Cleveland Museum of Art

Illuminated folio (recto) from a Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Sa'di (c. 1213–1291)

Date

calligraphy: c. 1475–1500; border: c. 1550

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, gold, and silver on paper

Culture

Iran

Department

Islamic Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Silver and gold paints were used against an indigo blue background to create a fantastic frame for the text of the Gulistan . Meaning “rose bush” in Persian, this text is a collection of anecdotes in both verse and prose. Here, a winged lion chases a winged deer from the upper margins to the lower, where it rends the mythical deer and sends a toothy fox running. Words in gold ink mark new sections, while the main text is written in black.

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