Turkish Sultan mourning for his wife, Folio from a manuscript of Nigaristan

Author: Ahmad

1573-74 CE/980 AH/AH 980

Ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper

Aga Khan Museum

A group of men on horseback and on foot are gathered in an interior courtyard with patterned walls and decorative niches. One man on horseback is looking down and appears to be weeping. A group of men on horseback and on foot are gathered in an interior courtyard with patterned walls and decorative niches. One man on horseback is looking down and appears to be weeping. Further Reading The main element in this miniature painting is the architecture: a three-dimensional building flattened to a single plane. According to the text, the weeping ruler is the Seljuk sultan Muhammad, who had asked the daughter of Muqtafi—an ʿAbbasid caliph (r. 1136–60)—to marry him. The young woman tragically succumbs to tuberculosis on the way to her new groom. Sultan Muhammad orders all of his belongings to be spread out in front of him.