Single Leaf from Mantiq al-tayr by Farid al-din `Atta

Description This Timurid leaf depicting a funeral procession, Walters W.678, is from a copy of Mantiq al-tayr (The language of the birds) by the Persian Sufi poet Farid al-Din 'Attar (died 618 AH/AD 1221). It represents a son's lamentation at his father's funeral. The parent manuscript was likely produced in Timurid Herat or Bukhara in the late 9th century AH/AD 15th. There are fewer than 10 known illustrated copies of the Mantiq al-tayr. In the bottom right corner is a later attribution to the famous Persian artist Bihzad (died 942 AH/AD 1536-1537). The painting is surrounded by a biscuit-colored, gold-sprinkled border. The Walters' leaf is comparable to the same scene illustrated in the copy housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (63.210.35).

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
12/03/1974	Examination	examined for condition
12/17/1974	Treatment	stabilized
1/21/1975	Treatment	re-housed
7/30/3015	Treatment	examined for exhibition; stabilized

Exhibitions

• Art of Persia. Ithaca College Museum of Art, Ithaca. 1966-1967.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters