A MANUSCRIPT ILLUSTRATION: THE ENCOUNTER OF LAYLA AND MAJNUN
Provincial Late Safavid School, Iran, 18th century

Opaque pigments and gold on paper, the small-sized vertical manuscript illustration depicting the moment Majnun meets his one true love, Leyla, after having lived in the wilderness surrounded only by animals, Majnun portrayed with a naked torso, Leyla with a golden overcoat, their hand gestures suggesting a calm and intimate conversation, rocky mountains in the background, the manuscript illustration mounted onto later album page cardboard border with concentric frames decorated with polychrome-painted and gilt floral and vegetal scrolls, and gold-painted light blue edges with pairs of birds and deer amidst interlocking vegetal sprays, 19cm x 12cm including the border.