Perspectives on Persian Painting

<p>This is a detailed study of the illustrations to Amir Khusrau's <em>Khamsah</em> in which twenty discourses are followed by a brief parable and four romances. Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) lived the greater part of adventurous life in Delhi; he composed in Persian and also in Hindi. From the point of view of manuscript illustration his most important work is his <em>Khamsah</em> (Quintet'). Khusrau's position as a link between cultures of Persia and India means that the early illustrated copies of the Khamsah have a particular interest. The first extant exemplar is from the Persian area in the late 14th century but a case can be made that work was probably illustrated earlier in India.</p>