Datei:The ʿAbbasid bride of the Caliph Muqtadi, folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan, Iran, probably Shiraz, dated 1573-74.jpg

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

Accession Number:AKM272.f76v

Creator:Author: Ahmad b. Muhammad Ghaffari, Persian, died 1567 Scribe: Ahmad al-Shirazi

Place:Iran, Shiraz (probably)

Dimensions:38.7 cm × 25 cm × 6.4 cm

Date:1573-74 CE/980 AH/AH 980

Materials and Technique:Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper

The miniature painting "The ʿAbbasid bride of the Caliph Muqtadi" is from an intact manuscript of Kitab-i Nigaristan, a collection of anecdotes and historical incidents written in prose by the historian and scholar Ahmad Muhammad Ghaffari (1504–1567/68) of Kashan in 1551–2. This illustrated manuscript, dated 1573, was probably produced in a Shiraz workshop.

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 accompanying the train emphasizes the political importance of this connection. The marriage is described in the Nigaristan as a union of two noble houses, the Prophet's House and the Seljuks, and is an important incident in the history of the ʿAbbasid dynasty.