按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
youths in love with each other; and was reminded of the love my own
handsome apprentices nourished for painting。 A tiny…footed; transparent…
skinned; weak and girlish youth had bared a delicate forearm; which aroused
in one the desire to kiss it and die; while a cherry…lipped; almond…eyed;
sapling…thin; button…nosed beauty of a maiden gazed with wonder—as though
viewing three lovely flowers—upon the three small; deep marks of passion the
youth had burned onto the inside of that adorable arm to demonstrate the
strength of his love and his attachment to her。
Oddly; my heart began to quicken and pound。 As had happened sixty years
ago in my early apprenticeship; while I was looking at some rather indecent
illustrations of handsome marble…skinned boys and slim small…breasted
maidens drawn in the black…ink style of Tabriz; beads of sweat accumulated on
my forehead。 I recalled the passion for painting I felt and the depth of thought
I experienced when; a few years after I’d married and taken my first steps
toward master status; I saw a lovely angel…faced; almond…eyed; rose…petal…
skinned youth brought in as an apprentice candidate。 For a moment; I had the
strong feeling that painting was not about melancholy and regret but about
this desire I felt and that it was the talent of the master artist that first
transformed this desire into a love of God and then into a love of the world as
God saw it; so strong was this feeling that it caused me to relive with ecstatic
delight all the years I’d spent over the drawing board until my back was
hunched; all the beatings I’d endured while learning my craft; my dedication
to courting blindness through illustration and all the agonies of painting I’d
suffered and made others suffer。 As if running my eyes over something
forbidden; I stared long and silently at this wondrous illustration with the
same delight。 Much later I was still staring。 A teardrop slid from my eye over
my cheek into my beard。
342
When I noticed that one of the candlesticks slowly floating through the
Treasury was approaching me; I put the album away and randomly opened
one of the volumes the dwarf had recently set beside me。 This was a special
album prepared for shahs: I saw two deer at the edge of a green copse
enamored of each other; with jackals watching them in hostile envy。 I turned
the page: Chestnut and bay horses that could’ve been the work of only one of
the old masters of Herat—how spectacular they were! I turned the page: A
confidently seated governmental official greeted me from a seventy…year…old
picture; I couldn’t determine who it was from the face because he looked like
anybody; or so I thought; yet the air of the painting; the seated man’s beard
painted in various hues recalled something。 My heart beat quickly as I
recognized the execution of the magnificent hand in the piece。 My heart knew
before I did; only he could’ve drawn such a splendid hand: This was the work
of Bihzad。 It was as if light were gushing from the painting to my face。
I had seen pictures drawn by the Great Master Bihzad a few times before;
perhaps because I hadn’t looked at them alone; but in a group of former
masters years ago; perhaps because we couldn’t be certain whether it was
indeed the work of the great Bihzad; I hadn’t been as taken as I was now。
The heavy moldy darkness of the Treasury chamber seemed to brighten。
This beautifully drawn hand merged in my mind with that thin; magnificent
arm branded with signs of love; which I’d just now seen。 Again; I praised God
for showing me such spectacular beauty before I went blind。 How do I know
I’ll soon be blind? I don’t know! I sensed that I could share this intuition of
mine with Black; who’d sidled up to me holding a candle and was looking at
the page; but something else came out of my mouth。
“Behold the remarkable rendering of the hand;” I said。 “It’s Bihzad。”
My hand went of its own will to hold Black’s; as if it were holding the hand
of one of those soft; velvet…skinned; beautiful apprentice boys; each of whom
I’d loved in my youth。 His hand was smooth and firm; warmer than my own;
delicate and broad; and I was thrilled by the veined side of his wrist。 When I
was young; I would take an apprentice child’s hand into my palm and; before
telling him how to hold the brush; I’d gaze with affection into his sweet;
frightened eyes。 That’s how I looked at Black。 Reflected in his pupils; I saw the
flame of the candle he held aloft。 “We miniaturists are brethren;” I said; “but
now everything is ing to an end。”
“How do you mean?”
343
I said; “Everything is ing to an end” like a great master who longs for
blindness; having devoted his years to a lord or a prince; having created
masterpieces in his workshop in the style of the ancients; having even ensured
that this workshop had its own style; a great master who knows; whenever his
patron lord loses his last battle; that new lords will e in the wake of the
plundering enemy; disband the workshop; tear apart bound volumes leaving
the pages in disarray and belittle and destroy what remains; including the fine
details that he long believed in; that were of his own discovery and that he
loved like his own children。 But I needed to explain this to Black differently。
“This illustration is of the great Poet Abdullah Hatifi;” I said。 “Hatifi was
such a great poet that he simply stayed home while everybody else rushed out
and toadied up to Shah Ismail after the king took Herat。 In response; Shah
Ismail personally went all the way to his house on the outskirts of the city to
see him。 We know this is Hatifi; not from Bihzad’s rendering of Hatifi’s face;
but from the writing beneath the illustration; don’t we?”
Black looked at me; indicating “yes” with his pretty eyes。 “When we look at
the face of the poet in the painting;” I said; “we see that it could be a face like
any other face。 If Abdullah Hatifi were here; God rest his soul; we could never
hope to recognize him from the face in this picture。 However; we could do so
relying on the illustration in its entirety: There’s something in the manner of
the position; in Hatifi’s pose; in the colors; the gilding and the stunning
hand rendered by Master Bihzad that at once indicates the picture is of a poet。
Meaning precedes form in the world of our art。 As we begin to paint in
imitation of the Frankish and Veian masters; as in the book that Our Sultan
had missioned from your Enishte; the domain of meaning ends and the
domain of form begins。 However; with the Veian methods…”
“My Enishte; may he rest in eternal peace; was murdered;” Black said
rudely。
I caressed Black’s hand; which rested within my own; as if respectfully
st