Mirza Aqa Emami

Mirza Aqa Emami (Persian: میرزا آقا امامی; born Mohammad Mehdi Emami; 1881–1955), also known as Haj Mirza Aqa Emami, was an Iranian painter, miniaturist, lacquer artist, illuminator and carpet designer. Active during the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods, he worked in a wide range of traditional Iranian arts, including miniature painting, flower-and-bird painting, manuscript illumination, lacquerwork, pen-case painting, carpet design and the leather-cutwork technique known as sookht. Emami is particularly associated with the revival of Safavid-inspired painting in twentieth-century Isfahan and with transforming sookht, traditionally used in the decoration of leather bookbindings, into a medium for independent pictorial panels. He also maintained a workshop in Isfahan and trained a number of artists, including Mahmoud Farshchian.