"The Eavesdropper", Folio 47r from a Haft Paikar (Seven Portraits) of the Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami of Ganja
Maulana Azhar|Nizami|Unknown
ca. 1430 · Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper · Islamic Art
This folio once illustrated a magnificent manuscript of Nizami’s Haft Paikar (Seven Portraits). The story of the Seven Portraits comprises a series of moralizing tales as told to the Persian hero Bahram Gur by seven princesses. This lively and lyrical scene illustrates a story in which a youth spies upon maidens swimming in a garden pool by moonlight. The voyeur is barely visible here, peering out of the shuttered window, unbeknownst to the playful bathers below.
- Artist
- Maulana Azhar|Nizami|Unknown
- Date
- ca. 1430
- Medium
- Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
- Department
- Islamic Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Alexander Smith Cochran, 1913
