Foreword
In October 2024, I traveled to Uzbekistan, a country in the heart of Central Asia. In the ancient city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, the centuries-old tradition of miniature art lives on.
Miniature painting became a significant Persian genre in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries.
In this exhibit, I'd like to introduce viewers to the traditions, folklore, religion, and spirituality of millions of people living in modern-day Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and India. Traditions that are expressed in the highly intricate and highly decorative art of miniatures.
Please see 30 miniatures by the contemporary masters Davron Toshev and Feruz Temirov in person at ourĀ opening reception during the Castro Art Walk on Friday, May 2, 2025.
-- Max Khusid, Art House SF gallery
Persian Miniature
A Persian miniature is a small painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a muraqqa. The techniques are broadly comparable to the Western and Byzantine traditions of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts.
Miniature painting became a significant genre in Persian art in the 13th century, receiving Chinese influence after the Mongol conquests, and the highest point in the tradition was reached in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The Persian miniature was the dominant influence on other Islamic miniature traditions, principally the Ottoman miniature in Turkey, and the Mughal miniature in the Indian sub-continent. Several schools (or maktab) of miniature flourished over centuries, with the Bukhara Maktab known for its rich colors, intricate details within simple forms, short figures, and frontal structures.
The leading miniaturist and founder of the Bukhara school, BehzÄd, lived and worked in Bukhara, modern-day Uzbekistan, in the early 16th century.
October 2024
My trip to Uzbeksitan
In October 2024, I took a trip to a country 12 time zones away from San Francisco, USA. After almost a 24-hour-long flight, I ended up in the heart of Central Asia, Uzbekistan.
Few Americans travel this far, and even fewer are familiar with its art. Yet, artistic traditions run deep in this part of the world. They predated the Renaissance, they inherited a lot from Chinese art, they greatly influenced India's art, and of course, Islamic art.
During my trip, I met two local artists in the ancient city of Bukhara. Feruz Temirov and Davron Toshev continue centuries-old tradition of Persian miniature paintings.
Feruz Temirov
Feruz Temirov is an artist and painter from Bukhara, one of Uzbekistanās ancient cities.
After graduating from the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts at Bukhara State University, Feruz specialized in Uzbek miniature and stayed on to teach it there for eight years, from 2002 to 2009. During his academic career, Feruz opened a private gallery in the old city of Bukhara, creating miniatures and compositions on various topics: the Great Silk Road (caravan), famous scientists and travelers in history, the Tree of Life, and more.
Feruz works on Samarkand mulberry paper, with brushes made of natural materials. The process of creating miniatures is complicated and time-consuming: it requires perseverance, great patience, a steady hand and keen eyesight, as well as the artist's boundless imagination.
āIt is a great achievement and a great happiness for me if the miniatures I create will please not only modern art lovers but also future generations,ā says Feruz.
The artist has participated in international exhibitions around Europe, traveling to Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland, where he sold many miniatures.
In 2019, Temirov was one of four Uzbek master craftsmen selected to represent the country at the United Nations Office in Vienna for the Navruz celebrations on 13 March, as reported byĀ UzDaily. He completed the International Trade Centre's Ready4Trade Central Asia programme in 2022.
Davron Toshev
Davron Toshev began painting when he was just five. In 1990, his passion led him to a studio in Tashkent where he met the artist who would change his life: Khurshid Nazirov. Nazirov introduced the young Toshev to the world of miniatures
Davron was particularly drawn to the work of Kamal ud-Din Behzad (1450-1535) with its symbolic use of colour and neat geometry.
Like the medieval masters before him, Davron is inspired by Eastern poetry and literature, especially by the timeless themes and lively characters of the great Alisher Navoiās famous works. Toshevās pictures tell of loversā trysts, music and dance, poetry, philosophy, and the harmony we can find in nature.
āUzbek literature is an infinite, inexhaustible source of inspiration for the world in which I live and which lives in me,ā he says. āI try to visually convey the immortal verses of wisdom, love and history.ā
His paintings have been exhibited in Paris, Marseille, Geneva, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major cities and are much sought-after by collectors and museums in Russia, France, UK, Turkey and UAE.
Samarkand Paper
It is impossible to tell the story of Persian miniature paintings without telling the story of paper.
Samarkand was one of the first places on Earth where paper originated. Two hypotheses exist: Samarkand warriors captured Chinese paper makers and learned how to make paper from them in the 8th century, or papermaking in Samarkand existed even before that and made it to Samarkand in the 2nd century from Western China.
One way or another, Samarkand became one of the main papermaking centers, and it is from here that papermaking spread first to the Middle East, then to North Africa, and only then to Europe.
Feruz Temirov often uses this now rare, yet still hand-made, type of paper: Samarkand paper.
"The widespread availability of paper encouraged an extraordinary culture of book-learning throughout the Muslim lands that was unparalleled in contemporary Christendom, which continued to rely on relatively expensive parchment , thereby restricting the number of writers and readers"
Handmade Paper
Miniature paintings by Davron Toshev are made on the special hand-made paper. Davron revived the ancient papermaking process and produces his own type of paper.
It's made from the bark of mulberry trees that he grows on his small farm. The bark is peeled at the right time, soaked and fermented in the water, then beaten into a pulp of cellulose fibers, which then are mixed with water, strained, and dried in the shade.
Max Khusid took this photo on his visit to Bukhara and Davron's house.
Davron's Papermaking Process
The Silk Road
The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.
Bukhara, a city over 2,500 years old in modern-day Uzbekistan, became one of the centers of the Silk Road. It established itself as a trade, scholarship, culture, and religion center.
Davron and Feruz Miniatures
Miniatures by Feruz and Davron tell the story of Bukhara, the Silk Road, Central Asia, the Islamic Golden Age, and the people and ideas that influenced this and other parts of the world for generations.
Ferus Temirov
Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam(1048 ā 1131) was a Persian poet and polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and Persian literature.
There is a tradition of attributing poetry to Omar Khayyam, written in the form of quatrains (rubÄŹæiyÄt). This poetry became widely known to the English-reading world in a translation by Edward FitzGerald (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1859).
āTo wisely live your life, you don't need to know much
Just remember two main rules for the beginning:
You better starve, than eat whatever
And better be alone, than with whoever.ā
"When your soul and mine have left our bodies and we are buried alongside each other, a potter may one day mold the dust of both of us into the same clay."
"Indeed the Idols I have loved so long, have done my credit in this World much wrong; have drowned my Glory in a shallow Cup, and sold my Reputation for a Song."
āOmar KhayyĆ”m, Rubaiyat
Feruz Temirov
The Wise Dervish
Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity, or more narrowly to a religious beggar, who chose or accepted material poverty.
Their focus is on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego (nafs) to reach God.
Their most popular practice is Sama (e.g. Whirling Dervishes), which is associated with the 13th-century mystic Rumi. In folklore and with adherents of Sufism, dervishes are often credited with the ability to perform miracles and ascribed supernatural powers.
"Water that's poured inside will sink the boat
While water underneath keeps it afloat.
Driving wealth from his heart to keep it pure
King Solomon preferred the title 'Poor':
That sealed jar in the stormy sea out there
Floats on the waves because it's full of air,
When you've the air of dervishood inside
You'll float above the world and there abide..."
-- Rumi, Masnavi
Feruz Temirov
The Conference of the Birds
The Conference of the Birds is a Persian poem by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commonly known as Attar of Nishapur. The title is taken directly from the Qurāan, 27:16, where Sulayman(Solomon) and DÄwÅ«d (David) are said to have been taught the language of the birds.
In the poem, the birds of the world gather to decide who is to be their king. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, leads the birds, each of whom represents a human fault which prevents humanity from attaining enlightenment.
The hoopoe tells the birds that they have to cross seven valleys in order to reach the abode of Simorgh: Valley of the Quest, Valley of Love, Valley of Knowledge, Valley of Detachment, Valley of Unity, Valley of Wonderment, Valley of Poverty and Annihilation.
This story is an allegory of the Sufi's journey to self-realization and union with God.
An illustrated manuscript of The Concourse of the Birds is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with the painting by Habiballah of Sava, "The Concourse of the Birds," ca. 1600.
Feruz Temirov
Khosrow and Shirin
Khosrow and Shirin is a romantic epic poem by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141ā1209):
"The tale of Khosraw and Shirin is well known
And by Truth, there is no sweeter story than it."
The poem is a love story between Khosrow, the last great Sasanian King of Kings, and Shirin, the Armenian princess. Some people call their story the Persian version of Romeo and Juliet. Shirin, similarly to Juliet, commits suicide once she finds out she had to marry someone else. Unable to marry each other on Earth, Shirin and Khosrow, eventually are reunited and buried together.
Several illustrations from the 16th century depict Shirin bathing alone and Khosrow accidentally sees Shīrīn bathing when he rides by a pool of water in disguise.
One of the well-knowns miniatures is Khusrau Catches Sight of Shirin Bathing, by Shaikh Zada is from 1524 CE. Made in present day Afghanistan. This work is exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Feruz Temirov
Hodja Nasreddin
Hodja Nasreddin is a character commonly found in the folklores of the Muslim world, and a hero of humorous short stories and satirical anecdotes.
Nasreddin appears in thousands of stories, sometimes witty, sometimes wise, but in many of which he is presented as a (holy) fool or as the butt of a joke.
The stories about Nasreddin originate in the 13th century and spread widely to modern-day Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Bosnia, Pakistan, Iran, Gujarat, Afghanistan, China and others.
"Some people say that, whilst uttering what seemed madness, he was, in reality, divinely inspired, and that it was not madness but wisdom that he uttered."
Uzbeks consider Nasreddin an Uzbek who was born and lived in Bukhara. Although his exact origins and whether his was real or fictional character is still a subject of many heated debates.
Feruz Temirov
Shepherd
This Persian miniature by Feruz Temirov is based on the original miniature by the great Persian miniature master Reza Abbasi.
Reza Abbasi was the leading Persian miniaturist of the Isfahan School during the later Safavid period.
The original of this miniature, "Shepherd" was created in 1634 and is currently kept at the National Library of Russia. In Reza's work this miniature followed his new distinctive style:
"The primary colours and virtuoso technique of his early portraits give way in the 1620s to darker, earthier colours and a coarser, heavier line."
He painted many older men, perhaps scholars, Sufi divines, or shepherds.
Reza's miniatures are in the top world museums: the Smithsonian, the British Museum, Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Feruz Temirov
1001 Nights
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as The Arabian Nights.
ShahryÄr, a king who ruled an empire that stretched from Persia to India, discovers that his wife cheated on him, he has her killed. In his bitterness and grief, he decides that all women are the same. ShahryÄr begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonor him.
Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter, offers herself as the next bride. Every night she begins to tell the king a tale, but does not end it. The king, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. This goes on for one thousand and one nights, hence the name.
The tales vary widely: they include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques, and various forms of erotica. Numerous stories depict jinn, ghouls, ape people, sorcerers, magicians, and legendary places.
Davron Toshev
Abu Ali ibn Sena
Ibn Sina (c.ā980 ā 22 June 1037), commonly known in the West as Avicenna, was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world, flourishing during the Islamic Golden Age.
He is often described as the father of early modern medicine. His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia which became a standard medical text at many medieval European universities and remained in use as late as 1650.
His most significant contribution was in the philosophy of medicine. He created a system of medicine that we today call "holistic." According to Avicenna, physical and psychological factors, drugs, and diet must be combined to treat patients.
Besides medicine, Avicenna also discovered that light travels faster than sound, for example, lightning travels faster than the sound of thunder. He also discussed the relationship between hearing and sound waves and how sound can travel through airwaves. He invented a device to monitor stars' coordinates.
Avicenna was born next Bukhara.
Feruz Temirov
Poems by JaĢmiĢ. The Sultan's Banquet
This miniature is Feruz Temirov's interpretation of the 16th century miniature.
Jami or DjÄmÄ« (1414Ā ā 1492) was a Persian Sunni poet who is known for his achievements as a prolific scholar and writer of mystical Sufi literature.
The first Mughal emperor Zahir al-Din Babur, in his memoir Baburnama, referred to Jami as the "foremost authority of the age in all of the sciences and as a poet of such renown that the mere mention of his name is a source of blessing."
Original miniature, (currently in the US Library of Congress) dating from the 16th century is an illuminated and illustrated copy of the first collection of poetry by JaĢmiĢ (1414--92), who lived most of his life in Herat, in present-day Afghanistan.
"On the lute of my heart plays only one song of love:
Because of this melody, from head to foot, I am in love.
Truly, for ages Iāll never be able
To pay what I owe for one moment of love."
------
"Each attractive form that shows its face to you,
Destiny will soon steal it from the eyes of you.
Go and give your heart to someone who in all turns of existence
Always has been with you and always will be with you."
Feruz Temirov
Yusuf and Zulaikha
Yusuf and Zulaikha is a series of stories about the relationship between the prophet Yusuf and Potiphar's wife in many Muslim countries.
Though found widely in the Muslim world, the story of Yusuf and Zulaikha seems first to have developed in Persian literature around the tenth century CE.
In the story, Yusuf, an abandoned son of an Islamic prophet, becomes so beautiful that hat his master's wife falls in love with him. She locks him in a room with her and attempts to seduce him, but Yusuf through his great wisdom and power, tries to escape. Zulaikha attempts to stop him, and in the process, rips the back of his shirt.
In 1483 AD, the renowned Persian poet Jami wrote his interpretation of the allegorical romance. In Jami's version, the story becomes more complex and Jami asserts that God's beauty appears in many forms and that Zulaikha's pursuit of love from Yusuf is, in fact, the love and pursuit of God.
Feruz Temirov
al-Farabi
Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (Arabic: Ų£ŲØŁ ŁŲµŲ± Ł ŲŁ ŲÆ Ų§ŁŁŲ§Ų±Ų§ŲØŁ, c.ā870 ā 951), known in the Latin West as Alpharabius, was an early Islamic philosopher and music theorist. He has been designated as "Father of Islamic Neoplatonism", and the "Founder of Islamic Political Philosophy".
That he was more than a pioneer in Islamic philosophy, can be deduced from the habit of later writers calling him the "Second Master", with Aristotle as the first.
"An art, which has an aim to achieve the beauty, is called a philosophy or in the absolute sense it is named wisdom."
"Society coheres with love, lives with justice and survives with honest work."
---
al-Farabi
Feruz Temirov
The Great Astronomer Ulugh Beg
MÄ«rzÄ Muhammad TarÄghÄy bin ShÄhrukh (Chagatay: Ł ŪŲ±Ų²Ų§ Ł ŲŁ ŲÆ ŲŖŲ±Ų§ŲŗŲ§Ū ŲØŁ Ų“Ų§ŁŲ±Ų®; Persian: Ł ŪŲ±Ų²Ų§ Ł ŲŁ ŲÆ Ų·Ų§Ų±Ł ŲØŁ Ų“Ų§ŁŲ±Ų®), better known as Ulugh Beg (1394 - 1449) was a Timurid sultan, as well as an astronomer and mathematician.
Ulugh Beg was notable for his work in astronomy-related mathematics, such as trigonometry and spherical geometry.
He built the great Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarkand between 1424 and 1429. It was considered by scholars to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world at the time and the largest in Central Asia.
Ulugh Beg was subsequently recognized as the most important observational astronomer from the 15th century by many scholars. He also built the Ulugh Beg Madrasah (1417ā1420) in Samarkand and Bukhara, transforming the cities into cultural centers of learning in Central Asia.
In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, lie the remains of what was once the most advanced astronomical observatory in the world built by Ulugh Beg. While the building itself has not survived, the underground section of its 151-foot-long sextant remains intact.
Feruz Temirov
Tree of Life
The Tree of Immortality is the Tree of Life motif that appears in the Quran. It is also alluded to in hadiths and tafsir.
Trees in Buddhist symbolism represent the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha attains enlightenment. In Christianity, it represents the tree in the Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. In Catholicism, Pope Benedict XVI refers to the the cross as the true 'tree of life'.
In some cultures, like in Ancient China, it represents everlasting life or the love of the divine, like in Eastern Christianity.
In Islam, it is said that the motif of the tree growing from a singular source going upwards alludes to the spiritual growth of a Muslim, and the growing and the spreading of vines of the Tree of Life, culminating in a lantern-like flower, is said even to imitate the movements of the Muslim prayer.
Feruz Temirov
A game of polo
Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (Persian: ŚŁŚÆŲ§Ł), which originated in ancient Iran, dating back over 2,000 years.
Polo was, at first, a training game for cavalry units, usually the king's guard or other elite troops. In time polo became an Iranian national sport played generally by the nobility. Women as well as men played the game, as indicated by references to the queen and her ladies engaging King Khosrow II Parviz and his courtiers in the 6th century AD.
Valuable for training cavalry, the game was played from Constantinople to Japan by the Middle Ages. It is known in the East as the Game of Kings.
The name polo is said to have been derived from the Tibetan word "pulu", meaning ball.
References
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