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Presented is another scene from a much later edition of Majnun and Layla.  The previous Persian miniatures are from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, often remembered for being the climax of Persian miniature painting. But by the 19th century, Western artistic styles greatly influenced the tastes of Muslim rulers, their courtiers, and other high and wealthy Middle Easterners.  This miniature—which lacks the more expensive minute details and illumination present in the previous manuscripts as well as the overt Western influence of nineteenth-century courtly work—was likely produced for someone of less wealth and status than the other manuscripts presented here. At the same time, this manuscript shows the enduring popularity of many Middle Eastern poems, such as the poetry of Ibn al-Farid (d. 1235 CE), Rumi (d. 1273), Hafez (d. 1389–90), Yunus Emre (d. 1320), and in this case, the Majnun and Layla story, all of which are still extremely widely read today.

Scene from Nezami’s Khosrow and Shirin in Hebrew

Name: Scene from Another Later Manuscript of Majnun and Layla

Material: Ink and paint on paper

Size:
Length: 18 cm (7.1 in)
Width: 12.2 cm (4.8 in)

Date: 1854 CE

Place of Origin: Iran or India

Location: Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, Illinois

Source and Registration#: University of Chicago Oriental Institute manuscript # A12073.

Michael Sells

John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature, Divinity School, The University of Chicago