Courtyard Scene

This painting depicts an enclosed terrace at the edge of a royal garden in which servants are preparing drinks and fruit for a prince. The scene, based on a famous composition by the Persian artist Bihzad, dated 1488 and now in the Royal Egyptian Library in Cairo, is linked to one of the greatest Timurid painters. It demonstrates the conservative nature of book illustration, which often perpetuated standard themes and pictorial styles across several generations. The intense geometric ornamentation of the building in this work suggests the decorative wall tiles also exhibited here.