Famous Persian Paintings and Where to See Them

The best-known Persian paintings are pages from illustrated books and albums made for royal courts and collectors between the 1330s and the 1630s, and most of them are now in museums in North America, Europe and Egypt. They include The Court of Gayumars, attributed to Sultan Muhammad, from the Shahnameh made for Shah Tahmasp and now in the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto; Behzad's painting of Zulaykha's attempt to seduce Yusuf, in a Bustan of Saadi of 1488 in Cairo; the Khamsa of Nizami made for Shah Tahmasp, now in the British Library; the Haft Awrang of Jami in the Freer Gallery in Washington; and Reza Abbasi's The Lovers of 1630 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This page lists these paintings with their date, painter where known, the book they come from, the museum that holds them, and what they show, with the museum's own record as the source. It is part of our guide to contemporary Iranian and Persian painting. For how these pages were made, see Persian miniature painting; for the stories of the Book of Kings, see the Shahnameh in painting.

Key takeaways

• The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto singles out The Court of Kayumars among the 258 illustrations made for Shah Tahmasp's Shahnameh for its complexity, its colour and its minute detail, and says it may be the only 16th-century painting mentioned by name by a Safavid writer.
• The Encyclopaedia Iranica says the illustrations most widely accepted as Behzad's own are in a Bustan of Saadi with a text dated 1488, now in the National Library of Egypt in Cairo.
• The British Library's record says its Khamsa of Nizami was copied for Shah Tahmasp in Tabriz between 1539 and 1543, and holds 17 illustrations, including Sultan Muhammad's Khusraw Watches Shirin Bathing.
• The Encyclopaedia Iranica says the Freer Gallery's Haft Awrang of Jami holds 28 paintings made between 1556 and 1565 for the Safavid prince Ebrahim Mirza.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art says Reza Abbasi painted The Lovers, dated 1630, near the end of a long career at the Safavid court.
• Harvard Art Museums says the Great Mongol Shahnameh, made in Tabriz c. 1335, has 57 surviving illustrations; the Encyclopaedia Iranica says the Paris dealer Georges Demotte removed its binding to sell the pages separately.

Famous Persian paintings at a glance

Famous Persian paintings, in date order, with the collection that holds each one

Painting	Date	Painter	Book or album	Held by	What it shows
The Funeral of Isfandiyar	1330s	Not named	Great Mongol Shahnameh, Tabriz	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (33.70)	Mourners with loosened hair around the hero's bier
Bahram Gur Fights the Horned Wolf	c. 1335	Not named	Great Mongol Shahnameh, Tabriz	Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1960.190)	The king Bahram Gur, in a robe of European cloth, killing a horned wolf
Zulaykha's attempt to seduce Yusuf	1488	Behzad	Bustan of Saadi, made for Sultan Husayn Bayqara, Herat	National Library of Egypt, Cairo	Yusuf escaping through the rooms of Zulaykha's palace
The Court of Kayumars (Gayumars)	c. 1524 to 1525	Attributed to Sultan Muhammad	Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, folio 20 verso	Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM165)	The first king, his son Siyamak and the angel Surush, in a mountain world of tame animals
Zahhak Is Told His Fate	c. 1524	Attributed to Sultan Muhammad	Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, folio 29 verso	Metropolitan Museum of Art (1970.301.4)	The tyrant Zahhak fainting as his wise men explain his nightmare
The Feast of Sada	c. 1525	Attributed to Sultan Muhammad	Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, folio 22 verso	Metropolitan Museum of Art (1970.301.2)	King Hushang's feast for the discovery of fire
Laila and Majnun in School	1524 to 1525	Shaikh Zada	Khamsa of Nizami, Herat	Metropolitan Museum of Art (13.228.7.7)	The lovers meeting at school among busy pupils
Earthly Drunkenness	c. 1530	Sultan Muhammad (signed)	Divan of Hafiz, Tabriz	Harvard Art Museums, jointly owned with the Met (1988.460.2)	An illustration to the poems of Hafiz
Khusraw Watches Shirin Bathing	1539 to 1543	Sultan Muhammad	Khamsa of Nizami for Shah Tahmasp, folio 53 verso	British Library, London (Or 2265)	King Khosrow coming upon Shirin as she bathes
Ascent of the Prophet	1539 to 1543	Not named in the record	Khamsa of Nizami for Shah Tahmasp, folio 195 recto	British Library, London (Or 2265)	The Prophet on Buraq, guided by Jibra'il and escorted by angels
Yusuf Gives a Royal Banquet in Honor of His Marriage	1556 to 1565	Not named	Haft Awrang of Jami, for Ebrahim Mirza, Mashhad	Freer Gallery of Art, Washington (F1946.12.132)	Yusuf's wedding feast
The Fickle Old Lover Is Knocked Off the Rooftop	1556 to 1565	Not named	Haft Awrang of Jami, for Ebrahim Mirza	Freer Gallery of Art (F1946.12.162)	An old lover knocked off a roof, from one of Jami's tales
The Concourse of the Birds	c. 1600	Habiballah of Sava	Mantiq al-Tayr of Attar	Metropolitan Museum of Art (63.210.11)	The birds gathering under the hoopoe to seek the Simorgh
The Lovers	1630	Reza Abbasi	Single-page painting, Isfahan	Metropolitan Museum of Art (50.164)	A young couple entwined within one outline

The Mongol period: the Great Mongol Shahnameh

The earliest paintings on this list come from a copy of the Shahnameh made in Tabriz in the 1330s, under the Ilkhanids, Iran's Mongol rulers. Harvard Art Museums calls it "one of the most complex masterpieces of Persian art" and says it is assumed to have been commissioned by a high-ranking member of the Ilkhanid court. The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry by Priscilla Soucek says its paintings are "exceptional" for their depiction of emotion, "particularly grief", carried by the figures' gestures and postures.

The Funeral of Isfandiyar

The Met's page from this manuscript shows the funeral procession of the hero Isfandiyar. The Met describes mourners "wailing and pulling at their hair, which is worn loose as a sign of mourning", and says the painting technique, "with its strong linear quality and thin washes of color, recalls contemporary Chinese brush painting". Our page on Chinese influence on Persian painting explains where those forms came from.

Bahram Gur Fights the Horned Wolf

Harvard's page, dated c. 1335, shows the Sasanian king Bahram Gur, wearing "a robe made of European fabric", killing a horned wolf "in a setting marked by the conventions of Chinese landscape painting". Harvard counts 57 surviving illustrations. The Iranica says the dealer Georges Demotte acquired the manuscript in Paris c. 1910, removed its binding when he could not sell it whole, and sold the pages separately, which is why they are now spread across many collections.

Herat: Behzad and his circle

Zulaykha's attempt to seduce Yusuf, Bustan of Saadi, 1488

The Encyclopaedia Iranica calls Kamal al-Din Behzad a master painter "proverbial for his skill" and says the works most widely accepted as his are the illustrations in a Bustan of Saadi, made for the library of Sultan Husayn Bayqara in Herat, with a text colophon of 1488. The manuscript is in the National Library of Egypt in Cairo. It has a double-page frontispiece and four illustrations, two of them dated 1488 to 1489, and Behzad signed them in painted inscriptions on the buildings or on small objects in the scene.

One of the four shows Zulaykha trying to seduce Yusuf. The Iranica entry on Jami and Persian art, by Chad Kia, explains that the scene follows Saadi's text, while the elaborate palace follows the description in Jami's poem Yusuf and Zulaykha, completed in 1483. Behzad painted Yusuf escaping "through all the rooms" that Zulaykha had bolted as she led him through the building. The Iranica praises the Bustan paintings for "carefully balanced compositions" and figures that convey mood and personality.

Behzad's round painting in the Freer album

The Iranica describes an album of calligraphy dated 1524 in the Freer Gallery in Washington that opens with a round painting by Behzad, praised in its preface as "the sun of the zenith of skill". It shows a youth and an old man in a landscape. The youth wears a turban usually linked with the Uzbeks, so the Iranica suggests it may date from the Uzbek rule of Herat between 1507 and 1510.

Laila and Majnun in School, 1524 to 1525

The Met owns a Khamsa of Nizami made in Herat and dated 1524 to 1525, painted by Shaikh Zada. The Iranica says the Ottoman historian Mostafa Ali called Shaikh Zada a student of Behzad. The Met's page for Laila and Majnun in School shows the lovers meeting at school, where "they fall in love at first sight", among children "burnishing paper, practicing their penmanship, and reading various types of books". The Met adds that although the story takes place in Arabia, "the architectural setting is quintessentially Persian". Our page on the Khamsa of Nizami in painting tells the story.

Tabriz under Shah Tahmasp

The Court of Kayumars

The Aga Khan Museum's page for The Court of Kayumars, folio 20 verso of Shah Tahmasp's Shahnameh, attributes it to Sultan Muhammad, "a native of Tabriz" who taught painting to Shah Tahmasp. It measures 45 by 30 cm, in opaque watercolour, ink and gold on paper, and dated c. 1524 to 1525. The museum says it may be the only 16th-century work mentioned specifically by a Safavid writer: Dust Muhammad, who compiled an album of pictures and calligraphy for the shah's brother Bahram Mirza, praised it in his writing.

The painting shows Kayumars, the king with whom, the museum explains, the Shahnameh says kingship began, seated on a rocky throne and looking toward his son Siyamak, while the angel Surush stands across from Siyamak. The museum explains that Surush has come to warn the king of a plot by the evil Ahriman against his son. A gold sky and a landscape rising into the margins frame a world where animals and people live in peace; the museum notes "scores of human and animal faces" hidden in the rocks, and pairs of bears, deer and lions. The Aga Khan Museum holds ten paintings from this Shahnameh.

Zahhak Is Told His Fate and The Feast of Sada

The Met holds two more pages from the same book attributed to Sultan Muhammad. In Zahhak Is Told His Fate, of c. 1524, "the evil king Zahhak faints" when his wise men explain his nightmare: that Faridun, not yet born, will bring about his downfall. The Met says the "bending rosebush and snail-like clouds" come from Turkmen painting at Tabriz, while the "animated characterizations" are typical of Sultan Muhammad. The Feast of Sada, of c. 1525, shows King Hushang, grandson of Gayumars, who threw a stone at a dragon, struck sparks from a rock, then built a large fire and held a feast to celebrate its discovery.

Earthly Drunkenness

Harvard Art Museums holds a page from a Divan, a collected book of poems, of Hafiz, made in Tabriz c. 1530 and signed "The work of Sultan Muhammad". Harvard titles it Earthly Drunkenness and records that it is jointly owned by Harvard and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For how painters answered Hafiz and the other poets, see Persian poetry in painting.

The Khamsa of Shah Tahmasp

The British Library's record for Or 2265 says this copy of Nizami's five poems was made for Shah Tahmasp in Tabriz between 1539 and 1543, written in nastaliq by the calligrapher Shah Mahmud Nishapuri, and "augmented by the addition of 14 full page illustrations by some of the most famous court artists of the mid-16th century". Three more paintings by Muhammad Zaman were added in 1675 to 1676. The record names the painters of most pages. Sultan Muhammad painted Khusraw Watches Shirin Bathing and Bahram Gur Shooting an Ass and a Lion with One Arrow; Mirak painted Khusraw Enthroned, whose painted palace carries an inscription with Shah Tahmasp's name; Mir Sayyid Ali painted Majnun Brought in Chains to Laila's Tent. The record also lists the Ascent of the Prophet on Buraq, guided by the angel Jibra'il and escorted by angels, without naming its painter.

Mashhad: the Freer Haft Awrang of Jami

The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry by Chad Kia calls the Freer Gallery's Haft Awrang, or Seven Thrones, of Jami "perhaps the most noteworthy and elaborately illustrated" of all Jami manuscripts. Its 28 paintings were made between 1556 and 1565 for the Safavid prince Ebrahim Mirza, who lived from 1540 to 1577 and was appointed governor of Mashhad by his uncle Shah Tahmasp at sixteen. The Iranica names the calligraphers Mohebb-Ali, Rostam-Ali, Malek al-Daylami and Ayshi ibn Eshrati, and says only two painters, Shaikh Mohammad and Ali-Asghar, have been identified, provisionally and on grounds of style.

The Smithsonian's records for two of its pages, Yusuf Gives a Royal Banquet in Honor of His Marriage and The Fickle Old Lover Is Knocked Off the Rooftop, give their date as 1556 to 1565, their medium as opaque watercolour, ink and gold on paper, and their size as 34.2 by 23.2 cm. The Freer bought the manuscript from the dealer Hagop Kevorkian in 1946. The Iranica says the pictures run into the margins with "bright, polished colors", and that some seem barely to relate to their story, which leaves room to read Sufi meanings into the figures.

Isfahan: the single page

The Concourse of the Birds

The Met's page from Attar's Mantiq al-Tayr, the Language of the Birds, shows the birds, "which symbolize individual souls in search of the simurgh", gathered in a landscape under the leadership of a hoopoe. The Met explains that the manuscript's other paintings are late 15th-century Timurid work, but that this one is later: a hunter with a firearm appears, and the painting is signed by Habiballah of Sava, who was active c. 1590 to 1610. Our page on symbols in Persian painting explains the Simorgh.

Reza Abbasi's The Lovers

The Encyclopaedia Iranica entry on the Isfahan school, by Massumeh Farhad, calls Reza Abbasi, active c. 1565 to 1635, the most celebrated painter of the school, "known for his remarkable use of line and harmonious color schemes". The same entry says Isfahan painters focused on single drawings and paintings, most no longer tied to a text, and that many were assembled in albums with samples of calligraphy. The Met's The Lovers, dated 1630, is one such page. The Met says Reza Abbasi "revolutionized Persian painting and drawing with his inventive use of calligraphic line and unusual palette", that he painted it "toward the end of a long, successful career at the Safavid court", and that the entwined couple reflects "a newly relaxed attitude to sensuality" under Shah Safi, who ruled from 1629 to 1642. For Reza Abbasi's life and pupils, see famous Persian painters.

Seeing these paintings in Canada and the USA

Most of the paintings on this page are in North America. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto holds ten pages of Shah Tahmasp's Shahnameh, including The Court of Kayumars. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds pages from the Great Mongol Shahnameh, Shah Tahmasp's Shahnameh and the 1524 to 1525 Khamsa, as well as The Concourse of the Birds and The Lovers. Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts, holds Bahram Gur Fights the Horned Wolf and Earthly Drunkenness, and the Freer Gallery in Washington holds the Haft Awrang. Whether a page is on display changes, so check the museum's website before a visit. Our page on where to see Persian art in Canada and the USA lists the museums city by city.

The same tradition in our gallery

Painters still work in this tradition. Kamal al-Din Ghotb, whose artist page says he has practised Persian painting for 41 years, paints in the classical tradition in oil and gold on paper. His Siyavash Passing Through the Fire takes its story from the Shahnameh, and his Mi'raj shows the Prophet's ascent on Buraq through gold clouds with a host of angels, the same subject as the Ascent of the Prophet in Shah Tahmasp's Khamsa. His album pages, such as Muraqqa': The Blue Robe, are painted as muraqqa pages, the album format of the Isfahan painters. His works are in the Kamal al-Din Ghotb collection.

Frequently asked questions

Why is The Court of Kayumars considered a masterpiece?

The Court of Kayumars is considered a masterpiece for its complexity, its colour, the minute scale of its details and the emotion of its story, according to the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, which owns it. The museum says it may be the only 16th-century work named by a Safavid writer, and that the painting "reaches far beyond the simple exigencies of illustrating a narrative".

Who painted The Court of Kayumars?

The Court of Kayumars is attributed to Sultan Muhammad, a painter from Tabriz who worked in the Safavid royal library and was employed to teach painting to Shah Tahmasp, according to the Aga Khan Museum. The museum dates the painting c. 1524 to 1525 and records it as folio 20 verso of the Shahnameh made for Shah Tahmasp, in watercolour, ink and gold.

What does Behzad's painting of Yusuf and Zulaykha show?

Behzad's painting of Yusuf and Zulaykha shows Yusuf escaping as Zulaykha tries to seduce him in her palace. The Encyclopaedia Iranica says the scene illustrates a Bustan of Saadi dated 1488, now in Cairo, while the many rooms follow Jami's poem, in which Zulaykha bolted each door as she led Yusuf through the building.

Where is the Bustan of Saadi illustrated by Behzad?

The Bustan of Saadi illustrated by Behzad is in the National Library of Egypt in Cairo, according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. The manuscript was made for the library of Sultan Husayn Bayqara in Herat, has a text colophon of 1488, and contains a double-page frontispiece and four illustrations. Behzad's signatures are painted into inscriptions on buildings or on small objects.

Where is the Khamsa of Shah Tahmasp kept?

The Khamsa of Nizami made for Shah Tahmasp is kept at the British Library in London under the shelfmark Or 2265. The library's record says it was copied in Tabriz between 1539 and 1543 by Shah Mahmud Nishapuri and holds 17 illustrations, including paintings by Sultan Muhammad, Mirak, Mir Sayyid Ali, Mirza Ali and Muzaffar Ali.

Who commissioned the Haft Awrang now in the Freer Gallery?

The Haft Awrang now in the Freer Gallery of Art was commissioned by the Safavid prince Ebrahim Mirza, a nephew of Shah Tahmasp who governed Mashhad, according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. The Iranica says the book of Jami's seven poems took nine years, from 1556 to 1565, and holds 28 paintings. The Freer bought it from the dealer Hagop Kevorkian in 1946.

Which famous paintings are attributed to Sultan Muhammad?

Sultan Muhammad is credited by the holding museums with The Court of Kayumars at the Aga Khan Museum, Zahhak Is Told His Fate and The Feast of Sada at the Met, a signed page from a Divan of Hafiz at Harvard, and Khusraw Watches Shirin Bathing in the British Library's Khamsa of Shah Tahmasp. All were made in Tabriz between c. 1524 and 1543.

What does Reza Abbasi's The Lovers show?

Reza Abbasi's The Lovers shows a young couple entwined, "merged volumes confined within one outline", in the words of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which owns it. The Met dates the painting to 1630, near the end of the painter's career at the Safavid court in Isfahan, and links its subject to a new ease with sensuality under Shah Safi.

How does the Met date The Concourse of the Birds?

The Concourse of the Birds is dated c. 1600 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, although the manuscript of Attar's poem it belongs to holds late 15th-century Timurid paintings. The Met gives three reasons: a hunter who has no place in the story, his firearm, a weapon common in Iran only after the mid-16th century, and the signature of Habiballah of Sava.

What does The Feast of Sada show?

The Feast of Sada shows King Hushang, grandson of the first king Gayumars, celebrating the discovery of fire. The Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that Hushang threw a stone at a dragon, missed, struck sparks from a rock and held a great feast. The Met attributes this page of Shah Tahmasp's Shahnameh, of c. 1525, to Sultan Muhammad.

Which Canadian museum holds famous Persian paintings?

The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto holds famous Persian paintings, including The Court of Kayumars, attributed to Sultan Muhammad. The museum's record says its collection includes ten paintings from the Shahnameh made for Shah Tahmasp, out of the 258 illustrations the manuscript first held. Other pages of that book are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Why are the pages of the Great Mongol Shahnameh in different museums?

The pages of the Great Mongol Shahnameh are in different museums because the Paris dealer Georges Demotte removed the binding and sold the pages one by one, according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. He acquired the manuscript c. 1910, and dealers dispersed its paintings over the next sixty years. Pages are now at the Met, Harvard and the Smithsonian, among others.

References

1. The Court of Kayumars, AKM165. Sheila R. Canby, Aga Khan Museum. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The attribution, date, size, subject and praise of the painting, and the museum's ten Shahnameh pages.
2. Or 2265: Shah Tahmasp's 'Khamsah' of Nizami. British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The date, calligrapher, illustrations and painters of the Khamsa of Shah Tahmasp.
3. Bahram Gur Fights the Horned Wolf, illustrated folio from a manuscript of the Great Ilkhanid Shahnama. Harvard Art Museums. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The date, place, patron and 57 surviving illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnameh.
4. Earthly Drunkenness, illustrated folio from a manuscript of Divan of Hafiz. Harvard Art Museums. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The date, place, signature and joint ownership of the page.
5. "The Funeral of Isfandiyar," Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 10 March 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The scene and its likeness to Chinese brush painting.
6. "Zahhak is Told His Fate", Folio 29v from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 11 June 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The scene, its sources of style and the attribution to Sultan Muhammad.
7. "The Feast of Sada", Folio 22v from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 7 June 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The story of Hushang and the discovery of fire.
8. "Laila and Majnun in School", Folio 129 from a Khamsa of Nizami. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 1 March 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The scene, the painter Shaikh Zada and the Herat date of 1524 to 1525.
9. "The Concourse of the Birds", Folio 11r from a Mantiq al-Tayr. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 13 June 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The subject, the painter Habiballah of Sava and the dating evidence.
10. The Lovers, by Riza-yi 'Abbasi. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Undated; Internet Archive copy of 5 March 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The date, the painter and the museum's reading of the painting.
11. Folio from a Haft Awrang by Jami; recto: Yusuf gives a royal banquet in honor of his marriage. Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The date, medium, size and provenance of the Freer pages.
12. Folio from a Haft Awrang by Jami; recto: the Fickle Old Lover is Knocked Off the Rooftop. Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. A second Freer page and its date.
13. BEHZAD, KAMAL-AL-DIN. Priscilla P. Soucek, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1989; Internet Archive copy of 29 August 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The Cairo Bustan, the Freer album roundel, the Mantiq al-Tayr and Shaikh Zada.
14. JAMI iii. And Persian Art. Chad Kia, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 2008; Internet Archive copy of 21 September 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. Behzad's Yusuf and Zulaykha scene and the Freer Haft Awrang.
15. DEMOTTE SHAH-NAMA. Priscilla P. Soucek, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 1994; Internet Archive copy of 21 September 2026. Accessed 27 September 2026. The emotion in the Great Mongol paintings and the dispersal of its pages.
16. ISFAHAN xi. School of Painting and Calligraphy. Massumeh Farhad, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Published 15 December 2007; Internet Archive copy of 5 December 2025. Accessed 27 September 2026. Reza Abbasi's dates and style.
17. Mi'raj, by Kamal al-Din Ghotb. VanArtHub. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. The subject of the painting.
18. Kamal al-Din Ghotb. VanArtHub. Undated. Accessed 27 September 2026. His years of practice and his materials.

Checked 27 September 2026. If something here is out of date, write to us and we will correct it.