Iran

17th-early 20th-century European travellers to Istakhr. The contribution of their accounts

The aim of this paper is to compile the most significant data obtained from reading the accounts of 17th-early 20th-century European travellers to Istakhr in order to understand how much reliable information they provide that can be used in the historical-topographic reconstruction work that has been carried out in recent years.

Introduction

Il saggio ripercorre la storia degli studi relativi alle ricerche condotte nella città di Istakhr (Fars, Iran) a partire dalle prime spedizioni degli anni '30 del secolo scorso sino ai recenti scavi e studi ad opera della Missione Archeologica congiunta Italo-Iraniana che ha operato negli anni 2011-2016. Vengono inoltre illustrati i contributi al volume e la ratio con la quale questo stesso si articola.

A perspective illusion or a view from the clouds? Detail of an Early 16th-Century miniature painting produced in Tabriz (Iran)

A Persian painting (910H/1505) from a manuscript of Nizami’s Khamsa preserved in the Keir Collection portrays the mi'raj of Muḥammad among many angels in a blue sky; the Ka'ba is depicted in the lower foreground while the desert surrounds almost the entire image. In the upper part of the sky ten half-bust angels look out from an oculus among the clouds. This image clearly recalls coeval European painting, and in particular the oculus painted by Andrea Mantegna on the vault of the Camera Picta or “Camera degli Sposi” in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua.

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