'The Ambassadors of the Egyptian Sultan al-Nasir Faraj ibn Barquq Present their Gifts of Tribute, Including a Giraffe, to Prince Khalil Sultan, fourth son of Timur' from the Zafarnama of Ibrahim Sultan
(Book of Victories) of Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi (1424-54)

Description
Left half of a double page composition of the Zafarnama copied for Ibrahim-Sultan.

Label Text:
Double-page composition from a manuscript of the Zafarnama of Sharaf al-Din ‘Ali YazdiShiraz, Iran, AH Dhu’l-Hijja 839/July 15–16, 1436
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

This remarkable double-page composition, now divided between two collections, comes from a dispersed manuscript of the Zafarnama made for the Timurid prince Ibrahim Sultan. It recounts the exploits of his grandfather Timur (1370–1405), a central Asian warlord who carved out a vast empire from Baghdad to the Hindu Kush, with Samarqand as its capital. The event depicted here is not only related in the text it illustrates, but it is described in the more contemporaneous account of Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, an ambassador from the Castilian court, who was an eyewitness.

According to Clavijo, Timur received the Egyptian embassy in early June 1404, in the city of Khoy (in northwestern Iran), where the Spanish ambassador had lately arrived. He noted that the Egyptian entourage brought presents from their sultan to Timur that included six ostriches and a giraffe. Although Clavijo elsewhere renders vivid and often awestruck accounts of the ceremonial at Timur’s court, it was clearly the giraffe that caught his attention here. Having never seen a giraffe before, Clavijo described it in great detail and concluded “this beast is indeed a wondrous sight to behold.” In the painting, this distinctive animal is led by its groom.

Source: Worcester Art Museum

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Details
Title: Zafarnama of Ibrahim Sultan (Keir Collection and Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts)
Alternate transliteration Titles: Zafar-Nama, Zafarnameh, Zafername
Alternate Title: Zafarnama-yi Timuri
Translated Title: Book of Victory
Translated Title: Book of Conquest
Alternate Title: Zafar-nama of Sharaf al-Din 'Ali Yazdi
Author / Creator: Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi, d. 1454/858 AH [author] Ya'qub ibn Hasan [calligrapher]
Publication info: Place of production: Shiraz, Shiraz, Ostan-e Fars, Iran
Culture: Islamic / Iranian
Form / genre: manuscripts
Style / period: Timurid / Persian
Associated Name: Ibrahim-Sultan ibn Shahrukh, d. 1435, Iranian [patron]
                              Timur, r. 1370-1405/771-807 AH [subject]
Creation Date: June-July 1436/Dhu al-Hijja 839 AH
Source: Hollis images, Harvard Library