Religion and Persian miniature : during the reign of King Tahmasp as two sources for political legitimacy

Abstract EN

The Safavid kings drew on shi’ism to unify their territory and to bring about political division between neighboring territories and that of their own.

Nevertheless, they seem to have encountered certain difficulties in this scheme.

To overcome these problems and establish further concrete legitimacy, they began to support and promote art and artists, though modifying their relationship with them as demanded by the circumstances and the needs of their state.

Inevitably, this kind of behavior led to inconsistent, at times even paradoxical, behavior on the part of the rulers.

Among these rulers, King Tahmasp is particularly apt for the present study.

Despite being an ardent patron of Persian miniature in the first decade of his reign, not only did he publicly renounce this art but he also notoriously continued to mistreat artists for the rest of his life.