Artist · 8 prints
Bashdan Qara (attributed) Prints
About Bashdan Qara
Bashdan Qara was a Persian painter active from about 1525 to 1535 in the royal workshop at Tabriz, in northwest Iran, the first capital of the Safavid dynasty. No biography of him survives. His name is known through the attributions of scholars who have studied the hands at work in one great manuscript, and the paintings are unsigned, which is why the prints in this collection are labeled "attributed."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art credits Bashdan Qara with a number of pages of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, often busy court and battle scenes such as Afrasiyab on the Iranian Throne and The Night Battle of Kai Khusrau and Afrasiyab, painted around 1525 to 1535. Begun in the early 1520s, the manuscript holds 258 paintings by many hands. It was sent to the Ottoman sultan Selim II as a gift in 1568, and its pages are now divided among many collections, with 78 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Bashdan Qara prints: reproductions of Persian miniature paintings from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, made around 1525 to 1530 and attributed to the Safavid court painter Bashdan Qara. The collection includes Rustam Avenges His Own Impending Death, The Night Battle of Kai Khusrau and Afrasiyab, Afrasiyab on the Iranian Throne (all about 1525), Yazdigird II Accedes to the Throne and Khusrau Parviz's Charge against Bahram Chubina (both about 1530).
This selection is weighted toward battle. Most pages show cavalry charges, night fighting and single combat, including the tenth joust of the Battle of the Rooks, with crowds of armored riders across the page. Two throne scenes give the other side of the Book of Kings: the court, with rulers seated among attendants. The pages are dense with figures and color.
The deep blues, greens and gold suit living rooms, libraries, studies and dining rooms, and the upright page format works well in pairs or vertical rows on a narrow wall. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with low-glare acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
