Shahnama Project : Intikhab-i Hadiqa

'Attar

Shahnama Project

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>The manuscript of &apos;Attar&apos;s Anthology contains 7 illustrations: paintings and drawings, one of the drawings (f. 59r) obviously illustrates a scene from the Shahnama. Robinson identified it as Pilsam killed by Rustam.</p><p>There is a double page frontispiece (ff. 4v-5r) depicting a royal reception in the mountains. On the right side of the composition there is a rather young prince/king enthroned in a tent/pavilion. He is entertained by the courtiers and musicians. The main character among them is a Sufi-looking elderly man who is introducing to the prince a dignified person in red (he is larger in size than all other personages in the painting). On the left: servants are busy cooking a meal, a royal stallion is brought by a groom, etc. However, the main scene which links both sides together, represents two courtiers/intellectuals listening to the conversation between the prince and the Sufi. One of them has a book in his hands. It is tempting to think that among the courtiers in this frontispiece there is an image of 'Attar. I have three suspects: 1. the Sufi himself 2. the dignified man in red 3. a courtier with the book.</p><p>Provenance: inscription on the inside front cover: Versi in Lingua Persiana, che trattano injuccinto di Religione di Governo di Politica di Scienze ed Arti.</p><p>Exhibited once at the Exhibition in Victoria & Albert Museum in 1951 (FA)</p><p>B.W. Robinson, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Persian Miniature Paintings from British Collections, V&A Museum, London, 1951, No 38;</p><p>Robinson, Descriptive catalogue of the Persian Paintings in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1958, pp. 143-5.</p></p>