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Lot Essay
Taken from a Khamsa of Nizami, this climactic scene takes place after Majnun has been driven out of his city because of his obsessive passion for Leila. In the desert, he is picked up by the army of Nawfal who swears to unite the two lovers. However, when Leila’s father rejects Nawfal's overtures, a fight breaks out between the two armies. After refusing to take part in the battle, Majnun returns into the desert to pine after his beloved.
16th century Shirazi paintings can be identified not only by the slender figures and dynamic compositions, but also by the way in which the setting is rendered. In a Shahnama in the John Rylands Library in Manchester dated to 1542, the action also takes place against flat ivory landscapes scattered with red flowers, with a high horizon that looks onto an indigo sky of golden wispy clouds (B. W. Robinson, Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library, London, 1980, p.163). Similar landscapes can be found in a 1513 Gulistan in the British Library (N. M. Titley, Persian Miniature Painting, London, 1983, p.97). A complete Khamsa manuscript, dated to AH 940/1533 AD and with 22 illustrations painted in a similar style, sold in these Rooms, Anon. sale, 26 April 2005, lot 115
16th century Shirazi paintings can be identified not only by the slender figures and dynamic compositions, but also by the way in which the setting is rendered. In a Shahnama in the John Rylands Library in Manchester dated to 1542, the action also takes place against flat ivory landscapes scattered with red flowers, with a high horizon that looks onto an indigo sky of golden wispy clouds (B. W. Robinson, Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library, London, 1980, p.163). Similar landscapes can be found in a 1513 Gulistan in the British Library (N. M. Titley, Persian Miniature Painting, London, 1983, p.97). A complete Khamsa manuscript, dated to AH 940/1533 AD and with 22 illustrations painted in a similar style, sold in these Rooms, Anon. sale, 26 April 2005, lot 115