In the Persian manuscript painting tradition, pictorial representations of written text, or painted inscriptions, greet us sometimes formulaically, in pairs adorning walls, for instance, reading, ‘May there be happiness!’ and ‘May there be good fortune!’ At other times, early modern Iranian manuscripts identify their patrons in paintings, where the patron’s name appears on a frieze in represented architecture. One of the most well-known paintings from the Khamsa of Shah Êahmāsb (British Library Or. 2265, conventionally dated 946–9/1539–43) does precisely that: in ‘Khusraw Enthroned’ (f. 60v), a band of inscription runs along two sides of the pavilion in which Khusraw sits [Figure 17.1]. The inscription expresses wishes for the longevity of the sovereignty of Êahmāsb (r. 930–84/1524–76), and the name of the monarch coincides with the apex of the arch, aligned neatly with the fictional king sitting underneath. This painting is perhaps the best known from the manuscript, and it is often used in modern scholarship to illustrate how the manuscript praises the wealth, taste and power of its patron.

By the early tenth/sixteenth century, painted inscriptions like the one naming Shah Êahmāsb were a common feature of book illustrations in Iran. Today, the increasing number of digitised and searchable literary texts gives contemporary scholars a new chance to identify and analyse this underutilised body of evidence. Recent scholarship is beginning to demonstrate painted inscriptions’ versatile artistic potential beyond their benedictory function or ability to name a patron. For instance, in a manuscript made in Timurid Iran in the late ninth/fifteenth century, inscribed poetry places the paintings’ renowned artist, Bihzād (active 875–912/1470–1506), at the centre of the interpretive process by inviting the viewers to admire the skill and creativity of the painter, as Lamia Balafrej has shown. Paintings from the turn of the tenth/sixteenth century frequently depict architectural inscriptions that refer to a specific aspect of the painting, such as a building’s dome, as Barry Wood has demonstrated. In both cases, painted inscriptions create novel word-and-image associations that speak to the aesthetic and literary discernment of the viewer, and cue the audience on a specific interpretation.

Appearing over doorways and on walls, adorning carpets and buildings, numerous other painted inscriptions populate Shah Ṭahmāsb’s copy of the Khamsa of Niẓāmī. Some of these inscriptions flatter and glorify the patron, linking the depicted world of Niẓāmī to the non-diegetic domain of Ṭahmāsb.