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September 29, 2019

Nasimi Festival: presentation of an exhibition on the manuscript “The Anthology of Shamakhy” takes place

Presentation of an exhibition on the manuscript “The Anthology of Shamakhy” took place, September 29, in the framework of the 2nd Nasimi – Poetry, Art and Morality Festival, being held with the organizational support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Culture Ministry.

 

Opening the presentation ceremony joined by over 150 festival participants from Turkey, China, Russia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, France, England etc., head of the Executive Authority of Shamakhy Tahir Mammadov said he was honoured to welcome the guests to the homeland of Nasimi.

 

Speaking at the ceremony, Executive Director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Anar Alakbarov talked about the projects the Foundation has implemented to study and popularize the creativity of Imadeddin Nasimi - one of the masters of word, and other similar thinkers the people of Azerbaijan has bestowed upon the world. He underscored that the Resolution signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on 15 September 2018 on celebrating the 650th anniversary of great Azerbaijani poet Imadeddin Nasimi and declaring the year 2019 as “The Year of Nasimi” are the result of the great attention shown towards discovering and promoting the legacy of historically famous, world-renowned people of Azerbaijan.

 

Professor of the Tabriz Islamic Art University Karim Mirzay talked in his speech about the minute details of the miniature art, and advancement of literature and art in Tabriz, as well as in Shamakhy, in particular, miniature painting and calligraphy arts. Touching upon the minute details of the miniature art, the professor said this artwork was not the work of a single person, but the calligrapher himself and a group of people.

 

The manuscript relates to 1468 and is currently preserved at the British Library in London. The manuscript contains selected works of 12 Farsi-speaking poets. Of them, only Kamal Khojandi, Hafiz Shirazi, Abdurrahman Jami, Amir Khosrov Dahlavi and Shahi Sibzavari are known to us. The manuscript has been copied onto two columns in a nice nastalig style, each column having three ghazals.

 

The manuscript is comprised of one two-page and seven one-page miniatures. The two-page miniature (diptych) opens with traditional dedication to the client. Located horizontally, reminiscent of Herat diptychs, this two-page composition combines all elements of the genre: In the centre of the carpet are depicted: servants on the right side, a garden in the background, and a courtyard decorated with patterned stones in the foreground. On the picture, musicians and visitors are seated around the pond. In the foreground, there is the prince, his servant and the host of the ceremony on the left side a stable man with two horses in the upper part, a hunter with a falcon in hand, and guests entering the courtyard in the foreground.

 

As a rule, experienced and elderly artisans used to be commissioned the first diptychs. The paper used in calligraphy has been well polished, and painted with various tinges of orange, violet and yellow-green colours, having been lavishly decorated with large golden spots. Timurids used to highly appreciate the Chinese paper, and they brought the use of colour dyes and decoration with gold into fashion. Painting in this way used to be considered better, as slightly toned paper calms the eyes, with strong colours supplementing the colour inks.

 

Afghanistan’s “Detache” and Azerbaijan’s “Inji” ensembles jointly performed at the opening ceremony. 


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