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Shaykhi [Shaykhi]
( fl Tabriz, 1475–82). Illustrator. The name Shaykhi is recorded in a single manuscript, a copy of Nizami’s Khamsa (‘Five poems’; Istanbul, Topkapi Pal. Lib., H. 762), which contains the finest surviving examples of Turkoman painting (see ISLAMIC ART, §III, 4(v)(e) and fig. 124 and COLOUR, colour pl. V). A note on fols 316v–317r recounts the complicated history of the manuscript and states that the Aqqoyunlu ruler Khalil (reg 1478) commissioned Shaykhi, along with DARVISH MUHAMMAD, to illustrate the work. None of the ten Turkoman-period paintings remaining in the volume is signed, but most of those illustrating the poem Haft paykar (‘Seven portraits’) are considered the work of Shaykhi. His style is characterized by squat figures, vibrant colour and exuberant vegetation which bursts from the frame. The two Ya`qub Beg albums in Istanbul (Topkapi Pal. Lib., H. 2153 and H. 2160) contain 71 works attributed to Shaykhi. The attributions are written in black ink beside illustrations of Turkoman and Chinese figures, Central Asian nomads, fantastic monsters, demons and chinoiserie. Many of the drawings are similar in style to the paintings from the Khamsa, but the careless writing and the varying phrases cast doubt on the authenticity of the attributions, which some scholars consider contemporary but others date to the early 18th century.
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