This book examines a group of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century figural silks depicting legendary lovers from the Khamsa (Quintet) of epic Persian poetry. Codified by Nizami Ganjavi in the twelfth century, the Khamsa gained popularity in the Persian-speaking realm through illustrated manuscripts produced for the elite, creating a template for illustrating climactic scenes in the love stories of “Layla and Majnun” and “Khusrau and Shirin” that appear on early modern silks. Attributed to Safavid Iran, the publication proposes that dress fashioned from these silks represented Sufi ideals based on the characters. Migration of weavers between Safavid and Mughal courts resulted in producing goods for a sophisticated and educated elite, demonstrating shared cultural values and potential reattribution. Through an examination of primary source materials, literary analysis of the original text, and close iconographical study of figural designs, the study presents original cross-disciplinary arguments about patronage, provenance, and the socio-cultural significance of wearing these silks.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration
- Introduction: Material Culture and Mysticism in the Persianate World
- Material Culture and Mysticism
- The Persianate World
- Part I
- 1. Silks, Signatures and Self-fashioning
- Khamsa Narrative Silks in Scholarship
- The Famous Naqshband: Unrivalled in the Art of Textile Design
- Craftsmen and Consumers
- Self-Fashioning in the Early Modern Persianate World
- 2. Dressed as King, Lover and Beloved: Khusrau and Shirin
- Lovers from Nizami’s Khamsa
- The Romantic Tragedy of Nizami’s ‘Khusrau and Shirin’
- Khusrau and Shirin in Paintings and Safavid Silks
- The Gaze and the Body: States of Dress and Undress
- 3. Weaving Stories, Weaving Self: Layla and Majnun as Sufi Icons
- The Mystical Love Story of Nizami’s ‘Layla and Majnun’
- Layla and Majnun in Poetry, Paintings and Silk Designs
- The Khamsa of Amir Khusrau
- Text and Textile in Sufi Poetry
- Part II
- 4. The Divine Cloak of Majesty: Material Culture in Sufi Practice
- Garments as Gifts of Blessing, Piety and Power
- Chivalry, Spirituality and Materiality in Sufism
- Khirqa: The Cloak of Spiritual Poverty
- Khamsa Silk as Khirqa? Figural Silks in Islamic Literary Sources
- Enrobed: Khil‘at in the Early Modern Age
- 5. Mughal Dress and Spirituality: The Age of Sufi Kings
- Silk, Sufism and Self-Image at the Mughal Court
- Figural Silks from Mughal Manufactories
- Jahangir as King and Lover
- Ghiyath’s Legacy at the Mughal Court
- 6. Safavid Figural Silks in Diplomacy: Rare Textiles of Novel Design
- Silk as Commodity in Safavid Iran
- Figural Silk as Safavid Identity: Sherley and His Rivals
- Figural Silk as Diplomatic Gifts
- Safavid and Mughal Gift Giving in Historical Accounts
- Figural Silks at the Mughal Court
- Conclusion
- Reattribution of the Khamsa Silks Based on Paintings and Poetry
- Textile Designs and Designers
- Sufi Kings in Mughal India and Safavid Iran
- Khusrau and Shirin: Love and Kingship
- Layla and Majnun: Separation and Union
- Deviations from the Khamsa Characters
- Concluding Thoughts
- Appendix A: List of Khamsa Silks
- Appendix B: Summary of ‘Shirin and Khusrau’ by Amir Khusrau Dihlavi
- Appendix C: Summary of ‘Majnun and Layla’ by Amir Khusrau Dihlavi
- Glossary of Textile Terms
- Glossary of Persian and Arabic Terms
- List of Historic Figures
- Index
- List of Illustrations
- Figure 1.1: Textile fragment depicting Layla and Majnun. Attributed to sixteenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk with metal foil; double cloth. L: 7 7/8 in. (20 cm), W: 5 3/8 in. (13.65 cm). The Textile Museum (1969.36.1). Acquired from the Cooper Hewitt Muse
- Figure 1.2: Textile fragment depicting Khusrau seeing Shirin bathing. Attributed to mid-sixteenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk; cut velvet. L: 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm), W: 5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm). Cleveland Museum of Art (1944.499.b). Purchase from the J.H. Wade Fu
- Figure 1.3: Textile fragment depicting Layla and Majnun, with the signature ‘Work of Ghiyath’ (detail), mirrored to show proper direction of the script. Attributed to sixteenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk, with gilded parchment wrapped around silk core; s
- Figure 2.1: Khusrau Catches Sight of Shirin Bathing (detail). Folio from a Khamsa of Nizami. Painting by Shaikh Zada. Calligraphers: Sultan Muhammad Nur and Mahmud Muzahhib. 1524-1525, Safavid Iran. Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper. L: 12 5/8 in
- Figure 2.2: Textile fragment depicting Khusrau and Shirin. Attributed to mid-sixteenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk; cut velvet. L: 15 3/8 in. (39 cm), W: 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1978.60). Purchase, Seley Foundation Inc., Schim
- Figure 2.3: Textile fragment depicting Khusrau and Shirin. Attributed to mid-sixteenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk, with metal threads; cut and voided velvet. L: 15 15/16 in. (40.5 cm), W: 10 in. (25.3 cm). Topkapi Saray Museum (no. 13/1697). © The Presid
- Figure 2.4: Textile fragment depicting Khusrau and Shirin. Attributed to ca. 1600, Safavid Iran. Silk, with metal threads; cut and voided velvet. L: 28 1/4 in. (71.76 cm), W: 21 3/4 in. (55.25 cm). The Keir Collection of Islamic Art on loan to the Dallas
- Figure 2.5: Textile fragment depicting Khusrau and Shirin, with the signature ‘Work of Ghiyath.’ ca. 1600, Safavid Iran. Silk with metal threads; cut and voided velvet. L: 24 3/4 in. (62.87 cm), W: 18 3/8 in. (46.67 cm). The Keir Collection of Islamic Art
- Figure 2.6: Digital drawing of Ghiyath’s signature on fig. 2.5, mirrored to show proper direction of the script. © 2022 Nazanin Hedayat Munroe.
- Figure 2.7: Textile fragment depicting Khusrau and Shirin. Attributed to seventeenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk; double cloth. L: 8 1/4 in. (20.96 cm), W: 10 3/4 in. (27.31 cm). Yale University Art Gallery (1951.51.82). Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memo
- Figure 3.1: Textile fragment depicting Layla and Majnun, with the signature ‘Work of Ghiyath.’ Attributed to sixteenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk, with gilded parchment wrapped around silk core; satin lampas. Silk; cut velvet. L: 25 3/16 in. (64 cm), W:
- Figure 3.2: Textile fragment depicting Layla and Majnun, with the signature ‘Work of Ghiyath.’ Attributed to late sixteenth/early seventeenth century, Safavid Iran (Yazd or Isfahan). Silk, metal-wrapped silk; satin lampas. L: 20 1/8 in. (51.08 cm), W: 27
- Figure 3.3: Textile fragment depicting Layla and Majnun. Attributed to ca. 1550-1600, Safavid Iran. Silk; cut velvet. L: 17 5/8 in. (44.77 cm), W: 18 1/2 in. (46.99 cm). The Kier Collection of Islamic Art on loan to the Dallas Museum of Art (K.1.2014.1335
- Figure 3.4: Textile fragment depicting Shirin and Farhad (detail). Attributed to sixteenth/seventeenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk, metal-wrapped thread; double cloth. L: 25 3/4 in. (65.4 cm), W: 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art (46.15
- Figure 3.5: Textile fragment depicting Khusrau and Shirin, Layla and Majnun, Yusuf and Zulaikha (detail). Attributed to early seventeenth century, Safavid Iran. Silk; double cloth. L: 12 3/4 in. (32.5 cm), W: 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm). British Museum (1985,0506
- Figure 3.6: Layla Visits Majnun in the Desert. Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi. Attributed to Bihzad, 1485; Timurid, Herat (Afghanistan). Approx. L: 7 7/8 in. (20 cm), W: 6 in. (15 cm). Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, MS 163, f. 120v
- Figure 3.7: Layla and Majnun in the Wilderness with Animals. Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi. Attributed to Sanwalah, ca. 1590-1600, Mughal India. Opaque watercolour, ink and gold on paper. L: 7 5/16 in. (18.6 cm), W: 6 3/8 in. (16.2
- Figure 4.1: Khusrau Seated on His Throne (detail). Folio from a Khamsa of Nizami. Painting by Shaikh Zada. Calligraphers: Sultan Muhammad Nur; Mahmud Muzahhib. 1524-1525, Safavid Iran. Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper. L: 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm), W
- Figure 4.2: A Dervish. Attributed to late sixteenth/early seventeenth century, Safavid Iran. Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper. H: 8 3/8 in. (21.3 cm), W: 5 3/8 in. (13.6 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art (13.228.35). Gift of Alexander Smith Cochra
- Figure 4.3: Dancing Dervishes. Folio from the Shah Jahan Album. Mir ‘Ali Haravi (Calligrapher). Ca. 1610, Mughal India. Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper. L: 15 3/16 in. (38.6 cm), W: 10 3/16 in. (25.9 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art (55.121.10.18
- Figure 5.1: The Emperor Shah Jahan with His Son Dara Shikoh (with detail). Folio from the Shah Jahan Album. Painting by Nanha. Ca. 1620, attributed to Mughal India. Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper. L: 15 5/16 in. (38.9 cm), W: 10 5/16 in. (26.2
- Figure 5.2: Chasuble (with detail). Attributed to Iran (fabric); Russia (shoulder pieces), sixteenth century (fabric), seventeenth century (shoulder pieces). Silk and silver thread; cut and voided velvet. L: 136 cm. Entered the Hermitage in 1930; transfer
- Figure 5.3: Drawings of motifs by the author: a) dragonfly, Majnun velvet (fig. 5.2); b) tulip and dragonfly, Mansur’s painting; c) tulip with ibex, Majnun velvet (fig. 5.2); d) rabbit, Farrukh Beg’s painting (S1986.230); e) rabbit, Safavid drawing (fig.
- Figure 5.4: Majnun in the Wilderness (detail). Second half of sixteenth century, attributed to Safavid Iran. Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper. L: 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm), W: 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art (45.174.6). Bequest of George
- Figure 6.1: Portrait of Robert Sherley. Anonymous artist. Ca. 1626. Oil on canvas. L: 76 3/4 in. (195 cm), W: 41 3/8 in. (105 cm). After Canby, Shah ‘Abbas: The Remaking of Iran.
- Figure 6.2: Portrait of Teresia Sherley. Anonymous artist, ca. 1626. Oil on Canvas. L: 84 1/4 in. (214 cm), W: 48 3/4 in. (124 cm). After Canby, Shah ‘Abbas: The Remaking of Iran.
- Figure 6.3: Portrait of Naqd ‘Ali Beg. Richard Greenbury. 1626. Oil on canvas. L: 83 7/8 in. (213 cm), W: 51 in. (129.5 cm). London, British Library (F 23).
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