Sa’di’s “Gulistan”

This fragment includes the beginning of Sa'di's Gulistan (The rose garden) on its recto, as well as the work's final page on its verso. The first page includes the title of the work written in white ink on a blue background decorated with orange leaf spirals. The rest of the illuminated top panel contains interlacing flowers and gold panels on a blue ground. A didactic work in both prose and verse, Gulistan was composed in 1258 by the Persian poet and prose writer Shaykh Sa'di Shirazi (circa 1213–92), a contemporary of the famous poet Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207–73). It contains a number of moralizing stories that bear similarities to the fables of the French writer Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95). In Persian lands, Sa'di's maxims were highly valued and manuscripts of his work were widely copied and illustrated. Sa'di notes that he composed Gulistan to teach the rules of conduct in life both to kings and dervishes. The work was used as a tool of instruction and commentary, as witnessed by the extensive marginal glosses and notes that are executed in red or black ink and cross-checked with a corresponding note within the original text. A few notes in red ink in the main text frame also de