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"The Concourse of the Birds", Folio 11r from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds)

Painting by Habiballah of Sava Iranian
Author Farid al-Din `Attar Iranian
ca. 1600
Not on view
The illustration on this folio depicts a scene from a mystical poem, Mantiq al-tair (Language of the Birds), written by a twelfth-century Iranian, Farid al-Din 'Attar. The birds, which symbolize individual souls in search of the simurgh (a mystical bird representing ultimate spiritual unity), are assembled in an idyllic landscape to begin their pilgrimage under the leadership of a hoopoe (perched on a rock at center right). The careful, harmonious composition is consistent with that of the late fifteenth-century Timurid miniatures also in the manuscript, but three factors indicate that this image is later: the presence of the hunter, who has no place in the narrative; his firearm, a weapon that gained currency in Iran after the mid-sixteenth century; and the signature of the late sixteenth- to early seventeenth-century artist Habiballah

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: "The Concourse of the Birds", Folio 11r from a Mantiq al-Tayr (Language of the Birds)
  • Artist: Painting by Habiballah of Sava (Iranian, active ca. 1590–1610)
  • Author: Farid al-Din `Attar (Iranian, Nishapur ca. 1142–ca. 1220 Nishapur)
  • Date: ca. 1600
  • Geography: Attributed to Iran, Isfahan
  • Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
  • Dimensions: Painting: H. 10 in. (25.4 cm)
    W. 4 1/2in. (11.4cm)
    Page: H. 13 in. (33 cm)
    W. 8 3/16 in. (20.8 cm)
    Mat: H. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm)
    W. 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)
  • Classification: Codices
  • Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1963
  • Object Number: 63.210.11
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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