Buzurjmihr Interprets a Dream for Nushirwan, from the Shahnama of Firdausi

Description

Nushirwan was the son of Mazdak, a heretic (in this context, someone who was not a follower of Zoroastrianism) who had won many converts. Nushirwan persuaded the shah that Mazdak was a fraud, and was himself put in charge of punishing his father and his followers, for which he earned the epithet “the Just.” Later, when he had become shah, Nushirwan had a disturbing dream that someone in the palace would betray him. He summoned his wise minister Buzurjmihr to interpret the dream.
The world-lord called and told the dream to him.
He [Buzurjmihr] heard, grew full of matter, and replied:
“There is a youth disguised in women’s garb
Within thy bower. Now put all strangers forth,
That none may know our purpose, and command
Thy ladies all to pass before thy presence
With measured tread . . .”
They came, those Idols of his bower, in all
Their perfumes, tints, and beauty.
They passed the second time and, when all thought
The dream an empty one, a youth appeared
Of cypress-stature and of kingly looks,
But quaking like a willow and despairing
Of his dear life.
Warner, VII, 284–85
This painting is no doubt by the same artist who did “Ardshir Sits Upon the Throne in Baghdad” (1963/1.67). It adheres to the same formula for an audience scene, with the enthroned shah in the center, flanked by attendants on each side. We recognize again this painter’s skill in creating individual personalities, especially in the figures of the slender and youthful shah and his stout, graying minister. The women, however, all have stereotypical “moon faces,” so that it is impossible to tell which is the male in disguise. The black-skinned figure behind the women is probably meant to represent a eunuch in the royal harem.
———
Maribeth Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art
Exhibited in "A Medieval Masterpiece from Baghdad: the Ann Arbor Shahnama"
August 14 through December 19, 2004