Image, Likeness, or Parody; Portraiture in Persian Painting

Portraiture, a well-established category in European arts, remains a contested and at times hotly debated subject in Islamic arts. As a cultural and artistic concept, portraiture faces resistance in the broader production of the arts in Islam, while it occupies an important place in the arts of the Persianate Islam in West, Central and South Asia. This talk takes note of the definition of portraiture in Persian literary and pictorial representations, in comparison to those of the earlier Arab and later Mughal examples. Focusing on the Timurid and Safavid (15^th-18^th centuries) cultural understanding of portraiture, my main argument takes note of the subtle distinctions between a likeness (shabih) and a complicated set of meanings attached to the term surat (visage/face/depiction). Those distinctions, I argue, are crucial in the making of pictorial signs and to the understanding of portraiture in Persian painting.

For more details and to book please visit the University's event listing.