Khamsa of Mir Ali Shir Nawa'i, Herat, 1485: Shaykh Iraqi overcome with Emotion at parting from a Friend
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Gray, Basil
Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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Since love was the theme of all Ali Shir's writing and he saw, like all Persian mystics, the ties of human love as the mirror of the search for the divine in which the soul is constantly involved, this subject would naturally be a favourite in any circle where Sufism was rife. The composition differs fundamentally from what we have seen to be Bihzad's general practice, for instead of a formal pattern based on internal rhythms, here we see a double triangle based on the two sides of the miniature, and touching in the centre: but with more weight on the right, so that the triangle on the left which includes the figure of the Shaykh is incomplete. The effect is to emphasise the three crouching figures on this side as against the erect figures grouped opposite. The pattern is not emphasised by open gestures in the way Bihzad liked, but by the subtlest indications of sympathy among the bystanders, who turn very slightly towards each other, which fits in with Shah Muzaffar as "a master of group pictures". -- attributed to Shah Muzaffar, 5.5 x 4.125".
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Archives Series
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1961
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This image is provided for research purposes only and must not be reproduced without the prior permission of the Archives Program, Australian National University.
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