Turning a Silk Purse into a Sow's Ear: A Speculative Note on Humay and Humayun in Philadelphia

Abstract The Rare Books department at the Free Library of Philadelphia owns a deluxe manuscript Sa'di's Kulliyat , originally produced in mid-sixteenth century Shiraz and substantially modified more modern times. Among alterations was insertion copy famous Timurid painting “Humay Humayun garden”, belonging to Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. version Paris likely based on either published reproduction or photograph taken original composition when it view ground-breaking 1910 exhibition “Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst” Munich. That photographic reproductions could result pictorial replicas reveals once again market forces behind great interest in, demand for, production classical Persian during early twentieth century.