English: BAYAZID BASTAMI AND THE YOUTH KHIZRAVAYH BIN SHAYKH AHMAD

SAFAVID SHIRAZ, CIRCA 1570

From Sultan Husayn Bayqara's Majlis al-'Ushaq, opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, illustrating a gathering (majlis) of five men in an interior setting, with 7ll. of black nasta'liq on gold-speckled ground above, the back with 14ll. of nasta’liq in two columns Painting 7 x 4 ¾in. (18 x 12cm.); folio 9 ¼ x 6 ¼in. (23.5 x 16cm.)

The theme of the Majlis al-'Ushaq is that of 'real' (or ideal) and 'metaphorical' (or material) love, presenting the latter as a route to the former. This copy consists of an account of the lives of sixty Sufis and sixteen rulers of Persia, including for almost every one, a description of the individual's love. The scene of our painting decpits Bayazis Bastami who allegedly fell in love with the beautiful and intelligent son of the famous Shaykh Ahmad of Balkh. Although the work is usually attributed to the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Baiqara (and it is indeed he who is named in the preface as the author of the work), some authorities (see C.A.Storey, Persian Literature, London, 1972, p.961) say that it was in fact written by Kamal al-Din Husain Gazargahi, a courtier involved in the religious establishment perhaps as an assistant to the Sultan.

Another folio from this manuscirpt is in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva (inv. 1971-107/498).