The Conference of the Birds: Page from a manuscript of the Mantiq al-Tayr (The Language of the Birds) of Farid al-Din Attar [Iran (Isfahan)] (63.210.11) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Conference of the Birds: Page from a manuscript of the Mantiq al-Tayr (The Language of the Birds) of Farid al-Din Attar [Iran (Isfahan)] (63.210.11) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art


The Conference of the Birds: Page from a manuscript of the Mantiq al-Tayr(The Language of the Birds) of Farid al-Din ^cAttar, ca. 1600; Safavid
Iran (Isfahan)
Opaque watercolor, ink, silver, gold on paper

10 x 4 1/2 in. (25.4 x 11.4 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1963 (63.210.11)

NOT ON VIEW   Last Updated March 21, 2013

The text on this folio pertains to the hoopoe's speech in which he proposes that the birds set out on a journey to find the Simurgh. In this illustration, the birds have assembled and listen to the hoopoe at the middle right. A stone next to a stream contains the signature of the Safavid painter, Habiballah. A man with a matchlock, which is irrelevant to the story, was a popular motif at that time. In contrast, the tree with a snake climbing toward a bird's nest may have been inspired by the same motif on Timurid folio 35r. The motif of goats on a mountain is also typical of Timurid paintings. Probably Habiballah used these Timurid motifs to visually align the additional Safavid illustrations to the original Timurid pages.

This work of art also appears on Connections: Birding