Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • The Son Who Mourned His Father: Folio from the Mantiq al-tair (The Language of the Birds) of Farid al-Din 'Attar, Timurid period (1370–1507), dated a.h. 892 / a.d. 1487
    Present-day Afghanistan, Herat
    Opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper

    page: H. 13 in. (33 cm), W. 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
    Fletcher Fund, 1963 (63.210.35)

    This illustration is associated with a story related by the hoopoe as a response to a bird who complains about his fear of death. In the story, a son grieves the death of his father in front of his coffin and a sufi soothes him, explaining that his father had experienced much pain and that no one can avoid death. Here, the painter depicts the incident as occurring in front of a cemetery gate. The scene behind the gate is replete with motifs that are irrelevant to the story itself. The viewer at the court may have enjoyed deciphering them.

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Ettinghausen, Richard. "Islamic Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 33, no. 1 (Spring, 1975).
    JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs
    • "Director's Note" PDF
  • Lukens, Marie G. "The Language of the Birds: The Fifteenth-Century Miniatures." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 25, no. 9 (May, 1967).
    JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs
    • "Foreword" PDF
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    The Son Who Mourned His Father: Folio from the Mantiq al-tair (The Language of the Birds) of Farid al-Din 'Attar, Timurid period (1370–1507), dated a.h. 892 / a.d. 1487
    Present-day Afghanistan, Herat
    Opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper

    page: H. 13 in. (33 cm), W. 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
    Fletcher Fund, 1963 (63.210.35)


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