Shah Isma'il on an Equestrian Hunting Expedition

This folio has been detached from a manuscript of the Tārikh-i ʿālamārā-yi Shāh Ismaʿīl (World-adorning History of Shah Ismaʿil). Seven lines of Persian in nastaliq script frame a painting of figures on horseback in a landscape. A princely rider-the only personage given full-figure treatment-is the focus of attention. From the surrounding text, he can be identified as the young Ismail I (d. 1524), first ruler of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1722). Considerably younger and more richly dressed than the over-lapping, half-length figures, Isma'il is further set off from his followers by his isolation in the composition.