MUZAFFAR 'ALI

flourished c. 1540, c. 1576 Persian miniaturist and calligrapher known best for his elegant human figures in rich, lyrical settings, who painted during the great flowering of Persian painting under the Safavid shahs. He was the son of the Safavid painter Haydar 'Ali and a relative of the great painter Behzad, who is said to have taught him at Tabriz. Muzaffar 'Ali was a favourite painter of Shah Tahmasp I and became one of the leaders of the school of Kazvin. He worked on the shah's great Shah-nameh with other royal miniaturists and on a series of 14 illustrations for the Khamseh executed between 1539 and 1543 under the shah's supervision. He probably worked on the Haft Awrang of Jami made for Prince Ibrahim Mirza between 1555 and 1565. All three manuscripts are acknowledged masterpieces of Persian painting. He trained two of the outstanding painters of the next generation, Siyavush and Sadiqi, and is said to have designed and partly executed wall paintings for the palace and for the Chihil Sutun (Hall of Forty Columns) at Kazvin.