A copy of Farid al-din Attar’s Mantiq al-tayr

Western Iran; c. 1400

Leaf: 16.5 × 11.2 cm

Inventory number 34/2006

The Sufi poet Farid al-din Attar’s Conference of the Birds is a frame story whose central figure, a hoopoe, is a kind of spiritual leader for a number of other birds. The first miniature (fol. 37v) is from one of the book’s explanatory anecdotes about how the devout Arab Sheikh Sanan falls in love with a Christian maiden from Rum (Byzantium).

It has not yet been determined whether the manuscript is Jalayirid or early Timurid, but the skilled artist endeavored to imbue the scene with local color. For example, the Madonna-like maiden is found in an exotic building with a church tower. Despite its small format, the depiction is monumental.

Published in

Palais Galliéra, Paris 1970, (part of) lot 112;

fol. 37v,
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 13;
Joachim Meyer and Peter Wandel: Sufisme: islams mystiske vej, Davids Samling, København 2011, pp. 44-45;
Kjeld von Folsach, Joachim Meyer: The Human Figure in Islamic Art – Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2017, cat.no. 55;