Which illustration ‌‌describes the images of Alisher Navoi with Husayn Bayqara

Which illustration ‌‌describes the images of Alisher Navoi with Husayn Bayqara

The album “The Works of Alisher Navoi in Fine Books of the 15th–16th centuries” contains a number of illustrations, including the miniature “The old woman and Shah Ghazi in front of a qadi (judge)”.

The date (928 / 1521 – 1522) and the name of the customer in the form of Abu’l-Muzaffar Sultan-Muhammad are written on the pavilion’s gable. O. I. Galerkina, with good reason, suggested that it was Muzaffar al-Din Muhammad (Keldi-Muhammad, 1480 – 1532), the grandson of the daughter of the Timurid Ulugh Beg and Abu’l-Khair Khan, Shibani Khan’s cousin, the son and heir of the Tashkent apanage ruler Siyunj Khwaja (Suyuunch Khwaja Khan). 

It is possible that the figure of the judge in this miniature sitting on the carpet represents Keldi-Muhammad, who lived in Shahrukhiya from 1517 to 1525, and then governed in Tashkent. We can come to this conclusion due to the clear presence of a minimum of two historical portraits in this illustration. The iconographic features prove that Sultan Husayn Bayqara, the last ruler of the Timurid dynasty, is represented as shah Ghazi, and the figure behind the judge’s back is the depiction of the poet, official and patron Alisher Navoi. Both of them had died by that time, but their iconography became well known thanks to the drawings of the famous artist from Herat, Kamal al-Din Behzad.

You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Arts of the book in the 15th–17th-century Mawarannahr" (Volume XVII) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections". 

The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.

Which illustration ‌‌describes the images of Alisher Navoi with Husayn Bayqara