Jeea Mirza

Jeea Mirza is a UK-based British Pakistani artist who is inspired by the arts and crafts of both Islamic and medieval traditions. 

She began her journey with the simple desire to re-create beautiful patterns, which soon developed into a contemplation of the hidden meanings that lay under the surface of her designs. Each layer of line and structure, a veil which can be lifted to reveal hidden truths. 

Jeea has studied Islamic geometry and Islimi extensively with the Art of Islamic Pattern Institute in various locations including London, Granada, Istanbul and Fez. She also holds an Open Programme Diploma from The Prince’s Foundation: School of Traditional Arts and has exhibited her work in various exhibitions in London. 

Her study of sacred geometry and arabesque is an ongoing journey of discovery which continues to inspire her with its timeless beauty, simplicity and paradoxically its complexity.

Jeea’s contribution to this sale features an Islamic geometric pattern from the tomb of I’timad ud- Daulah, which is an undisputed gem of 17th century Mughal art and architecture The tomb was commissioned at the urging of Nur Jehan, an extraordinary woman and one of the wives of Emperor Jahangir as the final resting place of her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg; and her mother Asmat Begum.

A senior courtier and trusted advisor to both Akbar and Jahangir, Mirza Ghiyas Beg had been promoted to the position of Prime Minister in Jahangir’s reign, an office which he retained until his death. Emperor Jahangir bestowed upon him the prestigious title of “I’timad ud-Daulah” - Pillar of the State, the name given to the mausoleum later erected in his honour by the empress Nur Jehan.

Jeea’s inspiration for this painting was the remarkable Nur Jehan herself, a highly intelligent, well-educated and cultured woman who enjoyed great political and royal power and all the privileges that this conferred.

Nur Jehan’s love of the arts extended to poetry which she wrote in Persian under the pseudonym Makhfi, ‘She who is concealed’. It is this title that I have borrowed for my painting because it too conceals more than it reveals. The surface of the design shows only the final layer of the pattern, whilst the many layers of line and structure and the golden proportions within this pattern remain hidden from sight.