Abstract
The so-called ‘Turkman Commercial Style’ in the classification of Persian painting generally refers to a particular style from late fifteenth century Iran that applies to miniature painting. The term was coined by B.W. Robinson in the 1950s in order to distinguish it from a refined style associated with the contemporary Timurid and Turkman courts. The category was labelled ‘Turkman’ since the style largely prevailed during the second half of the fifteenth century in western Iran where Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu tribes, known as Turkmans, dominated.
In terms of its stylistic origins and evolutionary process, north-western Iran - particularly Tabriz - has generally been suggested as a possible origin. Here the style likely developed into the form of what we now call Turkman Commercial Style under the patronage of Qara Qoyunlu Turkman, which later introduced the style into Shiraz and other centres during the course of territory expansion. A basis for this idea can be seen in the earliest copy of Mihr and Mushtarī, dating from 1419, in which miniatures exemplify the early phase of the style largely based on elements descending from the Jalayirid painting, so that the manuscript has been roughly attributed to Tabriz.
Whether this attribution is plausible is one of the topics that this paper deals with. By looking at a colophon and a scribe’s career, as the other authors have already pointed out, there can be little to suggest the manuscript’s link to Tabriz, whereas we can notice elements related to the Timurid and their realm. The paintings themselves also demonstrate a close affinity with Shiraz and Yazd art. Several works made during the 1440s within the Shiraz-influenced milieu also show an early phase of the style, which implies the possibility that the style originated and developed at places other than Tabriz.
