Timurid Ladies (Patreon)

Portrait of a queen and a noblewoman, based on 15th century Timurid miniatures from Herat and Tabriz. The queen is wearing a crown (taj), which signifies her royal status.

Timurid women wore a transparent undergarment called pīrāhan. It had a high neck but was sometimes cut to expose the neck and chest. On this garment, they wore multiple layers of qabā, or a buttoned coat.

Overgarments included coats or cloaks, which were often fur-lined and decorated with gold embroidery. Many designs of these embroideries were of Chinese style, which was introduced during the Mongolian rule of the previous century.

This basic structure of women’s ensemble remained largely unchanged throughout Iran and Central Asia for centuries afterwards. Especially in Persia, décolletage extended even lower to the navel by the 16th century.

Sources

Princely Couple, 1400~1405, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ferdowsi, Shanameh, 1430, Gulistan Museum (Ms. 716)

Ferdowsi, Shanameh, 1430~35, Bodleian Library (Ms. Ouseley Add. 176)

Four figures beneath a tree, 15th century, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah

Nizami Aruzi Samarqandi, Chahar Maqala, 1431, Minneapolis Institute of Art (no. 51.37.30)

Nizami Ganjavi, Khamsa, 1494~95, The British Library (Or.6810)

Saadi Shirazi, Gulistan, 1427, Chester Beatty Library (Per 119.16)

Timurid tiles panel, 1400~1500, Barakat Gallery

Wine Drinking in a Spring Garden, ca.1430, The Metropolitan Museum of Art