Mo'en Mosavver or Mu‘in Musavvir ( fa, معین مصوّر, lit. Mo'en the painter) was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

miniaturist A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

, one of the significant in 17th-century Safavid Iran. Not much is known about the personal life of Mo'en, except that he was born in ca. 1610-1615, became a pupil of

Reza Abbasi Reza Abbasi, Riza yi-Abbasi or Reza-e Abbasi, رضا عباسی in Persian, usually Reza Abbasi also Aqa Reza (see below) or Āqā Riżā Kāshānī ( – 1635) was the leading Persian miniaturist of the Isfahan School during the later Safavid ...

, the leading painter of the day, and probably died in 1693. Over 300 miniatures and drawings attributed to him survive. He was a conservative painter who partly reversed the advanced style of his master, avoiding influences from Western painting. However, he painted a number of scenes of ordinary people, which are unusual in Persian painting. Muin was born in Isfahan and probably spent all of his life in this city. He enjoyed a long and successful career stretching from around 1630 to 1693.

Career

He is notable as a master of illustration paintings especially figures, and compositions depicting banquet and battle scenes. He specialized in illuminated manuscripts and border decorations. He illustrated animals and landscapes and other

Aqa Mirak Aqa Mirak (fl. 1520 – Qazvin, 1576) was a Persian illustrator and painter. Life Aqa Mirak was a painter, purveyor and companion to the Safavid shah Tahmasp I and was well known in contemporary circles. Initially living in Tabriz, he traveled a ...

styles with significant virtuosity. He mostly used

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

in his painting and remained faithful to the Isfahan school and

. Other prominent painters influenced him, including Behzad, Mohammadi and Sadiqi Beg. He had several prominent pupils. Some of his manuscripts are signed by them. He was contemporary and friend of famous painters including Shafi' Abbasi.

Gallery

File:Muin Mussavir archer.jpg, Archer, version of this painting by

File:Muin Mussavir Tiger.jpg File:Muin Mussavir 1642.jpg File:Muin Musavvir 1696.jpg File:Mu'in. Portrait of Riza-i-Abbasi. 1673. Princeton University..jpg, Portrait of

, 1673 File:The Battle between Shah Ismail and Shaybani Khan.jpg, The battle between Shah Ismail and Shaybani Khan File:Shah Ismail I Watches His Troops Defeat the Musha' sha' leader Sultan Fayyad. Persian manuscript, created c. 1688.jpg, Shah

Ismail I Ismail I ( fa, اسماعیل, Esmāʿīl, ; July 17, 1487 – May 23, 1524), also known as Shah Ismail (), was the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Safavid Iran, Iran, ruling as its King of Kings (''Shahanshah'') from 1501 to 1524. His re ...

(1501-1524) watches his troops defeat the Musha'sha leader Sultan Fayyad, created File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art laq-0001-top-side.jpg, Lacquer pen box, the only one known to have been painted by Muin File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art mss 1000.2a.jpg, Woman with Indian headdress, from an exemplar of the

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...

, 1648

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muin Musavvir Artists from Isfahan 1610s births 1693 deaths Persian miniature painters 17th-century painters of Safavid Iran 17th-century Iranian painters