Birds and Lotus (painting, recto, text, verso), folio 336 from a manuscript of the Divan (Collection of Works) of Anvari

The recto side of the folio features two small rectangles containing green birds flanking a rectangle with text. Below is a small painting of various birds at a bank of a river that is lined with lotuses. The paintings and the rectangular text block visually break up the two columns of text. All of the text is written in Persian in black ink and in nasta’liq script. The larger painting marks the division of two types of text, Anvari’s mathnavi, a poem of rhyming distichs, and the lyric ghazals, which are a type of amatory poem or ode. The folio belongs to an illustrated copy of the Divan of Anvari commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) in 1588 and in Lahore. The poet Anvari (1126-1189) is considered one of the greatest figures in Persian literature. His panegyric in honor of the Seljuq sultan, Ahmad Sanjar (r. 1118-1157) earned him royal favor and the patronage of two of Sanjar’s successors. Anvari’s poems were collected in a Divan, which contains eulogies, satire, panegyrics, and other forms of poetry and prose.