Moghul Khans from Muraqqaʻ Tasavir-i Salatin-i Kashghar. Part I

Abstract

The article introduces a reader to a small handwritten album of miniatures in the Persian style (muraqqa‘), most likely originating from Kashgaria (modern XUAR of the PRC) and currently stored in the manuscript fund of the Malek National Library and Museum in Tehran (IRI). The album contains eight miniature portraits of the “Sultans of Kashgar” (i. e., rulers of Mughulistan (Eastern Chaghatay Khanate) and later Daulat-i Mughuliya (Yarkand Khanate)) of the 9th—10th / 15th—16th centuries, including such famous khans as Shir Muhammad Khan, Sultan Mahmud Khan, Sham-i Jahan Khan, and Naqsh Jahan Khan. The portraits are not set in chronological order. One miniature depicts prince Sufi Sultan, the ruler of Kashgar, who, judging by the entry on the first page of the album, is the customer of the manuscript. The authors of the article offer their own attribution of some portraits, where the depicted personality seem not so obvious. The publication of miniatures is accompanied, if possible, by a detailed historical commentary, as well as by the description of the portrait itself, with special attention to the clothes and ammunition of the depicted person.