The Istanbul University Library Kalila wa Dimna: An Il-Khalid Masterpiece

This dissertation reconstructs, analyzes, dates and suggests an attribution for the fourteenth-century royal Kal(')ila wa Dimna miniatures in the album of Shah Tahmasp in Istanbul University Library (IUL, F. 1422). Their original sequence and format are determined, and seven lost miniatures identified, through a comparison with the sixteenth-century copy (Nawab Collection, Ms. 2982, Rampur, India) probably made just before the original manuscript's disassembly. The conditions under which the IUL miniatures were painted in Tabr(')iz are examined in a chapter on the social and cultural history of the late(' )Il-Khanid dynasty (1295-1336) which focuses on the illustrious patrons Rash(')id al-D(')in and Ghiyath al-D(')in. A history and analysis of the Kalila wa Dimna text and extensive translations of M. Minuv(')i's critical edition of Nasr Allah's twelfth-century Persian version are included. To understand the tradition of illustrating these animal fables and to identify the techniques used in the IUL miniatures to achieve a personal interpretation of the test, five earlier illustrated Kal(')ila wa Dimna manuscripts are compared. The post-Seljuk TKS H. 363 is shown to be the prototype for the IUL cycle. The catalogue of fifty IUL and eighty-three Rampur miniatures emphasizes the relation of image to word and the origins and development of the stylistic conventions used throughout the manuscript. The cycle's artistic unity is discussed in the subsequent chapter, where the IUL Kal(')ila wa Dimna is placed in the context of fourteenth-century Iranian illustrated manuscripts. The dissertation reaches the following conclusions: (1) the IUL Kal(')ila wa Dimna remains firmly in the Iranian pictorial tradition while imaginatively integrating Far Eastern-inspired empathetic landscapes, asymmetry and metaphoric use of space; (2) it reveals a sophisticated approach to illustration characterized by a cohesive choice of story, scene and active moment, and the successful use of anthropomorphic animals to express psychological and moral drama often reaching beyond the demands of the text; (3) it belongs to the third generation of(' )Il-Khanid painting, postdating the 1306-15 Jami' al-tawar(')ikh and immediately predating the 1335-36 "Demotte" Shah-nama; and (4) its highly ethical interpretation of the text and emphasis on the wise royal advisor points to Ghiyath al-D(')in, probable patron of the "Demotte" Shah-nama, as the most likely patron of the IUL Kal(')ila wa Dimna.