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In the margins are depicted hybrid angel-musicians, a bear-trainer and musicians, apes trapping a bird, apes at school, a nude man at the far left, and an ape kneeling before a doctor with a urinal.

The Flood of Noah (Genesis 7:11-24)

Initial "P" (Primum quidem)

European Banquet Scene (or The Marriage Feast at Cana?)

The Triumph of Fame

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

Adorazione dei Magi. Il Redentore, i Profeti Isaia e David (nelle cuspidi) 1420 circa

Collection of Poems (Divan)

This horizontal painting is made up of three parts: in the center square panel, a woman reclines under a wooden shelter set into a rocky cave, which is surrounded by angels, and narrower wings to either side are each occupied by a standing man. All the people have pale skin, which is tinged with faint green. The three panels are joined with a gold frame, and the gold background behind the central scene and the men in the side panels are covered with a noticeable network of cracks. In the central panel, a cobalt-blue robe nearly envelopes the reclining woman’s body; this is Mary. It covers her head and falls open where she crosses her wrists over her chest to show a pink garment underneath. A flat gold halo encircles her head ,and her body is surrounded by a field of crimson red, almost like an aura. She rests under a wooden structure with a pitched roof, which is surrounded by craggy, barren rock. A swaddled infant lies in a rectangular, tray-like manger. The infant’s head is also surrounded by a gold halo. Fine gold rays emanate down into the structure from a star just above the peak of the roof. A bull and a donkey look down at the baby from the far side of the manger. The interior of the structure behind them is black. In a smaller scale, two women wash a haloed infant in a tub in front of the rocky cave near the lower left corner of this panel. A man with a white beard and hair sits to our left of Mary, holding a pink cloak at his throat and looking toward the infant. Above and around the rocks, seven winged and haloed angels cluster on each side. One angel to the right presents a scroll with black writing to two men accompanied by a dog and several sheep in the lower right. The man in the panel to the left, Isaiah, has a gray beard and long, wavy hair, and he wears a lilac-purple cloak draped over a coral-orange robe. In his right hand, on our left, he holds an unfurled scroll with large black lettering. His other hand is raised with one finger pointing upward. He looks to our left, away from the central scene. On the right, Ezekiel, echoes Isaiah's pose. Ezekiel holds an open scroll with his left hand, on our right, and his other hand is raised. He also wears a coral-colored robe, but his is overlaid with a blue cloak. His receding hair is short and brown, as is his beard. Like Isaiah, he takes up most of the height of the panel and gazes to our left, toward the central panel.

Walters manuscript W.619 is an illuminated manuscript containing 2 works by Sa"di (died 691 AH/AD 1292): the Gulistan (Rose garden) and the Bustan (Orchard). It was copied in 980 AH/AD 1572 by Muhammad Riza al-Tabrizi in Iran. The text of the Gulistan appears in the main area, while that of the Bustan is inscribed obliquely around the main text area on three sides. Both texts are written in black and gold nasta"liq script. The margins are multi-colored, gold-sprinkled tinted or marbled paper. The original leather binding dates to the 10th century AH/AD 16th and has dentelle-style decorated boards and doublures with gold filigree work over a multi-colored ground of blue, green, red, and black.

This illuminated title page from Walters manuscript W.581 gives the title of the work, as well as the authors' names. There is also a statement referring to the patronage of the manuscript, indicating that it was made for the Mawlawi (Mevlevi) Library (bi-rasm al-Khizanah al-Karimah al-"Aliyah al-Mawlawiyah).

Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain

This folio from Walters manuscript W.580 is the left side of an illuminated double-page frontispiece of geometric design in gold, red, blue, and green, with a marginal rosette at the left.

The Eighth Plague: Locusts (Exodus 10:12-15)

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned man with long, honey-blond hair and beard faces us in front of a gold background in this vertical painting. The man has a long face and nose, with closed peach-colored lips, which turn slightly down at the corners. Almond-shaped, hazel-brown eyes under arched brows stare over our left shoulder. His rose-pink robe is covered by a spruce-blue mantle that drapes over the left shoulder, on our right, and wraps around the waist. The robe and mantle are trimmed with gold. His right hand, on our left, is raised with the index and middle fingers extended up. The other hand holds an open book so the pages face us. The top edge of the pages is burnt orange, and the left and right edges are moss green. The side facing us is inscribed in gold letters, “ECO SUM LUX MUNDI.” A halo incised into the gold background surrounds the man’s head, and clusters of five dots in dark red, blue, and black are placed at the top and to either side within the halo. The panel on which this is painted has a five-sided, angular arch on top that frames the man’s head. A border within the frame has a pattern of gray circles and scarlet-red diamonds against a navy-blue band. The border follows the contours of the panel but runs behind the man’s body, as if he stands in front of it. The panel is framed with dark wood.

Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child with Two Angels

Book on Navigation

Velvet Fragment with Design from Nizami of Ganja's Khusrau and Shirin

In front of a crumbling stone building, an older man kneels in front of a second man, smaller in scale, hanging from a tall, wooden cross, with a city in the background in this vertical painting. Both men have pale skin. At the lower center of the composition, the kneeling man, Saint Jerome, pulls his navy-blue robe to one side to expose his muscular but slender bare chest with a bloody mark at its center. With his other hand, he holds a rounded, gray stone touched with pink, also suggesting blood, by his side. He has long, silvery-gray hair and a long, pointed beard. His pink lips are parted, and we see his teeth. He raises gray eyes to look up at the man on the slender cross, which rises along the left edge of the composition. The man on the cross brown hair, a plate-like gold halo, and a white loincloth is draped across his hips. The shell-pink ground is littered with rocks. A red hat with a shallow brim and a tasseled chin cord sits near Saint Jerome’s sandaled feet. A miniature lion lies between Saint Jerome and the arched opening of the crumbling, terracotta-red structure along the right edge of the painting. Ivy grows up one side of the arch, and an hourglass and book with a red cover and gold-edged pages sit on a white cloth under the opening. An owl perches on a branch of an oak tree growing from the front face of the structure, and a hawk sits on a branch of the fruit tree growing from the stone courtyard, between Saint Jerome and the crucifix. A shrub with dark green leaves and clusters of three olive-green fruits fills in most of the space beneath the canopy of the fruit tree. To our right and in the distance, a man with a pointed black hat, a black jacket, and white pants rides away from us on a gray horse. To our left, the courtyard gives way to an amphitheater-like space. There, next to a donkey, a man with a long white beard hands a bundle of wood or planks to another man whose brown hair is cut into a ring encircling his head. Both men wear rose-pink garments over navy-blue togas. A town with white and pale pink stone buildings rises up a hill into the distance. The sky above deepens from honeydew green along the horizon to pale then peacock blue along the top edge of the composition. A few ice-blue, white, and light gray clouds float across the sky.

This illustration from Walters manuscript W.644 depicts Zulaykha in a blue-domed litter on a camel led by a cameleer. The retinue is entering the capital of Egypt.

Icon of the Virgin and Child

A woman wearing long robes and standing on an upturned, gold crescent moon is surrounded by twenty winged angels who lift her up, sing, or play musical instruments in this vertical painting. Below, a grassy landscape with rocky hills, a river, and buildings stretches into the distance. Along the top edge of the painting and smaller in scale, more angels surround two men sitting on a throne, holding a crown. All the people have smooth, pale skin, oval faces with small, delicate facial features, and long wavy hair. They wear fluttering, jewel-toned robes. The woman at the center, Mary, stands facing us with her eyes downcast and her hands held together in prayer. Her strawberry-blond hair lightens where her hair rests over her shoulders, and a jeweled band encircles her head. She wears a long, ruby-red dress with a jeweled neckline and navy-blue cloak trimmed with gold. Eight of the winged angels seem to lift her body, four along each side. Seven more angels float around the scene playing instruments, including a lute, a harp, recorder-like instruments, and stringed instruments, one of which resembles a violin and another a dulcimer. Along the top of the group, around Mary’s head, four angels sing, holding sheet music. In tiny letters, writing on the sheet of music to our left reads, “A ve regina celorum mr regis,” while the writing on the music to our right reads, “A Tenor ve regina.” The angels wear robes in emerald green, royal or sky blue, butter yellow, rose pink, tomato red, silver, or white, and their wings match their robes. Some of the robes are embroidered with gold and some angels wear jeweled diadems. The edges of an oval, gold halo are visible behind the angels at Mary’s head and feet. Above Mary and the angels, a scene, much smaller in scale, recedes into the distance within a ring of dark clouds. Two haloed, bearded men wearing scarlet-red robes and with shoulder-length brown hair sit on a wide throne covered with a black and gold brocade cloth. The man to our left is bareheaded and the man to our right has a tall, blue and gold crown. A white dove with wings spread hovers above a second gold crown they hold between them. More than a dozen angels surround the throne, holding up the cloth or singing. A black and red checked tile floor stretches in front of the throne. Along the bottom edge of the painting, beneath Mary and the angels, a grassy landscape with fields and trees stretches into the distance to gray castle-like structures. A river winds from the lower right between the buildings. A man rides a horse near the riverbank to our right, and the shore is lined with minuscule shells. To our left, a second man walks in the field, away from us toward the building, and another man crosses a short bridge over a second, smaller stream.

Angel (Peri) Riding a Composite Camel

This drawing, Walters manuscript leaf W.749, was executed in Safavid Iran, most probably in the late 10th century AH/AD 16th, in Qazvin or Isfahan. Above, a farmer plows; below, a seated young man watches a produce seller weigh his purchase. On the rocks in the center foreground is inscribed the name of one of the most famous painters in Iran in the 11th century AH/AD 17th, Riza 'Abbasi (active 1001-1044 AH/AD 1591-1592 to 1634). As the handwriting does not match that of the artist, an admirer of Riza's work seems to have attributed the drawing to him. The execution and the bucolic subject matter of this drawing relate closely to the oeuvre of the Persian artist Muhammadi Haravi (active late 10th century AH/AD 16th), who worked in Qazvin. It is possible that this composition was conceived as a manuscript page.

Madonna and Child

Alexander the Great Enthroned at Persepolis

A woman sitting on a throne supports a baby as twelve winged angels look on, all framed in a carved, gilded pointed arch in this vertical panel. It is the center of a three-panel triptych. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of the panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Trios of spiraling columns frame the left and right sides. The woman, child, and angels all have pale skin tinged faintly with green, and rosy cheeks. They all have blond hair except for the woman, whose hair is covered, and all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the bodies of others. The woman, Mary, faces us from her ivory-white, carved stone throne. She looks slightly above us with brown eyes under delicate brows. She has a small, straight nose, and her narrow pink lips are closed. The lapis-blue robe that covers her head and body is bordered with gold patterns, and has a starburst on her right shoulder, to our left. The pea-green underside of the mantle is visible where it turns over on the sleeves and down the front, and the robe is worn over an ivory-white dress patterned with gold. The child she holds with both hands, Jesus, stands on her lap and wraps one arm around her neck. His other hand grips the high neckline of her dress. He looks up with dark, close-set eyes. He has curly blond hair, a double chin, and rounded cheeks. Two tiny teeth are barely visible below his pink upper lip. Despite the rounded cheeks, his face looks more like that of an adult, and the proportions of his body are also adult-like. He wears a gold-trimmed, pale pink robe over a blue garment, which stops just short of his bare feet. The twelve angels surrounding the throne are grouped in trios, with three looking on to our upper left, three to our upper right, and then two trios gathered in each lower corner. Their wings and robes are painted in tones of celery green, ruby red, butter yellow, and pale rose pink. Each has a triangular diadem above their foreheads. The floor beneath is patterned with gold against a burgundy-red background. Above Mary and Jesus, a bearded man is shown from the chest up in a shape made of three lobes alternating with three points. That man faces us and holds up his right hand, to our left, with the first two fingers raised. He wears a shell-pink garment under a green robe, and holds up an open book with Latin text with his other hand. The frame around Mary, Jesus, and the gable above is carved and gilded. Barely discernable, the panel is inscribed across the bottom below the throne, “AVE MARIA GRATIA PNELA DOMINUS.” The pages of the books read, “EGO SUM A O PRINCI PIU FINIS EGO SUM VI A. VERITAS VITA.”

Coronation of the Virgin

Grapevine in the Wind

A woman, Mary, sitting on a throne made of clouds is surrounded by ten winged angels, floating above a landscape with twelve people gathered closely around a long, rectangular, stone box filled with flowers, all set against a gold background in this tall, vertical painting. Mary and the angels have pale, peachy skin and the men below have more tan complexions. Each person’s head is surrounded by a flat, gold halo. In the upper half of the composition, Mary’s blond hair is covered by a veil, and her white robe is decorated with a pattern of starburst-like, gold shapes and edged in gold. She holds her hands together in prayer and looks up. She sits on a light blue, cloud-like form, which is held up by two angels. The other eight angels look on, four to each side. Six of them each play a different musical instrument, and the top two cross hands across their chests. The angels all have blond hair and wear flowing robes in cranberry red, steel gray, cream white, or pale sky blue. In the bottom half of the painting, the people kneeling or bending over the coffin-sized, stone box wear gold-trimmed robes in azure blue, lilac purple, raspberry pink, marigold orange, sage green, or coral red. All but one is bearded, though the face of one, opposite us, is half-hidden behind the outstretched arm of his neighbor. One man, to our left, points into the box, which is filled with white and red flowers and pine-green leaves, and others look into the box, up, or at each other. The box is inlaid with teal-green panels on the side we can see. Grass and flowers grow below. Beyond the box and people, and between them and Mary above, a person kneels on an olive-green, rocky outcropping with hands raised. The angels around Mary line the inner edge of an arch at the top of the panel. The roundels at the top corners above the arch are occupied by a person wearing a mauve-pink robe over a gold garment to our left and a blue robe over a white and gold garment to our left. The entire panel is surrounded by a gold frame carved with steps and moldings.

Paradise

Close to us, a bearded, balding man leads a donkey carrying a woman and child to our right against a hilly landscape in this horizontal painting. All three people have pale, peachy skin and halos. The man has a gray beard and hair, and wears a royal-blue tunic under a ruby-red robe. He leans on a walking stick and looks back at the donkey. The woman riding the donkey wears a blue and gold brocade-like cloak covering her head and body. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, and she looks toward the infant she holds close to her body. The baby wears a white garment and reaches for the woman’s face with one hand as he turns to look over his shoulder toward us. The path they walk on is lined with grass and detailed plants. A river runs parallel to the path a short distance away. The horizon line comes about two-thirds of the way up the painting is lined with green trees, blue mountains, and a few buildings to our left. Wispy white clouds sweep across an azure-blue sky streaked with peach near the horizon.

Peahen and hibiscus

"Black Buck", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Birds and Flowers

Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript

A woman and child sit on an ornate gold, curving throne in front of a shimmering gold background in this vertical painting. Two winged angels in roundels at the upper corners and the woman and child all have peach-colored skin with a gray cast. The woman tips her head toward the child, to our right. She has almond-shaped eyes, a long, straight nose, and her small lips are closed. She looks into the distance over the child’s head. She wears a scarlet-red mantle that covers her head and drapes over her shoulders and body. The azure-blue of her dress beneath is visible at her throat and over one knee. The child sitting on her knee is as tall as a toddler but has adult proportions in his face and body. He holds up his right hand, on our left, and raises the first two fingers. He holds a red scroll in his other hand. He wears a forest-green robe over a salmon-pink garment. The clothing of both the woman and child have geometric gold lines indicating folds in the drapery, and both have gold halos. The child’s halo is marked with three red arms to create a cross above and to the sides of his head. The woman rests her feet on a low stool in front of the opening of the elaborately carved, two-tier throne that nearly encircles the pair. The winged angels in the upper corners have gold halos, brown hair, jeweled, gold garments, and each holds an orb and scepter.

Bahram Gur Arrives at the House of a Merchant, text page (recto); Bahram Gur Slays a Dragon (verso), from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940–1019 or 1025), known as the Great Mongol Shahnama

Saint John on Patmos

Green Tara

Standing Saint

Jean Hey, known as the Master of Moulins, was a leading painter in 15th-century France. Here, he captured the moment the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to a son. The painting once formed the right side of an altarpiece, with the left side depicting Mary’s own Immaculate Conception and a central section, now lost, featuring the enthroned Virgin and Child.

The Adoration of the Magi

Adoration of the Christ child with the young St. John the baptist,St. Romuald,angels,the hands of God the Father and the Holy Ghost as a dove - Filippo Lippi

Phoenixes and Paulownia

On this folio from Walters manuscript W.653, a middle-aged woman stands in a landscape, holding a vase of flowers. The salmon pink margins are stenciled with animal and floral forms. The catchword at the lower left indicates that the following folio is missing.

Leaf from Album of Persian Calligraphy

Carpet

Pichhwai for the Festival of Cows

Dragon in foliage with lion and phoenix heads

Hebe

The Annunciation

Four Portraits from the St. Petersburg Album. Painters unknown, borders by Muhammad Sadiq. Top left: Nadir Shah, Iran, ca. 1740. Top right: Adil Shah, Iran, ca. 1748. Bottom left: Unidentified nobleman, Mughal school, 18th century. Bottom right: Unidentified nobleman, Mughal school, 18th century. Art Institute of Chicago 1919.952 recto

The Greedy Dog

The Holy Family

Saint in Red Cloak

"Dancing Dervishes", Folio from a Divan of Hafiz

Ceremonial Cross of Countess Gertrude

Silk Animal Carpet

An Old Sufi Laments His Lost Youth

The top and bottom panels of this illuminated finispiece from Walters manuscript W.578 are inscribed with the basmalah and hamdalah in white Thuluth script. The Qur'anic verses in the central panel are written in Square Kufic.

Peonies

A woman and winged angel, both with pale, peach skin, are situated in a church interior in this tall, narrow painting. To our left, the angel has long, blond, curly hair, smooth skin, and is smiling. The wings are outlined in royal blue, and they blend from blue to green to yellow to crimson. The angel holds one hand, closer to us, up at chest height with the index finger subtly pointing upward. Holding a long scepter in the other hand, the angel angles their body toward the woman to our right. The angel wears a gold jewel and pearl-encrusted crown and a jeweled long, voluminous robe in scarlet-red and shimmering gold brocade. The neck and along the opening down the front are lined with pearls and jewels. The angel looks toward the woman, who wears a royal-blue dress tied with a red belt at the high waist. Her long brown hair is tied back but one tendril falls over her left shoulder, to our right. She kneels facing us with her raised hands facing outward. Her head is tipped a bit to our left, and she looks up and into the distance to our right with lips slightly parted. She kneels behind a book lying open on a low table. A vase of white lilies and a red cushion lies on the floor in front of the table, close to us. The floor is decorated with people and scenes outlined in black and set into square panels, as if inlaid with wood. The church behind and above the people has a row of tall, narrow arches with bull’s-eye glass windows. A walkway lined with columns runs above the arches, and sunlight comes in through arched windows under the flat wood ceiling. A white dove flies toward the woman on gold lines from a window at the upper left of the painting. Latin words painted in gold capital letters are exchanged between the people. The angel says, “AVE GRA PLENA.” The letters of the woman’s response are painted upside down and backward: “ECCE ANCILLA DNI.”

Kichik Beg Wounded during Babur's Attack on Qalat, from a copy of the Baburnama (Book of Babur)

Vasant Ragini: Folio from a ragamala series (Garland of Musical Modes)

Dozens of people form a line starting from an opening in a city wall or building in the background to a rustic shed-like structure close to us, to kneel before a seated woman holding a baby on her lap in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin tinged faintly with green. The top edge of the panel is shaped so it has two rounded sections like shoulders leading to a stepped, crown-like form with an inward curving triangle at the top. A nickel-gray, crenelated stone wall of a distant city is nestled into the top, stepped section, with a glimmering gold sky above filling the uppermost triangle. Tile-roofed and domed buildings and a few towers appear densely packed beyond the wall. People on foot and horseback create a line from an arched opening in the wall toward us and to our right. Three of the people on horseback in the distance wear long robes and have gold halos. The line of people winds behind a tall, narrow hill to our right and it continues close to us. Two horses, two camels, and several people wait to the right but our attention is drawn to the trio in the foreground, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, and the three men near the infant, the Magi. Mary wears a lapis-blue mantle covering her head and shoulders over a petal-pink dress, and she sits on a wooden or stone chest in the center of the painting. Her body faces us but she turns her face to look with pale blue eyes off to our right. In one hand she holds a hexagonal gold vessel that tapers to a flame-like finial. With the other hand, on our left, she supports the blond infant sitting in her lap. He is covered only with a white cloth around his waist, and he looks toward the vessel as he holds up the index and middle fingers of his right hand. To our left and slightly behind Mary, a balding man with white hair and beard and wearing a blue garment under a red robe sits with his head propped in his hand, looking down. His other hand rests on what might be the handle of a crutch or staff. The man, woman, and child have gold halos with what appears to be writing. The three Magi also have gold halos and they all wear scarlet-red shoes. The oldest kneels before Mary and kisses Jesus's feet. He has a long, light gray beard and is balding. He wears a brocade-like gold robe over pale brick-red sleeves. A cleanshaven man with dark brown hair and wrinkles around his mouth kneels to our left as he raises a jewel-encrusted gold crown from his head. He wears a gold and red floral-patterned garment and holds a rounded vessel, also with a flame-like finial. A younger, cleanshaven man with smooth features and shoulder-length, curling blond hair to our right also wears a gold crown. A dagger hangs from the waist of his sky-blue tunic, and his leggings are pale plum purple. Both arms are bent to his hands are held up, and in his right hand, he holds another tabernacle-like gold vessel. The structure to our left houses a donkey and bull munching hay. A gold sunburst floats above the roof, which seems to be built up against the stone wall of a building. The hills and trees beyond the people is painted with pine and moss greens and brown.

Arion on a Sea Horse

Portrait of a Ladakhi Mountain Goat

Virgin and Child

Rustam's seventh course: He kills the White Div, folio 124 from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020)

Krishna's Fifth and Sixth Avatars, page from a copy of the Gitagovinda of Jayaveda

A woman sits in the center of this vertical panel painting and gazes down at a baby lying across her lap while two winged angels hold up a red, gold, and black brocade-like patterned cloth behind her. All the people have pale skin, pink cheeks, blond hair, and flat, gold halos. The woman’s body is angled slightly to our right, and she holds her hands crossed over her chest as she gazes down at the baby. The woman has a straight, pointed nose and a small, pink-lipped mouth. Her azure-blue robe covers her head and drapes over much of the crimson-red dress beneath. The edge of the robe and cuff of her dress are trimmed in gold. The baby lies with his arms slightly raised, and he looks up at the woman. His hips and legs are wrapped with sheer white cloth. The angels in the upper corners of the panel both wear robes in the same azure blue of the woman, and the garments have a gold band around the high waist and gold around the neckline. They look at the woman and hold up the cloth that falls behind and under her and the baby.

The Merry Family

In the stone ruins of a building, a woman, Mary, kneels with her hands in prayer over a thin-limbed baby lying in front of her in this vertical painting. There is a man behind Mary, to our left, two more in a field to our right, and a winged angel in the upper right corner. They all have pale skin. Mary’s unbound blond hair falls over her shoulders. She wears a celestial-blue dress, and her teal-blue cloak is edged with gold. Her body is angled to our right, and she looks down her straight nose at the baby near her knees. The nude baby has blond curls and a chubby tummy and cheeks. An ox and an ass look down at the baby from behind a stone trough to our right. The man behind Mary wears a forest-green cap and scarf over a tomato-red robe. One hand rests on a staff, and he looks up at the angel in the top right corner. An owl looks down at the man from atop the stone ruins, near the top left corner. Two men recline and about a dozen white sheep lie on low hills in the near distance to our right. One of those men sleeps and the other holds up both hands as he looks into the sky. The angel in the top right corner emerges from a petal-pink and pale yellow halo against a star-strewn blue sky. The angel wears rose pink and has dark pink wings. A scroll held across both arms reads, “GLO” and “INECELSIS DEO.”

This page from Walters manuscript W.674 bears 4 diplomas written within illuminated cartouches inscribed in ijazah script by the following master calligraphers: Yaziji zadah, Isma'il al-Zuhdi Katib al-Saray al-Sultani, Muhammad Hasib, and 'Ali al-Wasfi. The page is dated 1219 AH/AD 1804-1805.

Bacchante on a Panther

Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript

Birds and Flowers

慈眼大師像

Manjushri

Thangka with the Seventh Bodhisattva

Textile

Abhisarika Nayika (Heroine Running to Meet her Lover)

A woman holding a nude baby boy sits on a blue patterned pillow on the floor in front of a brick-red curtain held up by two angels in this vertical painting. The people all have pale, almost gold-colored skin with a green cast, though their cheeks are flushed with pale pink. The woman sits facing us and looks slightly off to our right. She has almond-shaped eyes, a straight nose, and her lips are closed. She wears a blue cloak with a white hood over a shell-pink dress. Her right arm, on our left, rests in her lap and she supports the baby with her other arm. The baby’s nude body is pudgy like a baby but his face and head are proportioned more like an adult. His body turns toward the woman and he reaches up to her neck, and he looks into the distance to our left. Both have flat, plate-like gold halos. The winged angels holding up the red curtain also have halos and they wear blue robes. The curtain falls in gentle folds behind the mother and child, and fabric of the same color underneath the blue pillow on which they sit suggests that the curtain extends onto the floor. A dove, also haloed, floats at the top center of the painting. The gold background around the curtain and behind the angels and dove is painted into an arch over the people, and the upper corners of the panel are dark. A Latin inscription is painted with capital gray letters against a white band along the bottom edge of the panel: “AVE: MARIA: GRATIA: PLENA: DO.”

Portrait of Emperor Jahangir

Carpet with Triple-Arch Design

This is the final illuminated page in the codex, Walters W.582. The last panel contains the colophon, written in Riqa' script, giving the name of the scribe as Habib Allah ibn Dust Muhammad al-Khwarizmi.

This painting depicts a man with light skin, white hair, and a white beard wearing an orange cloth draped over a dark-blue garment with gold embroidery around the shoulder and neckline. He holds two large red keys in his left hand, and a thin, red, cross-topped rod in his right hand. There is a faint outline of a halo around the man's head, which is slightly turned to the right. The background is gold, enclosed within a red, white, and black patterned border.

A winged angel with arms crossed kneels across from a young woman sitting and holding a book, both under an archway in a paneled room in this vertical painting. They both have pale, yellow-toned skin, blond hair, and flat, gold halos. They also have golden brown eyes, long, straight noses, smooth cheeks, and their pale, pink lips are closed. To our right, the woman sits in a throne-like chair with her body facing our left. Her head tilts down, and she looks toward the angel under lowered lids. Her hair is pulled back under the neck of the lapis-blue cloak she wears over a crimson-red dress. The dress and cloak are trimmed with gold, and a there is a gold starburst on the cloak over her left shoulder, closer to us. She holds her other hand up near that shoulder with her fingertips brushing her chest. With her other hand, she holds open the pages of a small book in her lap, so her fingers overlap some of the words. The entire Latin inscription would read, “virgo concipiet et pariet filium et vocabitur nomen eius emmanuel butirum et mel come dit ut fiat reprobare.” A slender, bone-white column separates her from the angel across from her, along the left edge of the painting. The angel has curly, shoulder-length hair and wears a robe with a gold, floral pattern against a burgundy-red background. Long, golden wings emerge from the shoulder blades and extend off the side of the composition. An open archway just beyond the angel is filled with streaks of flax yellow and burnt orange, possibly representing flames. Some of the walls in the room around the pair are pale olive green and other areas are darker spruce green. There are bands of coral-pink molding and inset panels of patterned mosaics. The flat ceiling of the space immediately over the pair is decorated with checkerboard panels in navy blue, hunter green, brown, and brick red. Gold lines create a ray coming from the ceiling toward the woman. At the back of the space, beyond the column separating the woman and angel, the room extends into an alcove with an arched hallway painted with gold stars against a midnight-blue background. Double doors open at the back of the alcove onto a room with a pale-yellow curtain with a mesh-like trim. We see the pair as if through a stone archway that lines the top and sides of the composition. The upper corners are filled with leafy decorations, as if carved into the stone.

Crucifix with Scenes of the Passion

Bernat Martorell was one of the greatest painters in Catalonia, Spain, during the first half of the 15th century. Here, he rendered a frequently depicted episode from the popular legend of Saint George, in which the model Christian knight saves a town and rescues a beautiful princess. George’s halo and armor and the scaly dragon are richly modeled with raised stucco decoration.

Annunciation

This painting shows a bowl of red raspberries resting on a surface. The bowl is pale blue with blue details on the rim, and it is surrounded by a pile of pale peaches and pears, red plums, and green and purple grapes. In the bottom left corner, there are some pale purple-and-white carrots and a small group of red berries. On the right is a tree with yellow pears and a small vase with red and white roses. On the left is a thin brown branch with a bird perched on it. The bird has a green back and a yellow chest, and it is leaning down towards the raspberries, its wings flared and its beak partially open. The surface these items rest on is dark gray and the background is a gradient of pale yellow on the left and light blue on the right.

Textile Fragment

Khambavati Ragini: Page from a Dispersed Ragamala Series (Garland of Musical Modes)

Zal Climbing to Rudaba, page from a copy of the Shahnama of Firdausi

Buddhist Deities