Illuminated folio (recto) from a Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Sa'di (c. 1213–1291)

Silver and gold paints were used against an indigo blue background to create a fantastic frame for the text of the Gulistan. Meaning “rose bush” in Persian, this text is a collection of anecdotes in both verse and prose. Here, a winged lion chases a winged deer from the upper margins to the lower, where it rends the mythical deer and sends a toothy fox running.