Table (khwan) with scenes of princely leisure and inscribed with Persian poetry

Persian painting is often associated with manuscript illustration, an art form in which a text—historical, poetic, religious, medical—informs the subject matter of the accompanying painting. The style of Persian manuscript painting—one often characterized by jewel-like colors, detailed architecture, fantastic landscapes, and figures with androgynous “moon” faces—became so popular that, in later centuries, it translated to non-textual works of art, including ceramics, textiles, and wood furnishings. On the surface of this table, young men and women repose, feast, and hunt in abundant landscapes, and their style of depiction echoes manuscript illustrations of canonical Persian poetry (see 10.7, for example). The cartouche inscriptions around the perimeter of the object provide its Persian designation—khwan (table)—while also commenting on the beauty of the piece: “O what a marvelous table, the design of which is so pleasing! How beautiful you are!” Source: Wheeler Thackston, “Shangri La Highlights in Translation,” Shangri La Working Papers in Islamic Art 3 (February 2012).