Abstract
In the second half of the 15th century, the most important representatives of miniature art in Herat were Naqqash Bihzâd (1450-1535) and his students. This period coincides with the reigning years of Hussein Baykara (p. 1468-1506), the last glorious period of the Herat miniature school. Sources describe Bihzâd as the best depiction artist of Timurid miniature art and the artist who made it to its most perfect point. Miniature copies of Bihzâd's paintings, Nizamî's Khamsah, Firdevsî's Shahname, Sâdi's Bûstan, etc., are found in many museums and collections around the world today. The most prominent features of miniatures prepared under the direction of Bihzâd are moving and realistic figures; mountains of rocks of pastel colors; colorful flowers; they can be listed as elements of nature, such as detailed leaves and large-leaved sycamore trees seen in a corner of the composition. The other element that stands out in Bihzâd's compositions is the decoration of finely crafted motifs and patterns in interior and outdoor architecture designed to give a certain depth to the scene. In this study, the miniature paintings in the Khamsah (BL Or.6810) of Nizamî –one of the most famous masnavi poets of Iranian literature lived in the 12th century– dated 1495/96 and kept in the British Library in London, is examined. In the study, the decorations on the architectural elements of the three miniature paintings attributed to Bihzâd in Khusraw u Shīrīn, Haft paykar and Iskandarnāmah are examined and evaluated in terms of composition. The aim is to analyze how Bihzâd, while describing architecture, also defines the space and spaces with the decorations consisting of patterns and motifs that we see in other art branches of the period such as illumination, stonework, stucco work, and tiling art, and also to analyze the different areas in architecture in his miniature compositions as well as presenting examples of how they are organized with patterns.