Prefacing the Image: The Writing of Art History in Sixteenth-Century Iran

This book studies developments in art historical writing and factors which shaped the album preface. The prefaces were written in Persian between ca. 1491 and 1609 to introduce albums of calligraphy, painting, and drawing assembled for Safavid rulers and courtiers.
Approaches to the study of these sources are examined, followed by an analysis of the sociohistorical court—centered context; the circumstances of the texts' composition, reception, and literary dimensions; and their art historic...