4 miniatures from Ajâ'eb al-makhluqât.

1 folio, paper, ca. 37 x 23 cm.

1 large leaf with miniatures on both sides, from a Persian translation of Zakariyâ b. Muhammad al- Qazwini’s celebrated 13th century cosmography, Ajâ'eb al-makhluqât ("The Wonders of the World"), dating from the Qajar period (19th c.). Against a bright blue background strewn with small white clouds, the miniatures depict in a somewhat naive, but charming way, the angels of the second up to the fifth heavens. As the text explains, these angels have respectively the appearance of eagles, vultures, horses and houris. The black birds, speckled with red, and with orange wings in the case of the "vultures", of the first two miniatures, however, look rather like starlings. The horse is portrayed as a double Pegasus. The houris are four winged girls, soberly dressed, two bareheaded, one wearing a crown, one a black Qajar cap.