Life and Art of Mir Sayyid Ali

Art history Assignment

Amna Sadiq TDT 3A

Submitted to: Ma’am Sarah Mir
Early Life and Family

Mir Sayyid Ali (Tabriz, 1510–1572) was a Persian illustrator and a miniature painter. He was

born in Tabriz East Azerbaijan; he was the son of the artist Mir Musavvir. Historian

Qazi Ahmed said that the son was more talented than his father.

Portrait of a young writer by Mir Sayyid Ali, 1550

Initial commissions and removal from court

The famous Shahnameh by Shah Tahmasp created 1525–48 for the Shah Tahmasp I (1514–

76) was illustrated by Mir Sayyid Ali. It is attributed to Sayyid Ali's two miniatures.
The next step was his involvement with the creation in 1539–

43 of Shah Tahmasp's best artists of the Shah Kitabhane of lavish illustrations for the manuscript

of Chamza in Nizami ("Five Poems").

Layla and majnum

Outof the fourteen miniatures, his brush has four, including "Layla and Majnun," which bears the

artist’s signature.

The Shah Tahmasp was increasingly orthodox in 1540s and became increasingly opposed to

artistic depictions of life.

He lost an interest in the former miniature book and issued an edict prohibiting secular images

across the Persian Empire. His court artists, including Mir Sayyid Ali, scattered in all directions.

Most took shelter at Sultan Ibrahim Mirza's shah Tahmasp nephew's court.
Arrival in India

In 1543 Humayun arrived in Persia, and he was warmly welcomed and guarded by Shah

Tahmasp.When Humayun lived in Tabriz; he met the artists and was impressed by their works

and two of them were invited to serve him, who wanted to create a library-like Tabriz.

Mir Sayyid Ali together with his fellow countryman ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad immigrated to India and

served to establish the Mughal School of painting.

Akbar service

Hamzanama

The most ambitious projects in the book of world history are the "Hamzanama”

the story of Amir Hamza, the uncle of the prophet Muhammad. The order, which was carried out

from 1562 to 1577, was made by Emperor Akbar. He and ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad guided the artisans of

the royal atelier, majority of them were Indians, and held the production of enormous miniatures.
It consisted of around 1,400 paintings, each of which was extraordinarily large.

A miniature of "Elijah the Prophet rescues from the Nour ad-

Dahr" which is credited with the hand of Mir Sayyid Ali is one of the remarkable works in this

manuscript. Nevertheless, all are enough to mark him a highly talented painter who has

great power of observation.

Remembrance and Death

Mir Sayyid Ali is known to be a master of the portrait style, but Persian portraits had been more

formed and idealized than the much more naturalistic Mughal portrait. The "Portrait of a young

writer" however belongs to the best miniatures in the Persian portrait. About 1569, the artist left

the Mughal court .Some researchers believe he had died during the Hajj, while others say he had

returned to Akbar court and died in 1580.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Sayyid_Ali

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Sayyid_Ali#/media/File:Mir_Sayyid_Ali_autoportrait.jpg

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mir-Sayyid-Ali