The ʿAbbasid bride of the Caliph Muqtadi, Folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan

Author: Ahmad

1573-74 CE/980 AH/AH 980

Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper

Aga Khan Museum

A procession of men on horseback and on foot, some carrying boxes, moves through a landscape with a tree. A central palanquin is carried by two horses. A procession of men on horseback and on foot, some carrying boxes, moves through a landscape with a tree. A central palanquin is carried by two horses. Further Reading Here, a parade of horses, riders, and camels is depicted moving from the right to the left of the image. In the centre of the procession, a camel carries a carriage in which a woman is seated, as if on a throne. This illustration tells of the upcoming marriage of the ʿAbbasid Caliph Muqtadi in 1087. His bride, a noble Seljuk woman—with many camels as a dowry—is being escorted from Isfahan to Baghdad. The fact that the Seljuk minister Nizam al-Mulk is shown accompanyin