Book Arts of Isfahan explores the vibrant artistic legacy of the capital city of the Safavid Empire in seventeenth-century Persia. Isfahan was a crossroads of international trade and diplomacy, and therefore was a kaleidoscope of resident languages, religions, and customs.

Book Arts of Isfahan examines Armenian manuscript illuminations that reflect medieval traditions, European woodcuts imported to the city, Jewish illustrations in a conservative Persian style, and paintings in the seventeenth-century court style. Author Alice Taylor focuses on the ways in which the groups who lived in Isfahan used images to articulate their differences, and, in the process, to forge a stronger sense of their own identities.

The book brings together dozens of miniatures, most drawn from the collections of the Getty Museum, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. With Alice Taylor's concise and readable text, they provide an excellent overview of the books and manuscripts produced in the Isfahan Style.

Alice Taylor is professor of art history at West Los Angeles College and the author of The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor.

This title is out of print. Please look for it at your local libraries and/or used bookstores.