Bahram Gur in the White Pavilion

Date16th century

Label TextIn this scene, King Bahram Gur has won the hand of seven beautiful princesses from seven distinct lands. They each entertain the great king on successive days, ensconced in different pavilions, dressed in different colors, all with different lessons for the king. Depicted here, after spending a day with each of his other six consorts, Bahram Gur visits Diroste, the daughter of a Persian king and mistress of the White Pavilion on Friday, the final day of the week. Teaching the king perhaps his most important lessons, Diroste tells of the attraction of passion, and the redemption of virtue. The 12th-century poet Nizami is famous for setting down in writing the great folk histories of Persia. This scene is drawn from the Haft Paykar (“Seven Beauties”), one of the sections of Nizami’s Khamsa (“Quintet”). The Haft Paykar records the rise to power of the Sasanian king Bahram Gur, while also serving as a fable of love and morality.

Two stories in the Khamsa address the lives and loves of rulers who appear in the Shahnama. In the Haft Paykar (Seven Portraits), the Sassanian ruler and hero Bahram Gur—a great king, hunter and slayer of mythical beasts—builds a palace with seven pavilions that will serve as the lodging for princesses from the seven regions of the world. Each night Bahram Gur visits a princess in a brightly colored pavilion, and she tells a moralizing or didactic tale to the ruler.

In this miniature, one of the princesses comes before Bahram Gur. The ruler sits on an elevated throne with the princess before him. Additional courtly figures, ladies in waiting and musicians surround them as they converse. The Haft Paykar is a simple love story—that of a powerful ruler who enjoys the company of exotic princesses—but it also has a deeper allegorical meaning. In the story, Bahram Gur undertakes a spiritual journey from ignorance to wisdom as he visits the seven princesses and they assist him in his quest for self-knowledge and moral growth. The content of the Haft Paykar provided an exemplum for princes—a moral guide—but the imagery tends to emphasize the beauty and exoticism of the princesses who come to Bahram's court to impart their wisdom.

Object number47.16

Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection

Dimensions9 3/16 x 5 7/16 in. (23.3 x 13.8 cm)

MediumOpaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper