

The intense pigments of the rocky terrain seem to flow into the lush and verdant garden below inhabited by the paired animals.This painting—in all its density color, detail, and sheer exuberance—witnesses the longstanding cultural reverence for Firdausi’s epic of the Shahnama and the unparalleled craftsmanship of the master Sultan Muhammad and Shah Tahmasp’s workshops.

The painters sketched out the entire composition with a light brush before focusing on specific areas. They often showed off their talent by incorporating minuscule details and playful visual elements. They prepared their pigments from natural minerals, including semiprecious stones such as lapis lazuli (blue) and malachite (green), as well as gold, silver, sulfur, and dyes from various plants and insects.

Thanks to surviving contemporary accounts and stylistic analyses of the paintings, scholars have been able to distinguish the hands of many artists involved in producing the illustrations—some by name, though others remain anonymous.

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