Information from museum website: This bookbinding is a rare example surviving from the Akbar period. Although the contents of the manuscript it covered are now dispersed, it once contained the Persian poet Jami’s retelling of the tale of Yusuf and Zulayka from the Qur’an. Depictions of predators chasing and attacking prey were painted and gilded onto a papier-mâché surface that was then lacquered to produce a durable finish. Green and gold cartouches decorate the leather doublures of the interior.
Anon., Bookbinding with Animals in a Landscape (mid-16th century). Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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