Rock faces, opium and wine: speculations on the original viewing context of persianate manuscripts

Abstract

One of the most delightful and interesting features of Islamic miniature painting in the Persian-speaking world is the appearance of hidden faces and figures in the background of compositions, which usually consist of rocky outcrops, tree roots or boulders. Scholars have provided different reasons for this feature, from narrative enhancement to the artists' creativity and imagination. Although accepting these reasons as valid, this paper proposes an additional raison d'etre - that is, the original viewing context of the majlis where wine and opium consumption were part of the entertainment, as both textual and visual evidence demonstrates. Based on first-hand accounts of users of psychoactive substances as well as psychological studies on their effect on creativity and visual perception, I argue that opium and wine consumption caused a perceptional shift that rendered the hidden figures even more entertaining than they would have been in a sober state of mind.