“The Zafarnama of Sultan Husayn Mirza.” PDF

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The Zafarnama [Book of Conquest] of Sultan Husayn Mirza MIKA NATIF HE ILLUSTRATED Zafarnama manuscript of Sultan Husayn, also known as the Garrett T or Baltimore Zafarnama (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Library, no shelf mark), is one of the most celebrated and important among Timurid manuscri...

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“The Zafarnama of Sultan Husayn Mirza.” Mika Natif

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The Zafarnama [Book of Conquest] of Sultan Husayn Mirza MIKA NATIF

HE ILLUSTRATED Zafarnama manuscript of Sultan Husayn, also known as the Garrett or Baltimore Zafarnama (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Library, no shelf mark), is one of the most celebrated and important among Timurid manuscripts. Produced in the fifteenth century, probably in Herat (present-day Afghanistan) for the famous Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Mirza, the manuscript has survived in its entirety with minor retouching of the paintings, probably done in India. 1 All twelve of its miniatures have been attributed to the great painter Bihzad by a later Mughal hand. Scholars have studied the manuscript for more than a century; Thomas Arnold published a monograph on it in 1930,2 and Eleanor Sims was one of the most recent to deal with it, in 1973. 3 Arnold reproduced all the miniatures in color and provided descriptive information about the manuscript and the paintings, while Sims examined it in the wider context of the production of illustrated Zafarnama manuscripts in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some of the paintings have been reproduced in scholarly works primarily concerned with their dating and attribution. This paper attempts to show the originality of these paintings among manuscript illustrations of the fifteenth century and to analyze their iconography. After a brief historical introduction, the discussion continues with a description of each pair of miniatures and is followed by an examination of the decorative program of the manuscript. The style of the miniatures is not treated. References in brackets are to Muhammad Abbasi's 1957-58 edition of the Zafarnama. 4

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INTRODUCTION: HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT

The Zafarnama [Book of Conquest/War/Victory] is a historical text, compiled in Persian by Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi; it records the life of Timur and his sons. In 1419 Yazdi was summoned to Shiraz by Ibrahim Sultan ibn Shahrukh, then governor of the province of Fars, to oversee the collection and codification of traditions and records relating to the life of Timur and to produce a revised and integral biography of the conqueror. 5 One part of this project, the so-called Zafarnama, was apparently completed in 1424-25. In many ways it should be considered as a reworking and expansion of an earlier Zafarnama written in 1404 by Nizam al-Din Ali Shami. According to Yazdi, a team of scholars and writers began working under his supervision at the court of

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1. Timur holds audience in Balkh on the occasion of his accession on 12 Ramadan 771/April 9, 1370. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University, Garrett Zafarnaina, ff. 82v-83r

Ibrahim Sullan, scrutinizing and verifying all Persian and Chaghatay accounts of Timur's life and deeds gathered from all over the empire. 6 The Zafarnama begins with Timur's birth on April 8, 1336 (25 Sha'ban 736) and ends with the enthronement of his grandson Khalil Sultan in Samarqand on March 18, 1405 (16 Ramadan 807). The text ofYazdi's Zafarnama, according to John Woods, replaces Chinghisid legitimizing principles described in previous biographies of Timur, written by Shami and Hafiz-i Abru, and gives greater stress to Islamic elements, portraying the Timurids as pious Muslim rulers. Another aspect emphasized by Yazdi is the birth of Shahrukh, the father of his patron, and his role as a "Renewer of Faith" [mujaddid] .7 Yazdi's work was greatly admired ｩｾ＠ its own time and was cited as a model of elegant historiography. Woods regards this work as a source for the evolution of Timurid ideology as well as for the life of the founder of the dynasty. 8 The manuscript was copied, as shown by its colophon, by Shir Ali in "some months of 872" (August 2, 1467-July 21, 1468), but the place of writing is not mentioned. It has 539 folios (rnea-

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suring 23.5 X 15.2 cm), and each page has 17 lines written in small fine nasta'liq. The first folio of the manuscript has an inscription which gives the name of Sultan Husayn Bahadur, for whose treasury the manuscript was made: "Treasury of the mighty and exalted Sultan Abu'l-Ghazi Sultan Husayn Bahadur, may God make his rule and dominion and his benevolence and his generosity eternal. "9 Chapter titles are written in gold, and verse headings are in gold, crimson, and lapis ink. 10 The manuscript includes twelve miniatures, arranged as six pairs and consisting of four battle scenes, one court audience, and one construction of a mosque (Figs. 1-6). Provision for the miniatures was made in advance even though the paintings may not have been done when the text was completed. The miniatures were identified by the Mughal emperor Jahangir as work of the early period of the master Bihzad. 11 That most of the later owners were Mughal shows that the manuscript was one of the treasures of the Mughal imperial library in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the emperors and their librarians commented on the beauty of the paintings. 12 The manuscript was brought from Central Asia to Akbar's court in India by the nobleman Mir Jamal al-Din Husayn Inju (a native of Shiraz), who entered Akbar's service sometime before 1572. 13 It then passed to Akbar's successors, but how it came finally to leave the imperial library is unclear. R. Martin says that it was taken to Persia by Nadir Shah, but he provides no evidence for that statement. 14 An undated seal ofBahman ibn Na'ib al-SaltanatAbbas Mirza-i Qajar (on f. 408v) gives the name of the Persian nobleman, probably the one from whom the German collector P. W. Schultz bought the manuscript. From his collection the manuscript passed into the hands ofV. Goloubeff, and from him to the art dealer Sambon, who in turn sold it to Kalebdjian Freres; it was purchased by Robert Garrett, who gave it eventually to the library ofJohns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 15

DESCRIPTION OF THE MINIATURE PAINTINGS

Folios 82v-83r: Timur holds audience in Balkh on the occasion of his accession on 12 Ramadan 771/April 9, 1370 (Fig. 1) [vol. 1, 158] The first pair of miniatures is placed right after the text that describes Timur's accession audience at Balkh in 771/1370. The text mentions that the noyans (Mongol princes), amirs, and shaykhs accorded Timur the rule of the Chaghatay Empire and he was then called Sahib Qiran. 16 The text says that the court was waiting for spring to arrive in Balkh in order to hold Timur's accession ceremony. The double-page miniature indeed shows spring with its blooming trees and flowers. Timur sits on an elegant throne in a garden, wearing a crown and a gold belt, as described in the text. He receives congratulations and gifts from his kneeling amirs and noyans. Behind him is a magnificent tent and surrounding him are his people, servants, and sons. Arnold believes that the design on the roof of Timur's tent is borrowed from a representation of the "talking tree" (Wakwak tree) in the Romance of Alexander. 17 However, this pattern of animals in vegetal scroll motifs exists on tents independently, without alluding to any connection to Alexander the Great. Two figures at the bottom on the right side are shown from the back, which is not

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very common. Behind Timur, his royal attributes are displayed-bows and arrows, and a cheetah and a falcon for the royal hunt-and in front of his throne a small stream flows, separating and isolating him from the attendees. On the opposite page, the two men seated on low stools were identified by Arnold as the two eldest sons of Timur, Jahangir and Umar Shaykh. 18 Further down on the page, five princes or amirs are kneeling; each wears a different costume and distinctive headgear, perhaps indicating different ethnic origins. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo mentions that protocol required guests in the presence of Timur to bend their right knee, advancing in a series of bows, and then to remain kneeling with the right knee on the ground, as do the five amirs. 19 The amirs' attendants stand behind them, carrying trays with small bowls filled with gold and jewels, a custom which Clavijo describes on his first meeting with Timur. 20 Behind them a group of courtiers press in through a door to pay homage, while a chamberlain with his staff restrains their impatience. Several other images, especially the audience scene in the Bust an of Sa' di in Cairo, and the one from the 1436 Zafarnmna of Ibrahim Sultan, suggest that we are dealing with a composition-type adapted to a specific purpose. Musicians and dancers, and food and drink-the conventional elements of fifteenth- century reception scenes in Persian paintings-are absent here. Sims argues correctly that the painting is a literal transposition of word into image, conveying the precise textual meaning of the solemn accession being illustrated. 2l The composition is crowded with figures on the left side of the double spread, but around 'Iimur there are very few figures, and he seems to be removed and distanced from the action around him. The isolation of the hero and the quieting down of the composition around the central figure recur throughout the manuscript. It is also perhaps in this first double-page painting that the artist introduces the two main characters who will be the heroes of these paintings, Timur and Umar Shaykh, so that the viewer will learn how to recognize their portrayal elsewhere in the manuscript. Timur, for example, is always depicted as a slender figure with a pointed beard and wearing a green garment, while Umar Shaykh is fatter, has a mustache, and is also dressed in green, with a turban.

Folios 115v-116r: Timur's army commanded by Umar Shaykh attacks Urgench/Khiva in the spring of 781/1379 (Fig. 2) [vol. 1, 218} These paintings show a specific event at the beginning of the siege of Urgench, a town on the lower A.mu-Darya, in 1379. At that time Urgench was held by Yusuf Sufi, ajala'ir chieftain. The text describes a group of Khorezmian soldiers who ventured outside the gates and were chased back into the city by Umar Shaykh ibn Timur and his men. The miniatures show soldiers on horses attacking the citadel, pushing a body of horsemen back into the city over a wooden drawbridge. Umar Shaykh, the hero of this episode, occupies the center of the right-hand page and is mounted on his horse with the tiger-skin caparison. Behind the prince ride trumpeters on horseback and a man on a camel beating kettledrums. Above the great gateway, the defenders of the city are shooting arrows, and one man is hurling down a huge stone. Corpses, separated body parts, and wounded men are scattered around, 22 perhaps to increase the feeling of the difficulty of battle and greatness of the victory.

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2. Timur's army commanded by Umar Shaykh attacks Urgench/Khiva in the spring of 781/1379. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University, Garrett Zafarnama, ff. 115v-116r

The two halves of the painting are very different in size and do not make a single whole, as if a band or a strip of the composition is now missing. Moreover, the composition is awkwardly arranged and the figures on the right page are larger than those on the left side; the figures in the citadel are noticeably smaller. The artist attempted to represent the animated bodies of men and horses in a variety of positions, maneuvers, and perspectives. One such interesting detail shows a white horse in the middle-right of the left page, where the creature is in profile, turning and twisting its head to the right toward another horse. It has been claimed that the painting mixes fifteenth-century conventions and original features, both in the conception of the scene and in specific details, but it may also be read as a literal illustration of the text. As in the previous painting, the central figure, this time Umar Shaykh, is isolated against the background. 23

Folios 174v-175r: Umar Shaykh outmaneuvers Ankatura in a night attack on the Syr Darya in 790/1388 (Fig. 3) [vol. 1, 328} Arnold identifies this scene as "The army of Umar Shaykh crossing the Oxus to attack the forces of Ankatura." Ankatura was a nephew of Amir Haji Beg Arkanut of Moghulistan. The sol-

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3. Umar Shaykh outmaneuvers Ankatura in a night attack on the Syr Darya in 790/1388. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University, Garrett Zafarnama, ff. l 74v-l 75r

diers ofUmar Shaykh are crossing the river on rafts, which they hold in front of them as shields when they have reached the opposite bank. The attack was made at night since a crescent moon shines in a sky covered with stars; two torches are put between the tents of the enemy camp. 24 There are several problems with Arnold's identification. The textual reference to this episode is found six folios before the miniatures. But the text that appears immediately before the illustrations is a passage similar to the one proposed by Arnold as the source of the image. However, that passage is not accurately shown in the paintings either. In the passage Arnold associates with the painting, the hero of the episode is a person named Amir Jahanshah (one of the local amirs) and not Amirzade Umar Shaykh. 25 In the passage identified by Arnold, the troops had already crossed the river earlier in the day, while the painting shows the soldiers crossing at night; the text says that one group significantly outnumbered the other, while no such difference is represented in the miniature. The text does, however, describe the wooden screens that were used by the army of Amir Jahanshah as they appear in the painting.

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Apart from the coincidence of the night battle on a river, the text located immediately next to the painting does not tell the story in the same way as the illustration. The passage is about a night attack led by Ankatura against Umar Shaykh in which it was actually the army of Ankatura that crossed the Syr Darya River in order to surprise the army ofUmar Shaykh, who came to battle from an opposite direction. The text narrates that Ankatura attacked the Timurids, while the painting shows the Timurid army crossing the river and charging. It is clear that a conflation of these two episodes has occurred in the miniature since there is a visual emphasis on the Timurids: their army occupies all of the right-hand page and even spreads to the left page as well. The riderless horse with the tiger-skin caparison has been identified as the probable horse of Umar Shaykh, which appeared in the previous miniature. It is believed that the artist chose to distort his picture instead of rendering a perfectly literal image of the episode. 26 The composition causes problems in identifying the enemy; it is as if half of the miniature is from a different painting and does not belong to the set. It has been suggested that the original second half of this miniature is in the Fogg Museum of Art (now Harvard University Art Museums) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 27 This theory is problematic because it implies carelessness in the organization of the work that does not befit the patronage of Sultan Husayn. Furthermore, there are no visible physical signs of difference in colors that would support such an argument.

Folios 282v-283r: Timur's army attacks the survivors of the town of Nerges, in Georgia, in the spring of 798/1396 (Fig. 4) (vol. 1, 556] This miniature shows part of Timur's campaign in Dasht-i Qipchaq in 1395-96. In the text, the survivors of a town called Nerges were pursued into the mountains where they hid in caves and passageways high on the upper slopes. The Timurid army positioned itself above the caves, lowered soldiers down in baskets until they were face to face with the Georgians, and annihilated them. Timur's campaign against the Georgians is ''.justified" in the text as a jihad, a holy war against the Christian infidels. A more practical reason for it was the richness of the country and Timur's constant need for booty. The figure of Timur appears on the upper part of the left page and, in accordance with the depiction of the hero of the scene, he is isolated from the rest of the group. Wearing his green robe, he is mounted on his horse; an attendant holds a parasol over his head; and he seems to survey the operation from the top of the cliff. The Timurid army occupies most of the composition, which flows from right to left. There are many small details that are not related to the narrative, such as the animals at the bottom of the left page and the defined facial expressions of some of the soldiers, especially one on the top left page. In the background on the right page, the ruins of the conquered city are visible from afar. The subject of this miniature is unique in Persian painting up to this time, and the manner of representing it is equally original. A fantastically colored landscape shows strangely shaped rocks (about to assume faces, which will happen a few decades later), and a much freer and more inventive composition emphasizes the landscape, which is crucial to understanding the scene. The flow of the mounted soldiers and their horses from one page to the other, the horses' movement, the winding passageway in the mountains, and the curves of the strange rocks create

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4. Timur's army attacks the survivors of the town of Nerges in Georgia, in the spring of 798/1396. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University, Garrett Zafarnaina, ff. 282v-283r

a rhythm, a pattern, a weavelike movement that leads to Timur's figure on the left-hand page. Then the movement, directed first from top to bottom through the soldiers' gestures, the ropes, and even the curves of the rocks, reaches a peaceful climax in the animals in the oasis below.

Folios 359v-360r: The construction of the Great Mosque (Friday Mosque) of Sarnarqand, began on 14 Rarnadan 801/May 20, 1399 (Fig. 5) [vol. 2, 145] This is an unusual and significant choice of image in the Zafarnarna, as it applies to both Timur and Sultan Husayn as patrons. The illustration occurs in the middle of a famous poetic phrase which describes the mosque in its finished state, but the painting actually shows the construction of the mosque, and most of the figural groups and their activities are taken directly from the written description in the Zafarnarna. 28 The composition, subject, and figural elements of the painting are unique, and there is no

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prototype for them. The composition differs from that of the other miniatures in this manuscript because the hero is not central; rather, the subject matter itself is heroic, one long associated with the traditional duties of a Muslim ruler, whose life as a Muslim hero is, after all, the subject of the text. For this reason, the symbolic value of the painting in context should parallel the depiction of Timur's accession scene in the court of Balkh (ff. 82v-83r; see Fig. 1). The mosque is shown surrounded by a wall, and one of the portals is under construction. The composition shows the inside and outside of the building at the same time, and this creates an awkward perspective. The stonework is emphasized in the painting as well as in the text, since after the sack of Delhi, Timur took all the Indian stonecutters for himself and for the Friday mosque he was planning to build in Samarqand. 29 The artist has paid particular attention here to the marble-columns, capitals, revetments, engraved mar...