Recently, I introduced the BL digitised manuscript of Mantiq al Tayr (conference of the birds): mainly by praising both the manuscript in the Met, and a very cute cartoon film of the story. If you didnt watch the cartoon first time round, please dont miss it now!
Coming back to the BL manuscript, though, the digitisation means it’s possible to have a very (very!) close look at it.
Click here to see the manuscript itself.
I cant show you the pics themselves here, but if you look in the top right corner and press the right facing arrow, you see the next page. Keep on pressing to see quite how much text there is, and how few illustrations. So all those ‘miniatures’ in museums, and the salesrooms, are not at all representative of the books the Persians saw.
Of course, you can cheat and go straight to the pretty pictures. Furthest to the right is a drop down box. Scroll down to 84r (recto) to see a lovely image of two foxes (in the left margin) and two hunters – one with a falcon, and one with a cheetah propped on his horse’s bottom.
Regular blog readers know how fascinated I am with Asiatic cheetahs (see the postings here and here, and the – explicit – 1939 hunting film here). If you press the magnifying (+) glass on 84r, you can get super-close. I especially love the cheetah’s collar, and his bemused and confused expression. He’s so different to the horses, who are ears-ahead intelligent and with such soft noses.
Keep looking and you’ll keep seeing more.
The guy at the front of 84r has an expensive belt and sheath for his arrows and saddle (and hat of course). And a leather gauntlet for his hunting bird. His horse is well-dressed too. Even the girth is fancy.