Artist · 7 prints
Qadimi (attributed) Prints
About Qadimi
Qadimi was a Persian painter active from about 1525 to 1565, who worked in the royal workshop of the Safavid shahs at Tabriz, in northwest Iran. Little is recorded about his life, and the paintings linked to him are unsigned. They are attributed to him by scholars on grounds of style, so the prints in this collection are labeled "attributed." Some of his early pages were made under the direction of Sultan Muhammad, the leading painter of the workshop.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art credits Qadimi with many pages of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, from Faridun Embraces Manuchihr and Rudaba Makes a Ladder of Her Tresses, painted around 1525, to lively battle scenes such as The Besotted Iranian Camp Attacked by Night. 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.
Qadimi prints: reproductions of Persian miniature paintings from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, made around 1525 and attributed to the Safavid court painter Qadimi. The collection includes Rudaba Makes a Ladder of Her Tresses, Faridun Embraces Manuchihr, Kai Kavus and Rustam Embrace, The Besotted Iranian Camp Attacked by Night and Rustam's Fourth Course, He Cleaves a Witch.
This selection balances action and reunion. Night raids, a recovered crown, revenge in battle and Rustam's fight with a witch sit beside scenes of kings and heroes embracing. Rudaba offering her hair to Zal as a ladder to her balcony is one of the best-known love scenes in the Book of Kings. The pages are bright, with crowded camps and palace settings.
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.
