Royal Reception in a Landscape, left folio from the double frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 940-1019 or 1025), 1444. Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501). Opaque watercolor, ink, gold, and silver on paper; overall: 32.7 x 22 cm (12 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.); image: 26.1 x 20.7 cm (10 1/4 x 8 1/8 in.). The royal feast is set in a green landscape dotted with flowers and blossoming bushes against a gold sky with wisps of blue and white clouds. The group of figures in the upper left includes a falconer, horses, attendants, and two hunting cheetahs, while servers transport food and drink in gold and ceramic vessels, some presumably Chinese blue and white porcelain. Possibly this banquet was offered after a courtly hunt, a prestigious symbol of power and wealth. Among the groups of men sitting on elaborate carpets are three Chinese officials, identifiable by their black hats, kneeling together on the ground. Although their presence indicates the presence o