Narrative Analysis of Quranic Verses and the mentions (dhikr) Taken from Them in the Painting "The Insolvent Who Fell in Love with the King of Egypt" by Mantiq ul-Tayr, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Graduate in Comparative and Analytical History of Islamic Art, Faculty of Visual Art, Department of Advance Art Studies, Tehran University, Tehran Iran

2 Full Professor, Faculty of Visual Art, Department of Advance Art Studies, Tehran University, Tehran Iran

3 Associate Professor, Faculty of Visual Art, Tehran University, Tehran Iran

10.30480/vaa.2025.5657.1964

Abstract

Mantiq-ul-Tayr, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, is one of the finest manuscripts of the Timurid period, which is important due to the participation and supervision of Kamal al-Din Behzad over some of its illustrations. The art of illustration in this version is of the highest quality, and mystical nuances are skillfully incorporated into the realities of everyday life. In the present study, an attempt has been made to pay attention to the inscriptions of Quranic verses and the admonitions (dhikr) inspired by them as an inseparable element of the story of the illustration, which have an apparently intangible presence but are very effective inwardly because the selection of Quranic verses and admonitions (dhikr) was not done aimlessly, and both obvious and hidden goals were considered in this. In summary, it was clear from studying the painting that the artist does not only want a mere relationship between the divine names and the audience, but also seeks to place God at the center of his audience's attention and to encourage his audience to not only remember God verbally, but to turn to God with all their being and have a living and existential relationship with God. In fact, the artist is the link between God and the audience of the work, and this is the main function of the verses and admonitions in Iranian painting. The present study is qualitative and has examined the painting in question with a descriptive-analytical approach and using library resources (real/virtual).

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