Shah Isma'il on an Equestrian Hunting Expedition, Mu’in Musavvir, Isfahan, Iran, 1680-1685, between 1680 and 1685

This folio has been detached from a manuscript of the tārikh-i ʿālamārā-yi shāh ismaʿīl (world-adorning history of shah ismaʿil). Seven lines of persian in nastaliq script frame a painting of figures on horseback in a landscape. A princely rider-the only personage given full-figure treatment-is the focus of attention. From the surrounding text, he can be identified as the young ismail i (d. 1524), first ruler of the safavid dynasty (1501-1722). Considerably younger and more richly dressed than the over-lapping, half-length figures, isma'il is further set off from his followers by his isolation in the composition. Date: between 1680 and 1685.