Persian Islamic Miniature Essay

There is at least one important thematic instance of Persian-Islamic painting that critics cannot employ phenomenology in order to link the formal traits of it to the transcendentality of the center of Islamic art; however, the layering aspects of it has been revealed through adopting historicism standpoint. Investigations on controversial subject matters such as the representation of eroticism in Islamic art and questioning the authority of religion are the results of following historicism perspectives. In the Persian-Islamic miniature the prevalence of the representation of homosociality is rather notable. In many of the illustrations, as a recurring theme, the court of the sponsored king or his battles has been chosen as a model for depicting the content of the manuscripts . Based on the content of manuscripts, the subject of the miniatures varies …show more content…
Judging the history of the male homosocial relationship in pre-modern society of Iran, the reader can approach examining Persian miniature paintings two interrelated standpoints. The first standpoint deals with the discernible presence of young beardless courtiers who were in the entourage of kings serving as hunting and war attendants, musicians and entertainers, valets and equerries. As a figurative element in the miniatures, the young companions with beautiful round faces, side curls on cheeks and elaborated dresses, signify the participation of a third gender, usually a young adult (Shaheed) or an eunuch (Khajeh) in the normative social life of pre-modern Iran based on homophilic acceptance. On one hand this approach links and shows the formal similarities between the Persian literature and art in terms of showcasing the ideal picture of love and on the other hand it sheds lights on the new ways for reading Iranian-Islamic art from a different