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Plate 26.3 ‘Iskandar visiting a sage in his cave at night’, from Plate 26.4 Illuminated page showing designs for cloud-collar
Anthology made for Iskandar Sultan b. Umar Shaikh at Shiraz, embroideries, Anthology of Iskandar Sultan, dated 1410–11.
c. 1412. Height 18.4cm, width 12.7cm. British Library, London, Add. Tempera and gold dust on paper, height 27.4cm, width 17.2cm.
27261, fol. 230r Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, L.A. 161, fol. 130a

The princely message of this image is enhanced by the Lisbon contains designs that show a variety of exotic bird
fact that Iskandar wears both a crown and a gold- with an exceptionally long tail, often described as a
embroidered fur-trimmed robe. Although the design of his ‘simurgh’. Depictions of this exotic type of bird were
garment’s gold-embroidered decoration can be seen only in produced in Iran during the period of Mongol domination
part, its main feature appears to be a pair of sinuous dragons during late 13th and early 14th centuries when it was often
whose tails are visible on his shoulders and sleeves. A similar combined with dragons. Iskandar’s page shows a pair of
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dragon appears as a marginal decoration on another page of long-tailed birds framed in a lobed border which resembles
this manuscript on fol. 542r. Although this dragon lacks the the ornaments that decorate the shoulders of Ming dragon
exact configuration of the dragons used to embellish robes robes. The presence of textile decorations of Chinese origin
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worn by members of the Ming imperial family, the in paintings made for Iskandar Sultan is not surprising for
connection between this creature and Iskandar’s princely silk textiles were a standard component in the gifts sent to
status would have been clear to a viewer in Iskandar’s day. foreign dignitaries by Chinese rulers.
The inclusion of designs which appear to replicate The location of Shiraz in proximity to the Persian Gulf
Chinese embroidery patterns on other pages of Iskandar’s port of Hormuz gave it particular importance during the
manuscripts suggest that such patterns held a special interest period of voyages to the Near East carried out by the Ming
for this Timurid prince. One of these drawings executed in fleets led by the Muslim admiral, Zheng He, between 1414
ink with touches of colour appears to be a kind of sampler and 1433. Both Shah Rukh in Herat and his son Ibrahim
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with several patterns on the same page (Pl. 26.4). The most Sultan in Shiraz are known to have participated in an
prominent of them show one quarter of the design for a kind exchange of envoys with the Ming rulers, and traces of those
of cusped medallion known as a ‘cloud collar’ that was exchanges are reflected in books made for these Timurids at
traditionally placed on the shoulders of Chinese robes such their respective courts.
as one embellished with dragons made for a Ming prince The removal of Iskandar from control over the key city of
that was excavated in Shandong province. A manuscript Shiraz provided an opportunity for Shah Rukh to install his
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made for Iskandar Sultan in the Gulbenkian Foundation in own son, Ibrahim Sultan, as the ruler of that important

Looking East, Looking West: The Artistic Connections of Ming China and Timurid Iran | 231