<div class="description">
The painting on the verso of this folio is the first half of a double-page frontispiece now detached from a <em>Shahnama</em> (Book of Kings) manuscript. CMA 1956.10 is the left half of the frontispiece.<br><br>As though setting the scene for royal stories and activities, these two opening pages of Iran’s national epic present a luxurious gathering in an idyllic outdoor setting. Groups of nobles and international diplomats have come bearing gifts, including costly vessels and hunting animals. <br><br>At the upper right, seemingly uninterested in the emissaries and gifts, a prince kneels with six royal women under an open tent. He pulls one of them toward him, apparently to coax her to drink a cup of wine. At the bottom a musician plays a harp that has been mounted over a stream, painted with now tarnished silver paint. Drama and intrigue seem to be brewing, given the knowing glances and whispers between figures.</div>
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