When the beautiful and wise princess Nushabeh first met Iskandar/Alexander the Great, the emperor had disguised himself as an envoy to her miraculous castle. Since Nushabeh had sent artists around the world to take the likeness of all eminent people, it was easy for her to discover him.
The artist depicts the reception of the honoured guest in the traditional manner of Iranian miniatures. The “moon-faced” Nushabeh addresses Iskandar: “I was just thinking of the great Shah, when you entered, shining with your captivating face. You are not a messenger, you have the features of a shahanshah. You were not sent, no! You are the sender.”
Iskandar sits to the right, confounded by her words.
This is another of the paintings in the Khamsa shown last week. At some point, the manuscript was transported to Tabriz, when this was the centre of Safavid rule. Four illustrations were added in there in the 1530s or early 1540s. The rocky foreground in this illustration still recalls Herat painting, but “Iskandar’s turban, with its bold plumes and the elongated shape caused by its wrapping round a cap with a high central projection, proclaim the Safavid context—as do the turbans of various male attendants who, according to the text, should properly be female”. Nushabah is enthroned. Sitting in a royal pose, she gestures to the picture to “show she is not mistaken, the whole framed in a magical architecture”.
Many other portraits of this scene, for example here, here and here, have him staring dumbly at his own portrait.