In his chapter in volume V of this series, Professor Grabar wrote of the present difficulty of coordinating the monuments of the visual arts with the events of the time. To some extent this is less true of the Timurid and Safavid periods, for two reasons; the existence of near contemporary literary sources for the art of the period, especially the arts of the book; and secondly the clearer relation of political events, changes of capital, the patronage of princes, the greater extent of surviving material.

Still, even for this period, there are striking gaps in our knowledge: the small amount of architecture of the 9th/15th century in western Iran; the complete disappearance of 15th century carpets; the lack of any wall-paintings or of portrait drawings which can be attributed with any security to the 15th century; and of any paintings from Samarqand or Bukhārā of the same period. Again, there has been far too little systematic publication, in spite of the marked progress during the past forty years; we still await definitive publication of the Bāīsunqur and the Tahmāsp Shāh-nāma manuscripts, for instance; even the work of Bihzād, the most famous painter of Persia, is not yet satisfactorily defined nor his life-history properly established. However, the history of miniature painting is well enough known during these two and a half centuries for an account to be given of the stylistic course and for its assessment in the scale of world art. For, with architecture, this is now the major artistic expression of Iran during this period which witnessed the rise and decline of its classic style.