Illuminated Folio from a Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Sa'di (c. 1213–1291)
c. 1475–1500; border: c. 1550
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, gold, and silver on paper
Dimensions
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Classification
Manuscript
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of William Kelly Simpson in memory of his wife Marilyn M. Simpson and her grandparents Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Accession Number
2006.148
Tags
About this artwork
In the border surrounding the Persian poetical text, deer and a lion coexist peacefully in a forest. This imagery may reference the rule of a righteous king. The text is from the Gulistan, one of the most celebrated works of Persian literature, completed around 1258. Gulistan means “Rose Garden” in Persian; just as a rose garden is a collection of flowers, the contents are a collection of anecdotes. This page is from the section “On the Conduct of Kings.”