Animals, Precious Stones, Coins, and Musical Instruments (recto) from a Mu'nis al-Ahrar fi Daqa'iq al-Ash'ar (The Free Men's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Muhammad Ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi (

Animals, Precious Stones, Coins, and Musical Instruments (recto) from a Mu'nis al-Ahrar fi Daqa'iq al-Ash'ar (The Free Men's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Muhammad Ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi (active 1340s) (c. 1341) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This is one of several pages that were removed from a unique manuscript of this otherwise unknown work, which bears a colophon stating that it was written by the author and finished "Ramadan, 741" (February 1341). Illustrations on both sides include various animals, trees, and objects such as weapons, musical instruments, and jewels.

Object facts

• Title: Animals, Precious Stones, Coins, and Musical Instruments (recto) from a Mu'nis al-Ahrar fi Daqa'iq al-Ash'ar (The Free Men's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Muhammad Ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi (active 1340s)
• Date: c. 1341
• Culture: Iran, Shiraz, Ilkhanid period (1256-1353)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 19.7 x 13.5 cm (7 3/4 x 5 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Islamic Art
• Department: Islamic Art
• Accession number: 1945.385.a

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Swietochowski, Marie Lukens, and Stefano Carboni. Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images: Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.
• ElSaffar, Amir. “The Iraqui Maqam: Singer Hamid Al-Saadi and ensemble celebrate a centuries-old tradition.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 1 (January/February 2020): 10–11.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.