Hormuz (Hormozd IV, r. 579-590), the son of the Sasanian ruler Khusraw I Anushirvan (r. 531-579), garnered a tyrannical, if not evil reputation that persisted through the centuries, even by the time Firdawsi (d. 1020) penned his epic Shahnama (Book of Kings, completed in 1010), which retold the pre-Islamic history of Iran. According to the poet, Hormuz harangued his nobles and murdered his father’s ministers, among other unsavory acts. In this banquet scene, Hormuz schemes to poison one of his prisoners, a high priest appointed under his father. The shah orders him to eat a sample of a specially prepared dish, laced with bane. When the priest suspects foul play, Hormuz coerces him to eat upon his order as shah. In the painting, he holds up a morsel to the reluctant guest at an elaborate feast set upon a sofra, the dining surface either on the ground covered by fabric/leather or on a raised surface. This focal point of the composition appears decked with blue-and-white ware, most likely imported Chinese porcelain reflecting the wealth and status of the royal host. The other guests seem unaware of the murder transpiring as they spoon samples from the other dishes and help themselves to the impressive meal before them while a doorman stands guard. Later, as the priest lays dying, he sends Hormuz a message that his evil deeds will bring misfortune upon him.

The blue-and-white ware at the heart of this banquet scene make a fitting reflection of elite tastes during the mid to late fifteenth century. Diplomatic gifts of Chinese embassies and pan-Asian trade from the fourteenth century onwards brought a swell of prized Chinese porcelain into the Islamic courts of Iran. These works functioned not only as tableware but also as status symbols that were displayed in purpose-built niches and shelves. Such porcelain provided ample sources of artistic inspiration for royal craftsmen of all sorts. Drawings in Timurid albums preserve numerous renderings of porcelain and textile designs, which artists readily transferred onto chinoiserie creations across media, including locally produced ceramics of blue-and-white fritware. In fact, during the fifteenth century the local ceramic industry grew to encompass Timurid production centers such as Samarqand, Nishapur, Mashhad, and Tabriz, in addition to the Aq Qoyunlu Turkman capital of Diyarbekir and their later conquest of Shiraz, where this manuscript was created.

Only a handful of Timurid Shahnamas, produced prior to the 1430s, survive to this day. Yet the production of Shahnamas from the latter half of the century escalated so that close to fifty illustrated copies remain today. The vast majority of these manuscripts originated from the prolific commercial workshops in Shiraz, which the Timurids lost to the Turkmans in 1452. Under the city’s new Turkman rulers, Shirazi artists fused Timurid and Turkmen styles to create distinctive works that would continue to develop, attracting patrons well into the sixteenth century. Illuminated motifs and compositional elements of this folio (and others likely from the same manuscript), draw on earlier Timurid examples, including the Shahnama of Ibrahim Sultan (d. 1435), the princely patron of manuscripts who governed Fars, from Shiraz its capital. Though the patrons of these Turkman manuscripts from the late fifteenth-century are seldom named, their workshops may have catered to wealthy commercial buyers or commissions from regional courts. This page is one of five folios from the same Shahnama in LACMA's collection..

• Komaroff, Linda. "Chinese Porcelains from the Ardabil Shrine: Collecting and Display in Iran." In Fruit of Knowledge, Wheel of Learning: Essays in Honour of Professor Robert Hillenbrand, edited by Melanie Gibson, 268-85. London: Gingko Library, 2022.
• Komaroff, Linda, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.
• Pal, Pratapaditya, ed.  Islamic Art:  The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection.  Los Angeles:  Museum Associates, 1973.