Without in any way wanting to minimise the recent tragedies in Japan, I could only be reminded of the 2003 earthquake in Bam, which caused such destruction in the historic citadel as well as killing around 30,000 people there. A 3 minute UNESCO film and, even better, a 5 minute Jadid Online film gives a …
The Iranian New Year 2570 begins (in London) on Sunday 21st March at 23.21 (click here for times in other places) Happy New Year everyone! Happy Norooz! Just in case you’re not up to speed, here’s a great 47 second ‘History for Dummies’ video guide to Norooz. Even if you dont understand any Persian, you …
Shah ‘Abbās the First was a famously itinerant ruler: travelling up to a annual maximum of 4500km (in 1591-2 – and that’s not counting his prodigious hunting trips). On each of his average-thirty-odd annual moves, Melville has calculated that the Shah generally covered 34-45 km/day. ‘Abbās could, however, travel much faster: Pietro della Valle wrote …
The earliest known portraits of Iranians by Westerners reached record prices in the October 2010 Christies sales: £157,250 for a 1604 drawing of “Mehdi Quli Bey”; and £229,250 for a 1604 drawing of “Sinal Shah Kamlu”, with his even more extravagant mustachios (against estimates of £35-50,000). Click on the links to see what you might …
In a recent posting about the litters, or cages, that many women (and invalids) used to get around Persia, I said that I thought that Figueroa – the Spanish ambassador in 1617-19 – did not use the undignified cages. So what might he have used? Another litter that is well documented as being used is …
The first of the images of Shah Abbas the Great shown here is an undated and unpublished portrait in a private collection. If its provenance can be confirmed, it is a unique and important representation: especially since it was apparently painted from life, and by an Italian artist. Abbas does indeed look very like John …
This week, my article on Three British Ladies in Bakhtiariland is published in the journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs. The article explores the history of the Bakhtiari – through the eyes of three British women who visited the area across a span of 40 years. The first of the women, Isabella Bird, …
I’ve already shown you some (Safavid-era) Persian and (alcoholic) Armenian graffiti at the caravanserai of Siahkuh. So I was pleased to read about more graffiti in another caravanserai – although this time seen, and then added to, by Olearius, the very same ‘sick person with a great beard‘ I introduced you to last week. On …
Many Safavid women were transported in litters – or what the Spanish Ambassador Figueroa described “more accurately as cages”. These were covered wooden boxes, just like those in the Qajar image below. Two boxes were suspended, one on each side of the carrying animal, with the woman facing either backwards or forwards as she chose, …
Professor Sheila Blair was the speaker at the 2011 Yarshater lectures. She discussed four objects – a dish; a rose-water sprinkler; an enormous building; and a pair of carpets. These, she said, were “signals from the past”, as well as each having different resonances now. While Professor Blair was speaking, I couldn’t help but be …