Manuscripts in Motion

Chapter 5 takes a close look at the signatures of Bihzad in the paintings of the Cairo Bustan. Each signature was concealed as a pictorial detail, taking a different form in each painting. Signatures, moreover, were unusual in Persian painting. This chapter argues that through concealment, variety, ambiguity and uniqueness, Bihzad’s signatures were designed to elicit a feeling of wonder, emphasising the painter’s virtuosity and creativity. Through excessive minuteness, they mythicized the painter and described artistic authority as transcendent, while also obscuring the participation of many other artists and artisans. Signature was thus as much a step toward visibility as it was an instrument of self-praise, and an act of appropriation.