Persian Painting: The Arts of the Book and Portraiture

A stunning catalog of Persian miniature paintings and manuscripts from The al-Sabah Collection, placed in their historical and artistic context

Persian miniature painting is among the most well-established and celebrated traditions of Islamic art. Written by two eminent scholars specializing in Persian painting and epigraphy, respectively, Persian Painting catalogs more than forty masterpieces of Persian miniature painting, manuscript illustration, and bookbinding in The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait.

Coauthors Adel T. Adamova and Manijeh Bayani place the works in an artistic and historical context and demonstrate their significance in the development of Persian painting. From a historical perspective, they document the movement of manuscripts through their owners’ seal impressions and librarians’ notes, and identify various works by scribes and illustrators involved in the production of these manuscripts and miniatures.

Richly illustrated and including rare examples from the pre-Mongol invasion period never before reproduced in print, the book also includes illustrated folios detached from important fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts and paintings from dispersed Safavid and post-Safavid albums, as well as seventeenth-century bookbindings and oil paintings from the Zand and Qajar periods. 450+ color illustrations