Seven Pavilions of Love: London exhibition celebrates Nizami and the Persian miniature

The Persian miniature is an artistic style that developed in the Middle Ages in Iran and spread to other parts of the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. Flourishing until the late 19th century, Persian miniature artworks are characterised by their lack of shadows, use of fixed lighting, as well as their bright colours, which were produced using mineral-derived paints.

In an ongoing exhibition at the Aga Khan Centre in London, the Iranian-born artist Farkhondeh Ahmadzadeh has produced a series of works that recreate the classic Persian miniature. Titled the Seven Pavilions of Love, the exhibition is based on the epic Haft Paykar, or "The Seven Beauties", by the 12th century poet Nizami Ganjavi. (All images were provided by the Aga Khan Centre and copyright belong to Jonathan Goldberg)

Nizami was a Persian poet born in what is today the Azerbaijani city of Ganja, who wrote primarily in Persian and Arabic. His most notable work is titled Khamsa in Arabic, meaning "The Quintet", and Panj Ganj in Persian, meaning The Five Treasures. The collection contains his five most famous poems, including The Seven Beauties and also his famous retelling of the Arabian classic Layla and Majnun.  Ahmadzadeh's miniatures are inspired by the 1995 English translation of Nizami's orginal by Julie Scott Meisami. Each scene depicted by the Iranian artist is based on a day of the week that Nizami uses to divide his poem. The scene above represents Wednesday.

The Seven Beauties tells the story of King Bahram and his inner transformation, as he encounters seven princesses who tell him stories that help him understand the mysteries of love, justice and spiritual awakening. Each woman becomes his bride and the king orders a unique dome to be built in their honour.

The architect tasked with building the domes advises the ruler to dedicate each dome to one of the seven climes of medieval geography, which in turn symbolises the seven known celestial objects (referred to as planets at the time). Each wife is to be housed under the dome and is visited by the king on a given day of the week.

The miniature above represents Saturday and the black dome is symbolic of the planet Saturn. Bahram's journey starts with the black of Saturday and ends with the white of Friday, an allegory for the alchemical transformation from darkness to light.

Each of Ahmadzadeh's miniatures features calligraphic verses from Nizami's epic. Persian miniatures were initially produced as illustrations that accompanies revered texts, such as the Quran and works of poetry.

Traditionally the production of such folios containing miniatures was a group process that involved a number of apprentices working under a skilled master, who would sign off on work that had met his standards. An exclusively male profession until modern times, it took years of training to become a recognised miniature and calligraphic artist. The image above is for Sunday, represented by the gold dome symbolic of the Sun. Its accompanying verses reads:

She said: A town in Iraq’s land
boasted a world-illuming king,
A brilliant sun, without a peer,
as beautiful as spring’s New Year.
All skills which can be reckoned up;
all the accomplished man might hope
To have, he had; and with all that,
with solitude he was content.
For in his horoscope he’d read
he’d dwell in conflict if he wed;
Because of this he sought no wife,
so that he might not suffer strife.
So for a while he dwelt alone
in solitude; was close to none.
To ease his pain, he hoped to find
a loving maid who suited him.

Ahmadzadeh began learning calligraphy at the age of 18 and trained as an artist under various masters in her home country of Iran. In 2007, she moved to London and has taken inspiration for her miniatures from manuscripts held by the British Library, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She worked on her Haft Paykar miniatures in 2016 and 2017. Another miniature by Ahmadzadeh, titled Seated Man, is on permanent display at the British Museum's Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World.

Ahmadzadeh was awarded the Jerwood Prize in 2011 for Islamic traditional art, and teaches Islamic manuscript and Persian miniature production at the Princes School of Traditional Art in London.

Speaking to London Magazine, the artist (pictured) said her work is inextricable from the poetry that inspired it: "The poetries that I choose to illustrate are all spiritual poetries, even though they are in the form of stories. Reciting them and thinking about their meaning triggers something in the reader, and I am no exception. So, the practice for me starts with the poetry itself. I see the process as a spiritual practice. It must be done patiently with determination and mindfulness. Before entering my studio and starting to paint, I tend to ask permission from the souls of poets, the great miniature masters, to guide me through this process."

Speaking about the exhibition, curator Esen Kaya says, "The vision was to create an opulent Persian palace style interior." The exhibition ends on 1 December.