Battle of the Clans, from an illustrated manuscript of Sufi Poetry

In the 15th century, Shiraz became a prolific center for the production of illustrated manuscripts for Timurid and Turkman rulers, as well as patrons of less ample means. More than one hundred manuscripts were illustrated in the city, many of them in the latter half of the century. The manuscripts’ distinctive painting style includes figures wearing lopsided turbans, tufts of flowers scattered over pale grounds, and high horizons marked with hillocks. This painting, placed between verses of Sufi poetry, is inspired by a well-known tale of star-crossed Bedouin lovers, Majnun and Layla. Driven to madness by his love for Layla, Majnun escapes to the desert. A Bedouin prince, sympathetic to Majnun’s plight, seeks to force Layla’s father to permit the lovers to marry by attacking her family’s tribe. In the miniature, while the two clans fight, a disheveled Majnun appears behind the hill, unable to throw the rock in his hand.