Tabriz Style of Turkman Painting School under Sultan

The qara Quyunlu clan reach to power in western Iran before the time of Timur’s incursions. Throughout the first half of fifteenth century, the Qara Quyunlu took Isfahan, Fars, Kerman and even Khurasan especially Herat, but briefly. Their most significant adversary was the rival Aq Quyunlu clan, whose Sultan Uzun Hasan had spent years in the struggle to establish Aq Quyunlu power in Iran and Anatolia.They made Tabriz their capital. Sultan Yaqub AQuyunlu built spelendid monuments in his capital and painted their walls with scene of battle and reception of forign ambassadors. He made his court the resort of poets, painters, calligraphers and so on. He commissioned with Sultan Husyn Bayqara and riveled with him. Two albums (Murraq) produced for him by two celebrated court painter, Sheikhi and Dervish Muhammad. Under Sultan Yaqub painting style developed the initially rellied on Timurid school of Herat, but envolved into different modes, depending on Turkman’s life. Whereas Tabriz style preserved the wealth of details of Timurid painting of Herat, it is artists simplified the compositions of Herat painting while maintaining a brighter palette. Tabriz style is often dismissed for its lack of splendour and brilliance. This style of painting clearly reflect the stages of Turkman court at Tabriz. One of Khamsa of Nizami embodies over a half of century of princely Timurid, Turkman and Safavid patronage in the names of the princes through whose hands it passed. This Khamsa originally begun for Barbur Mirza son of Baysunghur. There after PirBudag Qara Quyunlu seized it. It then came into the possession of Khalil Mirza son of Uzun Hasan and for the paintings he commissioned master Sheikhi and master Dervish Muhammad. Then it took to control his brother Sultan Yaqub who too strove to have it finished and exerted much effort But it had unfinished as his death in 1490. This Khamsa finally came into the possession of Shah Ismail Safavi, under whose direction it finished and nine painting were added it. Some of Sultan Yaqub’s Painters must have continued to work on this Khamsah. For example, the Miraj painting dated 910 H. added to the Khamsah in the ealier Aq Quyunlu tradition. The postscript of this manuscript informs the reader that Sultan Khalil asked the scribe Anisi to copy the Khamsah and the painters Sheikhi and Dervish Muhammad to illustrate it. Anisi mentioned in postscript is the same one as the manuscript’s scribe Abd al-Rahim al-Yaqubi, Whose penname was Anisi. In the study of the album (Muraqqa) associated with the name of Sultan Yaqub are two albums. These albums were in Topkapi Saray library with two numbers H.2153 and H.2160. The paintings and calligraphies in both albums are executed in variety of materials. A rough count of the attributions in these albums gives Sheikhi seventy-one and Dervish Muhammad three. As for Muhammad Siyah Qalam, his attributions amount to sixty-five. These mass of material are associated with Sultan Yaqub Aq Quyunlu, because a large portion of material signed by artists bearing the Nisba Yaqubi.