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).
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