The picture illustrates a scene from the "story of the jeweler hasan". On an adventurous journey, the young goldsmith hasan is able to win the marriage of a beautiful princess, but only through a ruse: he steals her plumage, which she can use to transform herself into a bird, because the princess is manar es-sana, the youngest daughter of the mighty great king of the jinn. Back home in baghdad, hasan has to set off on another journey and leaves his wife in the care of his mother, with the stipulation that she should never leave the house until he returns. But manar es-sana persuades her mother-in-law to go to the public bath with her. The picture corresponds to the following passage on page 332: "so she prepared what was necessary and led her son's wife to the bath. When she entered and took off her clothes, all the women crowded around and marveled at the radiant beauty of her body, loudly praising god the creator. But it happened that on that very day tohfe, the wife of the commander of the faithful harun al-rashid, also visited the same bath. When she saw the graceful figure and magnificent beauty of the young woman, her eyes became confused and she forgot to bathe and wash herself, while she stared incessantly at this splendor until the woman had finished her bath and put on her garments. Date: 1913. FvB-AN-332
Loading...
