rpiece—this one could’ve belonged in any collection of ghazals;
which spoke of love; friendship; spring and happiness。 We looked at the trees
of springtime blooming in an array of color; the cypresses in a garden
reminiscent of Heaven and the elation of the beloveds reclining in that garden
as they drank wine and recited poetry; it was as if we in the moldy; dusty and
icy Treasury could also smell those spring blossoms and the delicately scented
skin of the joyous revelers。 “Notice how the same artist who rendered the
forearms of the lovers; their beautiful naked feet; the elegance of their stances
and the lazy delight of the birds fluttering about them with such sincerity; also
made the crude shape of the cypress in the background!” I said; “This is the
work of Lütfi of Bukhara whose ill…temper and belligerence caused him to leave
each of his illustrations half finished; he fought with every shah and khan
claiming that they understood nothing of painting; and he never remained in
one city for long。 This great master went from one shah’s palace to another;
from city to city; quarreling all the way; never able to find a ruler whose book
was deserving of his talents; until he ended up in the workshop of an
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inconsequential chieftain who ruled over nothing but bare mountaintops。
Claiming that ”th