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], c. 1400-1410. 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 coloured pavilion, o

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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], c. 1400-1410. 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 coloured pavilion, on successive days of the week. The princess is shown telling a story after a day of lovemaking.

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Photo credit: © Heritage Art/Heritage Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 15th, art, century, cleveland, early, heritage, ink, iran, manuscript, museum, opaque, painting, paper, period, possibly, shiraz, tabriz, timurid, unknown, watercolour