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[‛Alawī; Filālī]

Islamic dynasty and rulers of Morocco since 1631. Like their predecessors the Sa‛dis, the ‛Alawis are sharīfs (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad), and both dynasties are sometimes classed together as the ‘Sharifs of Morocco’. From a base in the Tafilalt region of south-east Morocco, the ‛Alawi family was able to overcome the centrifugal forces exerted by the Berber tribes who had destroyed the Sa‛di state in the first half of the 17th century. To restore political authority and territorial integrity, Mawlay Isma‛il (reg 1672–1727) added a new black slave corps to the traditional tribal army. Although royal power was weak during the 19th century and the early 20th, when the French and Spanish established protectorates, the ‛Alawis’ power was fully restored after independence from the French in 1956.

‛Alawi building activities (see Islamic art, §II, 7(v)) were concentrated in the four cities that have served as their capitals: Fez and Marrakesh at various times from ...

[Mihr ‛Alī]

(fl c. 1795–1830).

Persian painter. He produced at least ten full-size oil paintings of the Qajar monarch Fath ‛Ali Shah (reg 1797–1834). One of the earliest (1797–8; Calcutta, Victoria Mem. Hall), a portrait of him kneeling on a carpet, was probably sent as a present to the amirs of Sind in 1800. Two fine portraits (1803–4 and 1804–5) were painted for the Hall of the Marble Throne in the Gulistan Palace, Tehran, and a third, of the King enthroned (undated; Versailles, Château), was sent to Napoleon. These early portraits show Fath ‛Ali Shah with a squat neck and round face, but Mihr ‛Ali’s drawings improved in the first decade of the 19th century and later portraits show the King with more flattering proportions. These later paintings include portraits of the King standing (1809–10; St Petersburg, Hermitage), kneeling and holding a mace (1813–14; St Petersburg, Hermitage), and a third with the date obliterated (London, B. W. Robinson priv. col.). Mihr ‛Ali’s finest portrait, and perhaps the finest ...

[Ashraf; ‛Alī Ashraf]

(fl c. 1735–80).

Persian painter. Known for a large number of painted and varnished (‘lacquered’) bookbindings, penboxes and mirror-cases (see Islamic art, §viii, 10), ‛Ali Ashraf worked in a small floral style with a characteristic motif of pansies or African violets on a black ground. His style, notable for its richness and delicacy, is derived directly from that of his teacher Muhammad Zaman but is standardized and simplified. His debt to his teacher can be seen in his signature, az ba‛d-i mu ḥammad ‛alī ashraf ast, which can be read as either ‘‛Ali [the Prophet’s son-in-law] is the noblest after Muhammad [the Prophet]’ or ‘‛Ali Ashraf is a follower of Muhammad [Zaman]’. This is the way he signed four mirror-cases with fine bird-and-flower designs (1740–1, Edinburgh, Royal Mus. Scotlandr, 1921–43; 1747, London, V&A, 758–1876; 1751–2, New York, Brooklyn Mus., 88.92; and 1755–6, London, J. Pope-Hennessy priv. col.) and a similar but undated penbox (Berne, Hist. Mus., 21–...

[Mīrzā Bābā]

(fl c. 1795–1830).

Persian painter. Reportedly a native of Isfahan, he was employed by the Qajar family at Astarabad, as indicated by a signed drawing of a dragon and phoenix (1788–9; ex-Pozzi priv. col.). After Agha Muhammad (reg 1779–97) ascended the throne, Mirza Baba worked at the Qajar court in Tehran in a wide variety of materials, techniques and scales. His oil portrait (1789–90; Tehran, Nigaristan Mus.) of the Sasanian king Hurmuzd IV (reg ad 579–90) probably belonged to a series of historical portraits, for Mirza Baba painted a second series a decade later. One of the two surviving paintings from the later series (Tehran, A. H. Ibtihaj priv. col.) shows the Saljuq ruler Malikshah (reg 1072–92) with his two ministers. Other early works by Mirza Baba include a still-life with pomegranates, watermelon and flowers (?1793–4; Tehran, Nigaristan Mus.) and an arched panel showing Shirin Visiting Farhad as He Carves Mt Bisitun...

[Muḥammad Bāqir]

(fl 1750s–1760s).

Persian painter. He is known for decorations in the margins of manuscripts, copies of European prints and 17th-century paintings, and wash drawings. His subjects range from floral sprays to nudes, such as the watercolour of a sleeping nymph (1765; Dublin, Chester Beatty Lib., cat. no. 282.VI). He contributed paintings and marginal decorations to a sumptuous album (1758–9; St Petersburg, Hermitage), probably compiled for the Afsharid court historian Mirza Mahdi Khan Astarabadi. Muhammad Baqir’s punning signature there suggests that he was a pupil of ‛Ali Ashraf. Muhammad Baqir signed one of the finest marginal paintings in a smaller but similar album (1764; dispersed; sold Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 23 June 1982) and may have been responsible for all of them, which include rose sprays and copies of Susannah and the Elders. Muhammad Baqir is sometimes said to have continued to work under the Qajar ruler Fath ‛Ali Shah (...

Site in Tajikistan, 25 km west of Dushanbe above the confluence of the Khanaka River and the Kafirnigan River. The pisé walls of the fortress, arched gateways, and flanking towers of fired brick, two madrasas, and the nearby mosque date from the 16th–19th century, when the fortress was the residence of the Hissar bek. Excavations (1980–1982) by Ye. V. Zeymal’ revealed that the fortress was erected on an artificial hill comprising occupation layers dating at least from the 3rd–2nd century bce onward. The large Tup-khona burial ground containing Yueh-chih and Kushana burials (1st century bce–3rd century ce) was clearly associated with the inhabitants of the Hissar site. Another burial ground near Hissar appears to be earlier than the 7th century ce in date. The tentative identification of the Hissar Fortress with the town of Shuman, mentioned in written sources of the 10th–12th century, has not yet been substantiated by reliable evidence. The site is now a historical and archaeological museum reserve, and the finds are housed in the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences, Donish Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography in Dushanbe....

[Muḥammad Ja‛far]

(fl c. 1800–30).

Persian painter. He was the most prolific painter in enamels at the court of the Qajar monarch Fath ‛Ali Shah (reg 1797–1834), but unlike his contemporaries Baqir and ‛Ali, Muhammad Ja‛far did not attach a title to his name when he signed his work. One of his earliest works is an inkpot for a penbox (1805; sold Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 25 May 1964, lot 2) decorated with busts of a young man and a girl. His most impressive pieces are large objects made for official presentation to foreign dignitaries. He enamelled several large gold dishes that are decorated with a lion and sun in the centre panel surrounded by alternating birds and floral swags. One (1813; ex-Kazrouni priv. col.; sold London, Sotheby’s, March 1954, lot 867) was presented to Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844), the British ambassador to Iran, and another made of solid gold and weighing more than six pounds (...

(b 1753; d Brighton, Aug 19, 1807).

English collector. He went to India in 1770 as a writer in the Bengal Civil Service and spent ten years in Calcutta, occupying various posts including assistant to the Governor-General Warren Hastings (1732–1818). Johnson became very rich, augmenting his salary with private trade, and he also took part in the intellectual life surrounding Hastings, studying oriental languages, commissioning copies of manuscripts for his own use and purchasing paintings. He was in Lucknow as Head Assistant to the Resident (1780–82), where he increased his collection. On returning to Calcutta, he became friends with the Orientalist scholar William Jones (1746–94). Johnson was Resident at Hyderabad (1784–5), where he again extended his collection, especially with Deccani paintings. Recalled to Calcutta, he became involved with the Asiatic Society of Bengal, founded by Jones. In 1786 Johnson joined the Board of Revenue and became Chairman of the General Bank of India, a post he held until his departure from India in ...

(b Korçë; fl 1770–1807).

Albanian architect. He graduated as an engineer and was the chief architect (1800–07) of Ali Pasha Tepelena (1741–1822), ruler of an Albanian state based at Ioannina, Greece. Chroniclers of the time attribute to Korçari many projects, among which are the seraglio (1804; destr. 1819) in Tepelenë Castle, Tepelenë Bridge (1804; destr. 1807), the palace (1800–07) in the village of Karkalopulo, near Ioannina, and a palace, several houses and a mosque at the castle of Suli (1805), near Parga, Greece. His greatest project was the architectural ensemble at Ioannina Castle (1805; destr. 1822), consisting of five palaces (seraglios), of which the Litharici and the Qoshk were recorded as the most beautiful. As in all his palaces, the ground floors had very high and thick stone walls, characteristic of the ‘Albanian tower’ type of house (see Albania, §II...

[MoghulMogul]

Dynasty of Central Asian origin that ruled portions of the Indian subcontinent from 1526 to 1857.

R. Nath and Jonathan M. Bloom, revised by Sheila S. Blair

The dynasty’s name Mughal derives from the word Mongol, as the founder (1) Babur (‘tiger’) was a Chaghatay prince in Central Asia who was descended on his father’s side from the Mongol warlord Timur (see Timurid family, §II, (1)) and on his mother’s from Genghis Khan. After losing his Central Asian kingdom of Ferghana, Babur conquered Kabul in 1504 and then defeated the Lodi sultan at Panipat in 1526 and the Rajput cliefs at Kanwa near Agra the following year. With these victories he gained a foothold in northern India and established a capital at Delhi (see Delhi, §I, 6; see fig.). Babur was succeeded by his son (2) Humayun (‘auspicious’), who was dislodged within a decade by nobles of the old Lodi regime, particularly Farid Khan Sur (...

(b Lüdingworth, Hannover, March 17, 1733; d Meldorf, April 26, 1815).

German traveller and scholar. The son of a small farmer, in 1760 he was invited to join the Arabian expedition of Frederick V of Denmark as surveyor and geographer, and in January 1761 a team set sail which included the philologist F. C. von Haven (1727–63), natural scientist Petrus Forskål (1732–63), physician Christian C. Cramer (1732–63) and artist Georg Wilhelm Baurenfeind (1728–63). The party visited the Nile, Mt Sinai, Suez and Jiddah and then travelled overland to Mukha (Mocha) in south-west Arabia. In 1763 after the death of the philologist and the natural scientist, the others visited San‛a, capital of the Yemen, and returned to Mukha. They then set sail for Bombay, the artist dying at sea and the physician in Bombay, leaving Niebuhr as sole survivor. He stayed in India for just over a year and then returned to Europe via Muscat in south-east Arabia, Iran, Mesopotamia, Cyprus and Asia Minor, reaching Copenhagen in ...

[Osmanlı]

Islamic dynasty that began to rule in Anatolia in 1281; at its greatest extent in the 16th century the Ottoman empire also included the Balkans, the Crimea, Iraq, Syria, the Hijaz, Egypt and North Africa. It lasted until the promulgation of the Constitution of the Turkish Republic in 1924.

Çigdem Kafesçioglu

The Ottomans claimed descent from the eponymous Osman (‛Uthman), a Turkish ruler active in north-west Anatolia at the end of the 13th century and beginning of the 14th. His small emirate grew at the expense of the declining state of the Saljuqs of Anatolia (see Saljuq family, §2). Ideologically based on the concept of religious warfare (Turk. gaza, from Arab. ghazw), the state expanded rapidly to the west over Byzantine territory in Thrace and the Balkans, and to the east over the Turkish principalities of Anatolia (see Beylik). The first major expansion took place under Osman’s son Orhan (...