| Abstract (english) | The epic poem Tīmūrnāma (A Book on Tīmūr) by Persian poet 'Abdullāh Hātifī (ca 1416 – 1520) counts among the more popular Persian chronicles in verse composed in the Islamic world. Commissioned by Badī' al-zamān Mīrza (d. 1514) during the reign of his father Ḥusayn Bāyqara, who was the last ruler of the Timurid dynasty, the Tīmūrnāma was composed between 1492 and 1498. It is dedicated to the great warrior, conqueror, and arts patron Tīmūr (ca 1336 – 1405), who, in an attempt to establish ... More the Mongol order anew, conquered vast swaths of territory in the eastern Muslim world from the Indian Subcontinent to the Mediterranean, and thus laid the foundations for the establishment of a new, Timurid dynasty. Although written to exalt the exploits and rule of the founder of a rival dynasty, the largest number of copied and illuminated manuscripts of the Tīmūrnāma came down from the time of Safavids, an Iranian dynasty that ruled between 1501 and 1736. The Oriental Archive of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb holds one illuminated manuscript of the Tīmūrnāma (call number OZHA R 754) with six hitherto preserved miniatures that are the subject matter of this doctoral dissertation. The Zagrebian manuscript of the Tīmūrnāma is intriguing from several aspects; from the viewpoint of art, history, and culture, the fascinating element of this copy is doubtless its miniatures and their stylistic, i.e., iconographic characteristics. From the vintage of codicology and textual criticism, one interesting aspect of the Zagrebian manuscript is certainly numerous lacunae, the loci of their occurrence, and the nature of the present textual deficiency. The provenance of the Zagreb manuscript is a tough challenge for researchers. Even though it is reasonable to assume that the preserved six miniatures are not the final count of the original manuscript illumination, this manuscript of the Tīmūrnāma represents a noteworthy example of the miniature painting cycle depicting scenes from Tīmūr's life and his military and diplomatic campaign. In this study, methods of stylistic, iconographic, and codicological analysis were deployed in order to elaborate on the miniature painting and overall artistic (calligraphic) features of the Zagrebian manuscript of the Tīmūrnāma. Following the same methodology, a comprehensive comparative study of available manuscripts was conducted to clarify the circumstances and possible timeline of the miniatures' composition. The method of stylistic analysis focused on formal features of the miniatures enables us to contextualize the work more precisely in a historical and stylistic sense, while iconographic analysis facilitates a more precise definition of scenes and a better understanding of their relations with the literary contents of the work. Codicological analysis widens the framework for the study of visual elements of the work, facilitating thus better underpinning of their functionality in the totality of the literary corpus. As regards the inner structure of this study, an introduction brings a survey of the subject matter and topic of the research, with a focus on the beginnings of Persian miniature in general and the tradition of illuminating historical chronicles, as well as an overview of 'Abdullāh Hātifī's life and literary works. A detailed description of the Zagrebian manuscript of the Tīmūrnāma is then given, followed by an overview of the existing studies and reviews of the manuscript from the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Researchers such as Aleksej Olesnicki, Zagorka Janc, Muhamed Ždralović, Zlatko Karač, and especially and more thoroughly Tatjana Paić-Vukić were to thank for the introduction and presentation of the manuscript to the academic and general readership up today. A second thematic bloc comprises a chapter entitled "Styles and Schools of Persian Miniature in the XVI Century". The miniatures of the Zagrebian manuscript of the Tīmūrnāma cannot be properly comprehended without an insight into the stylistic and iconographic features of the book illumination under the Safavids in the XVI century. Henceforth, an overview of the era's significant painting schools and styles is given based on recent scholarly literature. Firstly, schools of the East, with the inevitable focus on Tīmūr's successors and the school of Herat, were introduced with remarks on the influence of this school in the XVI century. Then, the school of Bukhara, and the overall miniature painting tradition of the Transoxiana are introduced. The school of Tabriz is reviewed both during the reign of Šāh Ismā‘īl, the effective founder of the Safavid dynasty and later during the reign of his successor Šāh Ṭahmāsp. A survey of the school of Shiraz ensued with a particular focus on an illuminated exemplar of the Ẓafarnāma in the XVI-century Shiraz. In light of remarkable similarities between Šaraf al-dīn' Alī Yazdī's Ẓafarnāma and 'Abdullāh Hātifī's Tīmūrnāma, particularly observable in the titles of chapters, a study of Yazdī's poem, its meaning, illumination, and reception are of great interest for the study of Hātifī's work. The central chapter of this dissertation, entitled "Illuminations of the Manuscript of Hātifī's Tīmūrnāma from the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts," brings about a detailed analysis of the preserved miniatures. A thorough description of all the miniatures within the composition of their relevant folia and chapters is given, followed by a comprehensive analysis of each miniature and its characteristics. The first miniature is placed in the eighth chapter entitled Nishatsan-i sahibqiran dar shahr-i Balkh bar takht-i bulandpaye-yi khani va sar afrakhtan az afsar-i saltanat va jihanbani (Sitting of the Auspicious Ruler on the glorious throne of Khanate in the city of Balkh and Assuming the Position of Ruling and World Ordering). The scene depicts Tīmūr, who quashed his opponents and was trumpeted as the savior who would unite all the subjects under his banner and deploy them in the service of a world empire. A second miniature is painted in the eleventh chapter, the most illuminated chapter is the existing manuscripts of the Tīmūrnāma. The chapter is entitled Bazm arastan-i musnad nashin-i saltanat va jihanbani jihat-i kam yaftan-i shahzade-yi Jihangir az tharama-yi shajara-yi nakhlistan-i khani (Setting up a public celebration by the Occupant of the throne of world ruling and ordering to delight Prince Ğihāngīr, an offspring from a tree in the Palm grove of Khanate). The chapter narrates the story of the marriage of Tīmūr's eldest son, Ğihāngīr, to a princess from the ruling house of Choresmia. The miniature depicts Tīmūr's envoys in the audience of Yūsuf Ṣūfī of Choresmia. A third miniature comes in the fifteenth chapter entitled Tavajjuh namudan-i an sarvar-i sarafraz bi janib-i Dar al-saltana Shiraz (Turning of that Glorious Leader towards the royal capital of Shiraz), which narrates Tīmūr's sack of Shiraz. The miniature portrays the peaceful surrender of Shiraz, in which representatives of the Muzaffarid dynasty hand over the city keys to Tīmūr and his army. A fourth miniature is part of the twentieth chapter entitled Lashkar arastan-i sahibqiran bi qasd-i Shah Mansur va koshta shudan-i an gardankash (Equipping a Campaign by the Auspicious Leader against Šāh Manṣūr and the ruin of that ruffian). The miniature depicts Tīmūr in splendid attire and a Safavid taj upon his head while killing a lion with his bare hands, a personification of Šāh Manṣūr. A fifth miniature comes in the twenty-fifth chapter entitled Sipah asrastan-i sahibqiran bi nubet-i duvvum az sarhadd-i zulumat bi jang-i Tuqtamish Khan va' anan taftan-i Khan az an mamlikat-i jansitan (Equipping an Army by the Auspicious Leader for the second campaign against Tuqtamiš-ḫān at the frontiers of darkness and the Khan's swift departure from that Perilous region). The miniature portrays taking prisoners from the enemy ranks and their submission to Tīmūr as slaves. The last sixth miniature comes in the thirty-ninth chapter with short title Name navashtan-i sahibqiran bi qayser-i Rum (The Auspicious Leader writes a letter to the Kaiser of Rum). From the context of the relevant chapter and the surrounding verses that narrate the dispatch of emissaries, it could be concluded that the miniature depicts Bayazīd's envoy to Tīmūr. The concluding, most voluminous thematic unit of this study is reserved for a chapter entitled "The Zagrebian Tīmūrnāma – A Comparative Analysis" that comprises of comprehensive comparison of sixteen XVI century illuminated manuscripts of Hātifī's poem that were available for review. The principal aim of the comparison of available illuminated manuscripts of the poem was an attempt to find textual basis and an interpretative key for the miniatures in the Zagrebian manuscript with regard to their positioning within the text of the poem. I sought to ascertain whether there were any common textual stimuli for illumination of the Tīmūrnāma that could stem from some canonical prototype or model. Apart from that, I tried to address an intriguing question of whether there existed sets of illuminated manuscripts with common and shared characteristics or not, in which case the sequence of miniatures would be proved to be entirely arbitrary and on the whim of a manuscript's redactor, commissioner, copyist or miniaturist. I likewise strove to determine to what extent and in what way the Zagrebian manuscript fits within the known class of illuminated copies of the Tīmūrnāma in light of its miniatures' positioning with the text and possible interferences from [the presupposed] canonical model. The manuscripts that were consulted in the comparative preview were the following: [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, National Library St. Cyrill and Methodius in Sofia, Bulgaria OP 994; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, British Library Or. 2838; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi H.1594; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Cambridge University Library Add. 1109; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Harvard Art Museums 1957.140; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Bibliothèque nationale de France Supplément persan 641; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, The Walters Art Museum W.648; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi H. 1593; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Cambridge University Library King's Pote 85; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Sotheby's LOT 140; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Bodleian Library Elliott 403; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi R. 1591; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, The Free Library Lewis O. 43; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, British Library Add. 7780; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, British Library Add. 22703; [Hātifī, ‘Abdullāh], Tīmūrnāma, Harvard Art Museums 2014.392. The conducted comparison of the Zagrebian manuscript with the sixteen illuminated manuscripts from the XVI century resulted in several important insights and conclusions pointing to significant overlapping and similarity, as well as specificity of the Zagrebian copy of the work. The results also show what iconographic features characterize the Zagrebian manuscript and set it apart from the rest of the illuminated class, expanding the repertoire of standard scenes for painting. Based on the outcomes of the comparison, it also became apparent that some miniatures that regularly appear in other copies were absent from the Zagrebian manuscript, which could indicate that some miniatures were extracted from the codex with parts of the poem's text. That leaves the Zagrebian manuscript as an incomplete yet significant representative of the tradition of the Tīmūrnāma's illumination from the XVI century. Its miniatures, mainly those unique in tradition in terms of the scenes they depict, offer a new insight into the illuminated narrative accompanying the poem's text. Finally, the study of the miniatures in the Zagrebian manuscript of the Tīmūrnāma contributes to a better understanding of the rich mosaic of Persian miniature painting in the XVI century. It is not possible to give a conclusive answer to the question of when, where, and why since its composition to the acquisition of the manuscript for the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Zagrebian manuscript lost large parts of its text. At the same time, the remaining corpus was shifted back and forth haphazardly. Much like the question of the manuscript's ultimate provenance – all that remains to be studied further. Even though the text has numerous lacunae and no logical organization of the salvaged parts, the sequence of the miniatures tallies well with the historical chronology of Tīmūr's conquests and the main events of his life and career. The approximative date and location of the composition of the Zagrebian Tīmūrnāma are given based on the analysis of its six miniatures. Seemingly insignificant iconographic detail, a specific headgear worn by some characters in the miniatures points to the possibility that the manuscript was copied and illuminated sometime around the first half or the middle of the XVI century, i.e., in the early Safavid period. Stylistic features of the miniatures point to the hand of one and the same miniaturist. Drawing and painting characteristics observable in the studied manuscript point to Shiraz, the focal point of a refined artistic production of Safavid Iran, as the most likely location of its composition and illumination. Less |
