The Blue Mosque, the Ardabil Carpet, and the Taj Mahal all date to this important period.
c. 1517 - 1924 C.E.
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Wine bearers in landscape, a Safavid textile
Safavid nobles wrapped themselves in poetries of love, wine, and youth
Riza-yi ‘Abbasi, portrait of a young page reading
The anonymous figure depicted in this painting embodies the fashion of Isfahan, Iran’s capital city under the rule of Shah 'Abbas I
Mir Afzal of Tun, a reclining woman and her lapdog
The single page format of this painting shows the trend among seventeenth-century art patrons to collect particularly fine examples of drawing, painting or calligraphy on single pages
Riza-yi ʿAbbasi, Seated calligrapher
Riza-yi ʿAbbasi is famous for his drawings of individual or paired figures on single pages
The Safavids, an introduction
Brilliantly painted manuscripts. Exquisitely detailed miniatures. Fine silks. Complex, ornate palaces. The art of the Safavids is simply magnificent.
The Court of Gayumars
Producing this lush miniature involved many Persian artists—and likely some familiarity with Chinese sources.
Arts of the Islamic world: The later period
The Islamic world extended from Spain to Indonesia, where Ottomans, Timurids, Safavids, and Mughals ruled.
Hagia Sophia as a mosque
After the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, the sultan repurposed this church, adding slender “pencil” minarets.
Illustration from the Akbarnama
Under Akbar the Great, the Mughal style of painting blended Indian, Persian, and Western artistic traditions.
Tughra (Official Signature) of Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent from Istanbul
The official seal of the sultan dissolves into a vibrating field of flowers, gold accents, and snaking blue lines.
Coins of faith and power at the British Museum
These tiny pieces of precious metal contain a wealth of information in their Persian and Arabic inscriptions.
Qa’a (The Damascus room)
The sound of the fountain led guests into this 18th-century house, where a vibrant interior stimulated ear and eye.
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