Manifestation of Timurid Architectural Decorations in Paintings of the Baysonghori Shahnameh

The skillful drawing of architectural spaces and displaying details of building decorations are among the most distinguished features of Iranian painting, especially in the late Islamic periods. The painting of Iran during the Timurid period has progressed and flourished through the full support of the art lover kings and princes and their efforts to serve the most prominent and most capable artists and the establishment of royal libraries in the courts. In this convenient space and the rich cultural and artistic environment, valuable artworks were created. Baysonghori shahnameh, one of the most valuable illustrated manuscripts of the Timurid period is made in 833 AH with the Timurid prince’s support, Baysonghor Mirza, and it has 22 images. The skillful drawing of the structure of the buildings and the accuracy of their decorations, especially the tilework, are striking in the paintings of Baysonghori shahnameh, and represent the prominence of it. In 6 images, buildings, castles and palaces, and the vast surfaces of them are decorated with azure tiling which brings the visage of great and luxurious buildings of the Timurids to the mind. In addition to tilework, mural painting, glazed pottery, lithograph and brickwork are also used to decorate the buildings in the paintings. In this research, decorations of depicted buildings in these paintings are studied following their comparisons with decorations of Timurid buildings. The main aims of this research are comparing decorations of the depicted buildings in Baysonghori Shahnameh paintings with buildings of eastern territory of the Timurids since the begining of the formation of this dynasty in 771 AH until the year of production of this manuscript as well as the survey of the importance of these paintings in architectural and decorations studies of Timurid buildings. The research tries to answer the following questions that decorations of depicted buildings in the paintings of this manuscript have been inspired by which of the Timurid buildings? And how do these pictorial reviews contribute to a deeper understanding of the Timurid architecture? The method of reserch was descriptive_comparative and analytic, and the information was collected by library method. According to the studies carried out, in response to the first question of the research, it can be said that most of the decorations of the Baysonghri shahnameh paintings are compatible with the buildings of the eastern Timurid territories and Transoxania. In case of many of these decorations, examples in their contemporaneous buildings in the eastern part of Iran can be found. Since this manuscript is made in the royal library of Baysonghor Mirza, the greatest supporter of the Timurid art, in the artistic center of that era, Herat city, and made by the most prominent artists, the images of this manuscript are more important than the other illustrations of this period in terms of reviewing the architecture and decorations of the Timurid buildings. The artists who created this manuscript were summoned from different areas of the Timurid territory to Herat, and considering the establishment of the royal library in the garden of the Timurid art-patron prince, they most of all saw the royal monuments of this city and hence, it is obvious that they were inspired by the structure and decorations of the monuments and the ceremonial buildings around them in their drawings. The inscriptions written in two pictures of “Zal and Roodabeh's visit” and “Golnar and Ardeshir's visit” read that the building was built by Baysonghor Mirza’s command and this claim is confirmed. Therefore, despite the fact that during this period many manuscripts were made at other painting centers, especially in Shiraz, the images of this manuscript, which most researchers and experts believe to be the most significant of the Timurid paintings due to their production in Herat city, are more important than the images of other manuscripts in terms of examining the architecture and decorations of the royal monuments of the eastern Timurid territories. To answer the second question of the research, it must be said that based on the mention of the name of Baysonghor Mirza in the thuluth inscriptions of the building, these two paintings show that the painters took inspiration from the structure and decorations of the royal monuments of the Timurid Prince. By reviewing and studying the drawings of this manuscript, one can find out about the structure and decorations of the ceremonial and royal monuments of Prince Baysonghor Mirza, which have been destroyed over time and now no trace of them is left. In fact, the results of the research reveal that the illustrations of this valuable manuscript, in addition to the artistic value, are worthy of consideration as the illustrated document that depicts the architecture of the Timurid period, and especially the monuments of Herat during the reign of Baysonghor Mirza, and the study of these images by the researchers may eliminate the impasse that has been caused due to the lack of sufficient evidence.