Exposition | “Meeting in Isfahan. Vision and Exchange in Safavid Iran” — Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, du 04/02/2022 au 28/08/2022

As the global silk trade boosted Iran’s economy, the popular rhyme observed: “Isfahan, nesf-e jahan” – “Isfahan is half the world”.

In 1598 the city of Isfahan became the new capital of Iran, signalling a vibrant transformation of political, spiritual and cultural life under the Safavid dynasty.

Wealthy, successful and ostentatious, Safavid Isfahan was a hub for dazzling urbanity throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. New vistas opened up as a modern urban layout was drawn across this ancient city, and European merchant travellers published breathless accounts of their experiences.

Bringing together the internationally celebrated collections of the Chester Beatty with generous loans from the National Museum of Ireland, Meeting in Isfahan explores this cosmopolitan urban centre of trade, ideas and visual culture.

With 65 works from the Chester Beatty’s Persian, Turkish, Arabic and Armenian collections, as well as early printed books and maps from Europe, this exhibition features paintings and drawings by the most renowned artists of the Safavid period: Reza `Abbasi, Muhammad Zaman, Mu`in Musavvir, and many others.

More information: here