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Indian Persian Miniature Art Handmade Khamsa Nizami Majnun Ethnic Iran Painting

Regular price €148,95

Majnun in the Desert

  • Subject: Persian Miniature Painting
  • Paint Material: Opaque watercolors
  • Base Material: Paper (unframed)
  • Size: 9 in. wide X 12 in. tall (23 cms X 30.5 cms)
  • Age: Modern Handmade Art
  • Country of origin: India
  • Free Shipping Worldwide & No hassle return

Presenting a dazzling modern handmade reproduction Persian art. 

In terms of coloring this is one of the most beautiful of the 13 miniatures illustrating the poem Layla and Majnun in the Hermitage's famous Persian manuscript of the Khamsa, an anthology of five poems by the 12th-century poet Nizami, who lived on the territory of present-day Azerbaijan. In 1431 this manuscript of the Khamsawas copied out in Herat by the calligrapher Mahmud for Sultan Shahrukh, son of the legendary Tamerlaine.

The tale of this couple who loved each other from childhood, the beautiful Layla and the passionate Majnun, appeared in Arabia and then spread throughout the Moslem East. Nizami was the author of the first literary version of this legend.

Learning that the father of his beloved Layla has refused to allow them to marry, Majnun departs for the desert where he is surrounded by sympathetic wild animals. Lions, deer, wolves and foxes serve Majnun, and he is described as being among them like King Solomon 

Majnun is shown seated beneath a flowering tree amidst the animals. He strokes a gazelle whose eyes, as we read repeatedly in the poem, recall the eyes of his beloved Layla.

The modern artist has executed the painting in minute delicacy and it is Persian style art at its finest. The hand-painted artwork has been brilliantly achieved with use of meticulous brushwork and fine watercolors.

This painting is a splendid Persian miniature that demonstrates how much we can learn about a society and its aesthetic tastes through its art. When the society is as little known as that of the Middle East, the complex portrait of diverse peoples and activities and the exquisite artistic details the painting can break down our stereotypes of the region and open a new window into learning about the Islamic world.

And you have a chance right now to own and experience a sample of this Persian artwork at a very affordable value.