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Fall of the Ilhani Dynasty in 1335 became another milestone event. After a number of attempts to seize the
power, the Jalair Dynasty became dominant in Azerbaijan and Iraq. A legendary history of miniature art is
provided in the foreword to Bahram-Mirza’s Album (1544) by Safavi artist Doust Muhammad. Under Sheikh
Uveys Jalair (1356-1374), traditions of the Tabriz school were continued by artist named Shamsaddin.
Fragments of his illustrations to
Shah-nameh
found in the Fateh Album, Istanbul, cast the light on the role
of these works in further development of the miniature art all over the Orient. Equally important in this
regard are the miniatures to
Kalila and Dimna
nowadays cherished at the library of the University of Istanbul.
This fascinating fable book was preserved as a collection of miniatures cut out from the book and compiled
in an album. As it was the case with
Shah-nameh
drawings from the Fateh Album in Istanbul, miniatures to
Kalila & Dimna
are richer in color as opposed to
The Grand Tabriz Shah-nameh
.
Sultan Ahmad Jalair, the son and successor of Sheikh Uveys, was in the meantime a calligrapher, a poet, and
a recognized patron of arts. Abd Al-Hay, a disciple of Shamsaddin, was recognized as the leading artist of
the day, his works unparallelled in boldness and elegance. Miniatures to the manuscript of
Diwana
collection
of verses by the Sultan himself (1396) are a true masterpiece. Another outstanding accomplishment by the
Tabriz artists were illustrations to Nizami Ganjavi’s
Khosrov and Shirin
(1405-1410).
Artist Abd al-Hay, the
author of miniatures to Diwan, also left another miniature styled The Prince’s Dream.