This autumn’s London Islamic sales (click here for the links, in alphabetical order, for Bonhams, Christies and Sothebys) include a collection of tiles which are surely from the Khargird madrese in NE Iran. I have a special fondness for this building – and have seriously mixed feelings when I see more of the tiles on …
The new galleries at the Louvre – simply titled: Islam – will be opening on 22 September. They are sited in an exciting new gallery, intended to evoke silk floating in the courtyard. The BBC film here summarises the architectural intent – and feat (there are no obvious supporting pillars). The Louvre collection is both …
All the European visitors to Persia were fascinated by polo. Pinçon (travelling with the Sherleys in 1599) wrote about how: “The King of Persia and his nobles take exercise by playing pall-mall on horseback, which is a game of great difficulty: their horses are so well trained at this that they run after the balls …
The Shah didn’t always act like a great warrior, major world leader, and major patron of architecture. Here he is, according to the Chronicle of the Carmelites – acting much more like a very annoying small boy: “One Friday therefore, on the 17th July [1609], while [Fathers Benignus and Redemptus] were in the Maidan near …
… new-bathed, painted and henna-stained, and scented sweet. (Sa’di, 1258) Last week I saw a rare painting of a beautiful young woman painting her feet with henna. She has very lovely, multi-layered clothing, and is leaning against a splendidly orange cushion (with a graceful golden duck). The lady has her feet on a pile of …
The holly-oak tree, with its large, oval acorns, used to cover the inner ranges of the Bakhtiari country. Now, environmental changes mean that it’s being lost. Lorimer describes how, in the old days of its abundance and “in time of scarcity [acorns] are ground into flour after prolonged treatment to get rid of their more …
Two lovers dream of each other, and the land that both separates and unites them in this sensual poem. When the warm weather comes, and the woman has gone off with the tribe to the ‘Cold Country’ (called sardsir, sarhador yelaq,). For the first time, the man has been left behind in the ‘Warm Country’ (garmsir), to …
This ballard describes brave men and a gorgeous woman who were also included in Henry Layard’s account of his 1841 sojourn and fighting alongside the Bakhtiari – shortly before he discovered Nineveh/Nimrud (see www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/bakhtiari-kuch/eet/layard/ for more information and images). The poem is about the battle between the Duraki and Behdarwand tribes. Ja’far Quli Khan was chief of …
This poem derides the excessive size and eating of ‘Abdu Khalil: the Khan’s agent to the Mulmuli section of the Raid tribe of the Haftlang. The ordinary people call on honour as they expect – or at least hope – that their Khan will hear their pleas for help: A seven-pole tent is his cloak: The …
This poem has a hilarious satirical kick – literally – in its ending. It is not clear which Qajar king this might have been addressed to; and Lorimer is not even sure if the language in this poem is convincingly Bakhtiari. However, it’s certainly an example of satire. I want a man wise and crafty, …