Bihzad's Lost Album

Abstract

AbstractThis article1 suggests that some works in the muraqqa' of Bahram Mirza (Shah Tahmasp's brother) in 951/1544-45 (Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Library, H. 2154) may have come from the well-known album compiled and decorated by Bihzad, from which only the preface by Khvandamir remains. Dust Muhammad (the calligrapher) thus included the works of Bihzad that had previously been part of Bihzad's album, together with their captions, in Bahram Mirza's muraqqa'. In working on his album, Dust Muhammad followed the style of Bihzad, adding the inscriptions to the unsigned works in the same handwriting in similarly decorated panels. It suggests that Bahram Mirza's muraqqa' follows the same arrangement as that compiled earlier by Bihzad, which was probably one of Bihzad's most important works of the Safavid period when he worked in the court workshop of Shah Tahmasp in Tabriz.