Bahram Gur Visits the Princess of India in the Black Pavilion (recto): Illustration and Text, Persian Verses, from a manuscript of the Khamsa of Nizami, Haft Paykar [Seven Portraits]
Unknown Artist
c. 1400–1410
![Bahram Gur Visits the Princess of India in the Black Pavilion (recto): Illustration and Text, Persian Verses, from a manuscript of the Khamsa of Nizami, Haft Paykar [Seven Portraits] by Unknown Artist](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.artheonmuseum.org%2Fcleveland%2Fthumb%2Fbahram-gur-visits-the-princess-of-india-in-the-black-cleveland-123987.webp&w=3840&q=75)
Medium
opaque watercolor and ink on paper
Dimensions
23.2 × 15.5 cm · image: 18.7 × 12.3 cm
Classification
Manuscript
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1944.486.a
About this artwork
The Khamsa, a suite of five poems written by Nizami in the 12th century, recounts the history and legends of pre-Islamic Iran with an emphasis on love rather than war. Here, in an early extant depiction of a favorite story, Shah Bahram Gur visits a princess in a black pavilion; this is one of seven paintings depicting the king visiting one of his seven wives, each in a different colored pavilion, on successive days of the week. The princess is shown telling a story after a day of lovemaking.