Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 22. (Budapest, 2003)

Iván SZÁNTÓ: Reflections on the Origins of the Persian Appliqué from the Esterházy Treasury

brother, was made around 1530, and above the signature also lists nicknames to characterise the protagonists mocked. So akin is the spirit of the two works - the caricature and the appliqué - that the similarity inevitably prompts the seeking of common figures. These, however, are not to be found. Even so, the Istanbul painting well exemplifies the featuring of living persons in early Safavid court idylls. This is a realisation of great importance. What or who is it about, and what kind of connections does this royal treasure recall, when even its modest pair, simplified into a caricature, allows us a glimpse into the reality of the court? In all likelihood it brings together a multitude of phenomena I have spoken up so far: Shah Tahmäsb and his court, the efforts he made to consolidate his power, the fundamentals of a major change in style around this historical turning point, and, to a lesser extent, compositions ascribed to Mïr Mosavver. In order to propose a possible interpretation of the depiction as a 'consequence' of the factors listed above, we must return to the principle that the sole documentary evidence for the appliqué is the appliqué itself, the pictorial milieu depicted. The task, then, is to find particularities manifesting themselves within the conventions governing the depiction. The distinctive dramaturgical position of two figures ensures a personal surplus compared to the others. One is that of the shah, the other the penitent prince, to the left of the throne (///. 18). In order to locate the work within the fifty-year reign of Shah Tahmäsb I, we must now concentrate on the prince. His submissive posture is indicated in part by his hands clasped together - since antiquity a sign of being unarmed and of peaceful intentions -, and by his forceful exclusion from the feast. At the same time his princely descent is indicated by attire, more distinguished than that of the others, augmented with a gold täj and a ceremonial caftan complete with a unique red braiding. These impressive accessories combined with his peripheral placing refer to the fact that this figure is the hidden hero of the scene. Distinguished, but subordinate: for this reason we call him penitent. With regard to the fact that the central idea of the entire composition is penitence rewarded by forgiveness through the intervention of the ruler, the detail might give a key to the applique's historical and symbolic connections alike. Who, then, could the prince be? Shah Esma'ïl I, the fourteen-year-old founder of the empire, was already in his twenty-seventh year when the heir-designate Tahmäsb was bom in 1514. Afterwards, however, the number of princes in the harem increased rapidly: of Tahmäsb

's three younger brothers who remained alive, the eldest was Alqäs Mïrza, bom two years after the heir-apparent, in 1516; the others - Sam Mïrza and Bahräm Mïrzâ, Tahmäsb

's uterine brother - followed one year later. If the enthroned king is Tahmäsb I, who neither on the basis of physiognomy nor on that of dating could not have been more than twenty-five; one of his younger brothers is most probably the prince.

72 Of them, judging from the easily observable age difference, the brothers bom in 1517 are the most likely. Of the three mîrzâs only Sam lived beyond the year 1550, but since he, like Alqäs, was excessively ambitious, from 1535 onwards was held in custody, and later on in prison, until his death in 1566-7. With prince Bahräm, on the other hand, the ruler's relations were never strained; it was over sophisticated issues of art at the most that they were in dispute. If, then, the identity of the prince is to be sought among the younger brothers - and, clearly, this is the right direction -, the penitent youth may be Säm Mïrzâ. Let us link this up to what we have said so far. In the 1530s, probably the time the work was created, Iran entered on a protracted period of crisis, one that deepened continuously since the beginning of the reign of a ruler who had ascended the throne at the age of ten.

73 While Ottoman and Shibanid expansionism squeezed the country from two directions, a ruinous civil war broke out in the empire, prompted by the Sämlü, one of the tribes constituting the military elite. Its leader, Hoseyn Kan, was, as holder of the office of the amîr al-omärä, not only the most powerful man in the country, but also the uncle and tutor of prince Sam, who had