This unusual depiction of a bishop, the only known Persian portrait of an Armenian cleric, fits well within the milieu of seventeenth-century painting and drawing from Isfahan in the form of elegant single-page compositions that depict a broad spectrum of contemporary Safavid society. Pages of this type would have been bound in albums along with calligraphic compositions. The painting, which is dominated by its subject’s stately and commanding presence, is inscribed as the work of Afzal al-Husayni, a court artist and student of Riza-yi ‘Abbasi.

In the wake of the scorched earth policy enacted by Shah ‘Abbas I (r. 1587-1629) during the Ottoman-Safavid wars (1603-1605), around 300,000 Armenians were relocated to a new home in a suburb of Isfahan. There, the shah ordered the creation of the Armenian township of New Julfa for this displaced population. Over the course of the seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century, the Armenians of Safavid Iran gained renown as tradesmen, diplomats, and, above all, successful merchants of luxury goods. Under Shah ‘Abbas I, they became the principle exporters of silk, a right that they secured by public auction in 1619 and continued to hold even after the industry’s deregulation. Julfan familial ties forged an impressive global network that extended their mercantile operations far beyond Iran to Ottoman and Qing territories, European capitals, the growing textile industries of Mughal India, and its lucrative gem trade.

Beyond their transregional ventures, the Armenian community still maintained a prominent presence in Safavid Isfahan, which acted as the heart of their networks. During the seventeenth century, Armenians constituted the largest non-Muslim population in Iran. Moreover, by the mid-seventeenth century, numerous elite Julfan Armenians converted to Islam, including a bishop in 1673. Further exchanges between the New Julfan community and the Safavid state occurred in the artistic sphere. During the reign of Shah ‘Abbas II (r. 1642-1666), the Armenians in Isfahan were placed under the jurisdiction of the head of royal painters (naqqash-bashi), who was an Armenian named Yakobjan. Therefore, around the time of this painting’s creation, the artist Afzal al-Husayni was likely working under Yakobjan’s purview. Travelers, like the French merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier (d. 1689) credited the same Yakobjan for introducing print technologies to Iran. Therefore, the striking depiction of an Armenian bishop, be it a stock character or a historical portrait, makes a fitting testament to the dynamic contributions of Armenians to the social fabric of Isfahan during this time and the artistic auspices under which this work was created.

• Pal, Pratapaditya, ed.  Islamic Art:  The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection.  Los Angeles:  Museum Associates, 1973.

• Pal, Pratapaditya, Thomas W. Lentz, Sheila R. Canby, Edwin Binney, 3rd, Walter B. Denny, and Stephen Markel. "Arts from Islamic Cultures: Los Angeles County Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 17, no. 6 (November/December 1987): 73-130.

• Taylor, Alice. Book Arts of Isfahan: Diversity and Identity in Seventeenth-Century Persia. Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1995.
• Beyond boundaries : Islamic art across cultures. [Doha, Qatar : Museum of Islamic Art, 2008]
• Evans, Helen C., ed. Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018.