Literature and fine art

In an age without printing, books were copied by hand, so book art — calligraphy, painting, illumination and bookbinding (page-making and binding) — developed. Mirali Tabrizi is said to have created the nasta’liq script; Sultanali Mashhadi (1432–1520) was a famous calligrapher. Samarkand and Herat had court libraries, where calligraphers and decorators worked under a head librarian; in Herat forty calligraphers worked in Baysunghur’s library, and around 1430 a famous copy of the “Shahnama” decorated with miniatures was produced there. Fine art included portraits, scenes of life, landscapes and book illustrations. Kamoliddin Behzad (about 1455–1536) became the founder of the style called the Herat school; he painted portraits of historical persons, court ceremonies and battle scenes, and illustrated the “Zafarnama” of Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi. A portrait of Navoi painted by Mahmud Muzahhib has also survived.