Central Asian miniature painting
The beginning of the sixteenth century is marked by important historic changes in Central Asia. If until then it used to be part of the Timurid state, after the invasion of the Uzbek nomads commanded by Sheibani-Khan, and his struggle against the Timurids, in Maverannakhr (a region between the Amu-Darya and the Syr-Darya), the independent state of Sheibanid was formed, with the capital in Samarkand. The other areas fell under the reign of the Sefevid dynasty, with Tebrizas its capital. This was the time of unrest, brought about by the struggle of the newly formed states for the Timurid heritage, aggravated by religious clashes.


Fragment. Mural painting. Afrasiab
Fragment. Mural painting. Afrasiab


These events could not but tell on the cultural life of Central Asia in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, specifically, on miniature painting displaying the features of the renowned Herat Timurid school, the nomadic tastes of the Sheibanids, and the folklore vision of unity of man and nature. There were very few manuscripts left from the beginning of the century, in fact, there could not have been too many in the years of wars and invasions, nor could there be any in the year 1510 — when the founder of the dynasty had perished.

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