Wikipedia

Farangi-Sazi

Farangi-Sazi (Persian: فرنگی‌سازی, lit. 'making in an Occidental manner') was a style of Persian painting that originated in Safavid Iran in the second half of the 17th century. This style of painting emerged during the reign of Shah Abbas II (r. 1642–1666), but first became prominent under Shah Solayman I (r. 1666–1694).[1]

"Bahram Gor with the Indian Princess," Mohammad Zaman, 1675/76[1]

Farangi-sazi paintings depicted many types of different scenarios, varying from traditional Iranian scenes, such as portrayal of kings and aristocrats, to European depictions, sceneries, biblical, and mythological events.[1]

Only a few 17th-century artists made paintings in the style of Farangi-sazi, the most prominent ones being Aliqoli Jebadar and Mohammad Zaman.[1]

The term & characteristics

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Note: "Saz" refers to the artists and "sazi" their works.[1]

 
Scene from Layla and Majnun. Drawn by Jani in 1684/85 AD (1096 AH) for Engelbert Kaempfer's costume album (now in the British Museum). Notice the use of European techniques like shadow and modelling[2]

The term "Farangi-sazi" as used today seems to have developed in the early 20th century.[1] Specific to late Safavid painting & its derivatives, it excludes the work of later European-trained painters like Sani and Kamal ol-Molk.

The 17th century artist Jani sometimes signed his paintings "Farangi saz", but no other contemporary use of the term is known.[1]

Per Negar Habibi, "farangi-sazi" requires more than a "discreet use of a European technique, a mere presence of chiaroscuro or perspective... The Occidentalist character of some late 17th-century Persian paintings is borne out by the presence of European cultural elements, not in an exhaustive or scientific way, but rather in order to capture some evocative traits and fantasies.”[1]

 
 
Top: Madonna & child, signed Muhammad Zaman1682-83. Right: Jacques Goullon enamel watch ca 1645-50 based on Jacques Stella's Sainte Famille avec Saint Jean-Baptiste (1635)[2]

Characteristics

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Innovations associated with farangi sazi include the following:

These innovations do not strictly follow European conventions. The direction of lighting is often unclear except in candlelit night scenes, and its exposure is often inconsistent.[1]

The use of stippling may have been inspired by paintings on imported enamel objects (watches).[2] See right:

Artists

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Night Halt, 1660-75.[3] Louvre

Muhammad Zaman ibn Haji Yusuf Qumi

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Source:[4]

Muhammad Zaman seems to have been active between 1649[2] and 1704.[4] He died sometime before 1720-21.[4] Very little is known about his life aside from his (and his pupils') inscriptions.

 
Majnun in the Wilderness. Mohammad Zaman, 1676 addition to a 16th century Khamsa

The story that he studied in Rome, converted to Christianity, and fled to India has been rejected by Anatoly Ivanov and others.[5][6]

He is best known for his narrative illustrations for the Khamsa of Nizami and the Shahnameh as well as his variants on European prints.

He is often associated with the signature "ya sahib al-zaman", but he wasn't the only one to have used it.[note 1]

 
Pen Box with a Europeanizing Landscape, late 17th-early 18th century. Signed by Haji Muhammad. Met Museum

Family

His lesser-known brother Haji Muhammad [note 2] and sons Muhammad Ali[7] & Muhammad Yusuf[8][9] were also artists.[1]

Haji Muhammad produced some surviving lacquer paintings.[1] He may have worked with his brother on a privately commissioned Khamsa in the Morgan Library; however, this attribution has been disputed.[note 3][2]

 
Shah (possibly Suleiman I) and hunting party. Unsigned folio from the St. Petersburg Muraqqa attr: Ali Quli Jabbehdar. Courtesy Harvard Special Collections

Aliquli Jabbadar

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The name Jabbadar suggests he was a steward of the Royal Armoury (Jebakhana).[10]

He is speculated to have been of Georgian or Albanian[11] origin based on details in his inscriptions.

 
F.93a from the St. Petersburg Muraqqa. RAS E-14

Close copies of European prints are rare. Instead, his derivative works are often composites of elements taken from multiple sources.[2] Per Habibi, his work is characterized by bright colors, a rejection of outline, and an avoidance of heavy contrasts.[10]

He also produced group portraits recording court ceremony & activities. Several are in the St. Petersburg Muraqqa.[10]

History and context

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Riza-i Abbasi: Young Portuguese (1634) - Detroit Institute of Arts

Background

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After Tahmasp's kitabkhana closed in 1555, miniature production shifted towards standalone pieces, spawning new genres like single-figure portraits and the nude. These also included ghulam-i farangi, depictions of young men in European dress reflecting the growing European presence in Abbas I's reign.[2]

European prints[note 4] made an impression on local artists, occasionally leading to the borrowing of poses and motifs.[note 5] Take the series below, which Stuart Cary Welch suggested was based on a Marcantonio Raimondi engraving.[2]

European visitors[note 6] often brought works of art as gifts to the Safavid court,[note 7] and a few worked as artists themselves, like Philips Angel II (ca. 1653-55).[note 8][2] The New Julfa Armenian community also played a role in transmitting European artistic influence. A few poorly documented Armenian painters- "Marcos"[12] and "Minas"[note 9]- were producing oil-on-canvas portraits in Isfahan in the 1630s & 40s.[13][14] Note similarities between the Europeanizing murals of Chehel Sotoun and some wall paintings in New Julfa; precedence uncertain.[13]

The style develops

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Chehel Sotoun mural. Date contested. Probably between 1647-1660[15]

The late Safavid Europeanizing style possibly originated in building projects like Chehel Sotoun (mid-1600s), whose wall paintings were a blend of variety of artistic traditions- Persian, European, Armenian.[5]

European paintings & prints held in the Khazana[note 10] & Jebakhana[note 11] may also have served as a model. Aliquli Jabbadar's name suggests he was once a steward of the Jebakhana.[10]

Maturity

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Bahram Gur and the dragon. Muhammad Zaman, 1675. Folio 203v of a British Library Khamsa, Or. 2265

By the 1670s, Farangi sazi was used to depict quintessential Persian subjects: scenes from the Shahnameh[note 12] & Nizami's Khamsa and contemporary court life.[5]

The style was one of several that coexisted in the 17th century. Through Mu'in Musavvir and others, the tradition of Reza Abbasi persisted without strong European influence, while other artists like Sheikh Abbasi and his son Ali Naqi worked in an Indian-influenced mode. Still others- among them Reza Abbasi's son Muhammad Shafi- pioneered genres like the gol o morg (flower and bird), sometimes influenced by European and Mughal models. These artists took cues selectively from European & Mughal conventions, adopting a new approach to light and shadow and to landscape.

Later developments

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The hybrid Isfahani style continued at regional centers like Shiraz after the fall of the Safavid state. Painters active in the style included Muhammad-Ali ibn Muhammad Zaman[note 13] and Muhammad-Ali ibn Abdu'l Naaisha's Ibn Ali-Quli Jubbadar.[note 14][16]

 
Pen Box with Architectural Cartouches. Signed 'Ali Ashraf, 1156 AH/1743–44 CE. Met Museum.
 
"Portrait of a Persian Lady", Folio from the Davis Album. dated 1149 AH/1736–37 CE. Met Museum

The style also survived in lacquer paintings like those of 'Ali Ashraf. 'Ali Ashraf had studied under Muhammad Zaman, and his designs bring to mind his teacher's treatment of flowers,[17] which was further developed in the early Qajar period by Muhammad Hadi.[16] Muhammad Sadiq, another painter who sometimes worked on lacquer, is also known for miniatures in the Europeanizing manner[18] and for oil paintings in the Negarestan.[16] Some credit to him the genre of portraiture that would define early Qajar court art decades later.[19]

Album production reflected this continued interest in foreign styles. In the Afsharid-era St. Petersburg Muraqqa, freshly looted Mughal and Deccan miniatures (some of them Europeanizing) were placed alongside European prints and Safavid Farangi-sazi[note 15] and framed with lavish decorative borders.[20] Muhammad Baqir was one of the artists who worked on these borders; his floral decorations in the Europeanized Indo-Persian style are especially striking. Muhammad Baqir's work also included copies of European prints, copies of older Farangi-sazi, and oil-on-canvas portraits.[note 16]

Precedents

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The Diez and Fatih Albums contain a few 14th/15th century Jalayirid or Timurid pieces inscribed as "kar-i-farang", possibly based on medieval French or Iberian models.[21]

 
Ink & wash drawing of 8 figures in late 14th century European costume. Possibly made by a Jalayirid artist c. 1370 in Baghdad or Tabriz and inserted later into the Fatih Album

The farangi manner's reputation for naturalism persisted through the Timurid era. [note 17] [note 18] The late Timurid poetAlisher Nava'i listed mastery of "farangi" and "khata'i" [note 19] styles as skills one could expect from an illuminator. Although these terms were well established in the early 15th century, their use was often imprecise and their styles confused.[note 20][21]

European folios from the mid-16th century Bahram Mirza album (Topkapi H. 2154), compiled in Safavid Tabriz, provide another glimpse into the reception of Western European art before the 17th century.

The Indian connection

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Painting by Rahim Deccani. He possibly moved in the late 17th century from Golconda to Iran, where lacquer paintings by him could be found in the 19th century[22]

European artistic influences may also have arrived by way of Mughal and Deccan India.[23]

The styles of Bahram Sofrakesh and Shaykh Abbasi[24] reflect this influence explicitly, and Aliquli Jabbadar may have produced copies of early 17th century Mughal paintings.[note 21]

Indian influence also contributed to the maturation of the gol-o-morg genre in the mid-17th century under painters like Shafi Abbasi. Related was a new genre of floral studies which took cues from Mughal European-influenced[note 22] models.

Decades later, the campaigns of Nader Shah brought many looted Mughal and Deccan miniatures to Iran,[note 23] where they were installed in muraqqas like the Davis and St. Petersburg Albums. Some miniatures may have been overpainted in Iran in the Persian Europeanizing style.[20]

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    Aquatic Birds at a Pool, folio from the Davis Album. Late 1600s-early 1700s. According to the object listing, possibly by Aliquli Jabbadar. Met Museum
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    Lacquer pen box painted in Muhammad Zaman's style. Signed Haji Muhammad,[note 24] 1124 AH (1712-13 AD). Khalili Collections
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    Rampaging elephants, Iran, late 17th-early 18th century. School of Muhammad Zaman
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    Grand vizier Shah Quli Khan presents a ring, 1694-95. Attribution contested; possibly Muhammad Sultani or Muhammad Zaman. St. Petersburg Muraqqa
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    Portrait of a Princely Youth, late 17th century. Museum of Islamic Art, Doha. MIA.2014.453
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    Palace Garden of Hazar Jarib in Aliabad, late 17th century. Commissioned by a Dutchman. Note perspective & treatment of trees.[2] Rijksmuseum
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    Portrait of Sakinah from Engelbert Kaempfer's costume album, 1684–85, with paintings by Jani "Farangi-saz". British Museum

Muhammad Zaman & Aliquli Jabbadar

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Continuity and later developments

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Qajar legacy

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Single-flower studies; flower & bird

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Single-flower studies:

See also: https://www.flickr.com/photos/persianpainting/16242329754

Miscellaneous

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Muhammad Zaman's 17.7 × 24.9 cm version from 1684/85 in the St. Petersburg Muraqqa is not shown. Link in footnote[26]

The added top-left cloud can also be seen in Zaman's version.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ There were a series of painters who signed their works with this inscription in the 18th century See object description: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/448442 For other "Zamans": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Shah_Abbas_II,_by_Mohammad_Zaman_III_(active_1758-1795),_Qajar_Iran,_second_half_18th_century.jpg Deux filles | Musées d'art et d'histoire de Genève (mahmah.ch) Un rossignol et une rose | Musées d'art et d'histoire de Genève (mahmah.ch) File:Eagle on a Tree - Agha Zaman II - Islamic Consultative Assembly Museum of Iran.jpg - Wikimedia Commons File:Sheikh San'an and the Christian Girl - Agha Zaman II - Islamic Consultative Assembly Museum of Iran.jpg - Wikipedia File:Rose and Nightingale - Agha Zaman II - Islamic Consultative Assembly Museum of Iran.jpg https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/351869?position=351869 https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/arts-of-the-islamic-world-l09723/lot.68.html
  2. ^ Note: The Grove Encyclopedia entry for Muhammad Zaman says he had a brother named Muhammad Ibrahim (ibn Hajji Yusuf) but does not mention him using "Haji Muhammad". However, the Iranica article on Farangi-sazi by Negar Habibi does mention Muhammad Zaman having a brother named "Haji Mohammad-Ebrahim". Also see the listing here: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454014
  3. ^ Skeptics point out how its illustrations are of poorer quality than Muhammad Zaman's better-known illustrations in royal manuscripts. Langer suggests this "uncharacteristic haste" can be explained by the fact that the manuscript was produced for a private patron, perhaps on a tight schedule.
  4. ^ In the reign of Abbas I, one Alessandro Scudenoli ran a shop with Italian art in a Isfahan bazaar
  5. ^ A similar process occurred at the same time in the Mughal Empire (and Deccan Sultanates) with greater frequency and intensity. See Farrukh Beg's portrait of a Sufi sage based on Durer's Melancholia I, dated 1615 after his return to Agra.
  6. ^ and also the shah's Armenian subjects; see Langer for recorded instances
  7. ^ These included the medieval Morgan Bible (gifted to Abbas I,1608) as well as portraits of Charles I of England and his wife Henrietta Maria (gifted to Shah Safi, 1638; not extant). They also included decorative objects like enameled watches
  8. ^ However, none of their works are known to survive
  9. ^ Minas studied under a Dutch artist in Aleppo. No known works by him survive.
  10. ^ e.g. Royal Treasury
  11. ^ Royal Treasury
  12. ^ See this 1663-69 Shahnameh in the Metropolitan Museum
  13. ^ son of Muhammad Zaman
  14. ^ grandson of Aliquli Jabbadar
  15. ^ These practices can also be seen in smaller (but even more eclectic) albums like Dorn 489.
  16. ^ A (different?) Muhammad Baqir was also involved in enamel painting in the early Qajar era. See this bowl inscribed with his name in the Ashmolean Museum
  17. ^ For an early 15th century example from Samarkand or Herat cited by Necipoglu in her article, see Diez fol 71, p 64 no 2.png - Wikipedia. Also note this 15th century Timurid drawing of the Hellenistic Tazza Farnese, which Necipoglu includes in her article on kar-i-farang even if its source material cannot be called "Farangi".
  18. ^ Arras tapestries in Bayezid I's collection were taken to Samarkand after the Battle of Ankara, and chronicler Ibn Arabshah commented enthusiastically on their naturalism. See Necipoglu
  19. ^ e.g. Chinese ("Cathayan")
  20. ^ This imprecision could explain Abd al Razzaq Samarqandi's improbable reference to "naqsh-i farangī va khaṭāʾī" in a Hindu temple in Southern India. (This is mentioned in the Necipoglu article) It is also reflected in inscriptions misattributing Chinese/Sinicizing drawings to the "farangi" style; one example named in the Necipoglu article is this painting of two Daoist immortals (zoom in, bottom right)
  21. ^ Including works by (or attributed to) Govardhan, Payag, and Manohar. For details, see the descriptions here: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6099293 https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/arts-of-the-islamic/majnun-or-a-wandering-dervish-attributed-to For examples: https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-album-page-with-an-indian-fakir-mss-1004/ https://www.bonhams.com/auction/18950/lot/41/an-astrologer-with-holy-men-at-a-hermitage-attributed-to-ali-quli-jabbadar-fl-late-17th-early-18th-century-after-the-mughal-artist-govardhan-isfahan-late-17th-century/ https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/collection/artifact/group-sages-discussion-akm186
  22. ^ See https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2014/03/mughal-flower-studies-and-their-european-inspiration.html
  23. ^ See also Gulshan Album
  24. ^ The object listing does not identify this Haji Muhammad as Muhammad Zaman's brother
  25. ^ great-uncle of Sani al-Mulk
  26. ^ Dating and attribution contested

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Habibi 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Langer, Axel. "European Influences on Seventeenth-Century Persian Painting: Of Handsome Europeans, Naked Ladies, and Parisian Timepieces." In The Fascination of Persia: Persian-European Dialogue in Seventeenth-Century Art & and Contemporary Art of Teheran, edited by Axel Langer. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2013.
  3. ^ Object page: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010319059
  4. ^ a b c Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S. (2009), "Muhammad Zaman", The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195309911.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1, retrieved 2024-03-18
  5. ^ a b c Landau, Amy S. “From Poet to Painter: Allegory and Metaphor in a Seventeenth-Century Persian Painting by Muhammad Zaman, Master of Farangi-Sazi." Muqarnas 28 (2011): 101–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23350285.
  6. ^ Ivanov, A. A. “The Life of Muḥammed Zamān: A Reconsideration.” Journal of Persian Studies 17 (1979): 65–70. https://doi.org/10.2307/4299675.
  7. ^ For some of his works: https://hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/08.+applied+arts/228498
  8. ^ Axel Langer "Pencase" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;sw;Mus21;9;en
  9. ^ https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG12636
  10. ^ a b c d Habibi, Negar. “The Making of New Art: From the Khazana to Its Audience at the Court of Shah Soleyman.” Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires, 2021. doi:10.5040/9780755633814.CH-018.
  11. ^ https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6099293
  12. ^ Three signed works from him are in the Royal Collection Trust (one is linked)
  13. ^ a b Babaie, Sussan. “Shah ʿAbbas II, the Conquest of Qandahar, the Chihil Sutun, and Its Wall Paintings.” Muqarnas , 1994, Vol. 11 (1994), pp. 125-142. Brill.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523214
  14. ^ a b "Woman from New Julfa". Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  15. ^ Babaie, Sussan. “Shah ʿAbbas II, the Conquest of Qandahar, the Chihil Sutun, and Its Wall Paintings.” Muqarnas , 1994, Vol. 11 (1994), pp. 125-142. Brill.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523214
  16. ^ a b c d Diba, Layla. "Persian Painting in the Eighteenth Century: Tradition and Transmission." In Muqarnas, 1989. https://www.academia.edu/33526034/Persian_Painting_in_the_Eighteenth_Century_Tradition_and_Transmission
  17. ^ "῾Ali Ashraf." In The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, edited by Bloom, Jonathan M., and Sheila S. Blair. : Oxford University Press, 2009. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195309911.001.0001/acref-9780195309911-e-63.
  18. ^ See the following: Conversation sur une terrasse | Musées d'art et d'histoire de Genève (mahmah.ch)
  19. ^ Broadhurst, Louise (2019). "A Lady at Leisure". Christie's. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  20. ^ a b The St. Petersburg Muraqqa : Album of Indian and Persian Miniatures from the 16th through the 18th Century and Specimens of Persian Calligraphy by ʻImād al-Ḥasanī. Milan: Leonardo Arte, 1996. http://www.orientalstudies.ru/eng/images/pdf/st.petersburg_muraqqa_1996.pdf
  21. ^ a b Necipoğlu, Gülru. "Persianate Images between Europe and China: The ‘Frankish Manner'." In The Diez Albums: Contexts and Contents. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
  22. ^ See object description: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16057/casket-casket-rahim-deccani/ For another of his works, see https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/arts-of-the-islamic-world-india-including-fine-rugs-and-carpets/a-european-dandy-and-a-female-companion-in-a
  23. ^ Schmitz, Barbara. "Indian Influences on Persian Painting". In Encyclopedia Iranica, Vol. XIII, Fasc. 1, pp. 76-81 (2006). Accessed on https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/india-xxi-indian-influences-on-persian-painting
  24. ^ Haidar, Navina Najat (2015). "The Art of the Deccan Courts". Sultans of Deccan India. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 23, 249–250. ISBN 978-1-58839-566-5.
  25. ^ The St. Petersburg Muraqqa : Album of Indian and Persian Miniatures from the 16th through the 18th Century and Specimens of Persian Calligraphy by ʻImād al-Ḥasanī. Milan: Leonardo Arte, 1996. http://www.orientalstudies.ru/eng/images/pdf/st.petersburg_muraqqa_1996.pdf
  26. ^ See here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aliarda/25368013193

Sources

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  • Botchkareva, Anastasia A. “Topographies of Taste: Aesthetic Practice in 18th-Century Persianate Albums,” Issue 6 Albums (Fall 2018), https://www.journal18.org/3245. DOI: 10.30610/6.2018.7
  • Diba, Layla. "Persian Painting in the Eighteenth Century: Tradition and Transmission." In Muqarnas, 1989. https://www.academia.edu/33526034/Persian_Painting_in_the_Eighteenth_Century_Tradition_and_Transmission
  • Habibi, Negar (2021). "Farangi-Sazi". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
  • Habibi, Negar. “ʿAli Quli Jibadar and the St Petersburg Muraqqa': Documenting the Royal Life?". Proceedings of the Eighth European Conference of Iranian Studies, 2020.
  • Habibi, Negar. “The Making of New Art: From the Khazana to Its Audience at the Court of Shah Soleyman.” Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires, 2021. doi:10.5040/9780755633814.CH-018.
  • Landau, Amy S. “From Poet to Painter: Allegory and Metaphor in a Seventeenth-Century Persian Painting by Muhammad Zaman, Master of Farangi-Sazi." Muqarnas 28 (2011): 101–31. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23350285.
  • Langer, Axel. "European Influences on Seventeenth-Century Persian Painting: Of Handsome Europeans, Naked Ladies, and Parisian Timepieces." In The Fascination of Persia: Persian-European Dialogue in Seventeenth-Century Art & and Contemporary Art of Teheran, edited by Axel Langer. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2013.
  • Necipoğlu, Gülru. "Persianate Images between Europe and China: The ‘Frankish Manner'." In The Diez Albums: Contexts and Contents. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

Further reading

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