Baysonqor

Scene from the Baysonghor Shahnameh, a Shahnameh commissioned by Baysonqor, 1430

Gīāṭ al-dīn Bāysonḡor, commonly known as Baysonqor or Baysunghur, Baysonghor or (incorrectly[1]) as Baysunqar, also called Sultan Bāysonḡor Bahādor Khan (1397, Herat - 1433, the Bāḡ-e Safīd palace near Herat) was a prince from the house of Timurids. He was known as a patron of arts and architecture, the leading patron of the Persian miniature in Persia, commissioning the Baysonghor Shahnameh and other works, as well as being a prominent calligrapher.[2]

Bāysonḡor was a son of Mirza Shahrukh, the ruler of Persia and Transoxania, and Shahrukh's most prominent wife Goharshad.[2]

A calligraphic panel with Geometrical Kufic letters attributed to Baysonqor

In the view of modern historians, Bāysonḡor was actually a better statesman than his more famous elder brother, Ulugh Beg, who inherited Shahrukh's throne,[2] but who "must have envied his younger brother, Baisunghur, whom his father never saddled with major responsibilities, which left him free to build his elegant madrasas in Herat, gather his ancient books, assemble his artists, and drink".[3]

He was living in Herat as governor by 1417. After taking Tabriz, in 1421 he brought back to Herat a group of Tabrizi artists and calligraphers, formerly working for Ahmad Jalayir, who he installed in Herat to add to his existing artists from Shiraz. They became the most important school of artists in Persia, merging the two styles.[4]

Children

Notes

  1. ↑ according to Encyclopedia Iranica
  2. 1 2 3 BĀYSONḠOR, ḠĪĀT-AL-DĪN B. ŠĀHROḴ B. TĪMŪR in Encyclopedia Iranica
  3. ↑ Starr, S. Frederick. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlan, p. 493. Princeton University Press, 2013 ISBN 1400848806 ISBN 9781400848805
  4. ↑ Titley, Norah M., Persian Miniature Painting, and its Influence on the Art of Turkey and India, pp. 50-53, 1983, University of Texas Press, ISBN 0292764847


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