Royal Reception in a Landscape, right folio from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (9

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Royal Reception in a Landscape, right folio from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (9 as manuscript (Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501) · 1444).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

Seemingly uninterested in the emissaries and gifts, a prince kneels with six royal women under an open tent and tries to coax one to have a drink.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this manuscript as opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper.

The museum's collection notes: The painting on the verso of this folio is the first half of a double-page frontispiece now detached from a Shah-nama manuscript (see CMA 1956.10 for the second half of the frontispiece). The scene does not illustrate a narrative from the Shah-nama , but is likely a representation of the courtly audience for whose entertainment the manuscript was created. The date and style of the painting indicate that it was made during the reign of the Timurid dynasty in Shiraz, Iran.

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtRoyal Reception in a Landscape, right folio from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (9

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