It reflected the peculiarities of court life, and at the same time, it was a tribute to the etiquette developed over the centuries, according to which the ruler had to be a brave and decisive warrior, a brilliant commander, a successful hunter, an adherent of religion. It was a pictorial qasida – a panegyric to the ruler, in which the artist sang the valor of the ruler with bright colors through heroic situations, even if the real character did not possess such qualities.
Being a court artist and paying tribute to tradition, like any other artist of his time, Behzad also depicted the life of the court, its entertainment, but made his adjustments hereto. Behzad created the image of the ruler as a spiritually perfect person who was guided not by his own enrichment and military ambitions, but by the interests of the state and people.
This idea was first manifested in his early miniature – “Darius and the Shepherd”, in which Behzad visualized the advice given to kings through the popular story by Saadi. Once lost while hunting, Darius met shepherds and mistook them for enemies. The old shepherd taught the ruler a lesson: he knew everything about his flock, while Darius could not distinguish his citizen from a stranger. With the help of the plot familiar from literature, expressive gestures of the shepherd and the herdsmen watching the scene, as well as beautiful horses grazing peacefully, Behzad successfully illustrated the meaning of the idea of the Bustan by Saadi.
Currently, this miniature of Bustan by Saadi with the signature 1488-1489 is kept in the Cairo National Library.
Before Behzad, the theme of a just ruler had already been developed in illustrations to parables from Nizami’s poem Mahzan al-asrar (“Nushirvan and his Wazir”, “Suleiman and the Peasant”, “Sultan Sanjar and the Old Woman”). In miniature to Nizami’s manuscript (British Library, 1495) the old woman grabs the Sultan’s horse by the bridle, stopping his cortege. But, unlike the traditional iconography of the scene, where the ruler ignores the appeal of the old woman, here he is depicted bending over to her, attentively listening to her request.
In the illustration of Nizami’s poem Khosrow and Shirin called “Khosrow’s Repentance” ( the Khamsa by Nizami, 1490, the British Museum) Sultan Husayn is depicted in the image of the legendary king Shah Hormuzd forgiving his son who repented of his sins. In Behzad’s interpretation, this miniature hints at real events: the uprising of Sultan Husayn’s son Badiuzzaman against his father and his remission. The intercessors here are a group of elders, one of whom has iconographic signs of Alisher Navoi, who, as is well known, influenced the decision of the Sultan. This miniature also shows that Behzad, through popular plots of classical literature, hinted at contemporary events and persons, thus actualizing them.
In miniatures of the court genre, Behzad elaborated the image of a ruler in accordance with the Sufi idea of a just king, which assumed above all the spiritual
perfection of those in power.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The legacy of Kamal ud-din Behzad in the World Collections" (L volume) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
Main page//What was the ideal image of a ruler? Did they really only strive for wealth and increasing their military power?
What was the ideal image of a ruler? Did they really only strive for wealth and increasing their military power?
Among genres in the history of miniature, a special place was occupied by the court genre, showing various aspects of the life and entertainment of shahs, sultans and the highest nobility.