The Peck Sh\u0101hn\u0101ma<\/em> opens with a double-page painting depicting King Solomon and his consort Bilqis enthroned in an expansive landscape (folios 1b-2a).[2]<\/a> As in similar frontispiece compositions dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the wise and prophetic ruler is surrounded by a diverse retinue of human attendants, mammals, reptiles and birds, plus mythical and legendary creatures, all representative of his authority over natural and supernatural kingdoms. Some members of this d\u012bv\u0101n <\/em> are recognizable by their traditional role in Solomonic imagery, such as the elderly vizier Asaf ibn Barkhiya to whom the king turns as if in conversation. Others are more fanciful, including the polychrome divs lined up on the composition\u2019s right side, while the animals and birds belong to wide range of familiar and distinguishable species, from majestic elephants and camels to flying cranes and slithering snakes.<\/p>\n The frontispiece menagerie also includes a dark-gray animal with faint white and black stripes tucked between the front legs of Solomon\u2019s throne. What is this hidden creature and what is it doing in this particular and basically covert, or at least easily-overlooked, spot? The overall body size and form, including round head (now partly abraded), legs, paws and tail, point to a feline, and more specifically to a cat.[3]<\/a> A similar mammal, albeit somewhat larger in size and with a purely black coat, appears held tightly in the arms of a div seated to the right of the throne in various late-fifteenth to early-sixteenth century Solomon images.[4]<\/a> Interestingly, these same paintings also depict a very large cat with striped or spotted markings, and thus probably identifiable as a tiger or cheetah, stretched out immediately before Solomon.[5]<\/a> By the later sixteenth century, circa 1570-85, the larger cat has moved further away from the throne, often to the lower part of the composition, and sometimes as part of a pair.[6]<\/a> Meanwhile, the feline clutched by the div also has undergone certain changes, including a reduction in dimensions and considerable variation in its fur \u2013 sometimes black, sometimes black and white, sometimes tawny and sometimes striped. Whatever its coloration, the animal typically sits upright on its haunches, occasionally in front of the throne at right and occasionally in front of Asaf on the other side.[7]<\/a> In two examples of circa 1590, however, the creature, crouches on all fours beneath Asaf\u2019s seat and faces the left side of the painting, that is, with its back to the rest of the d\u012bv\u0101n<\/em>.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n Thus the mysterious cat in the Peck Sh\u0101hn\u0101ma <\/em>evolved from looking like a \u201cpet\u201d clutched by a div, to a stand-alone and clearly-visible \u201cintimate\u201d stationed very near Solomon\u2019s throne and apparently taking the place of the large tiger or cheetah, and then to a more discrete yet still noticeable presence in front of or underneath Asaf. In all these examples the cat appears quite benign. The Peck Sh\u0101hn\u0101ma <\/em>frontispiece seems to represent another, and possibly more ominous, stage in this progression, one that parallels a distinct modification in the architecture of Solomon\u2019s throne. In illustrations dating from the late fifteenth century through the third quarter of the sixteenth century, the throne typically is furnished with several central steps descending to the ground and with a set of cloth panels to the side. By contrast, in examples from the last decade of the sixteenth century, the staircase has disappeared, although the textile skirting generally remains. In the case of the Peck Sh\u0101hn\u0101ma <\/em>the removal of the steps from Solomon\u2019s throne has left a space or gap between the throne\u2019s front legs \u2013 the perfect place in which to insert a small animal.<\/p>\n So, at the simplest, compositional level, the dark feline could have resulted from the frontispiece painter taking advantage of space available for a creature already present in the iconography of Solomon\u2019s d\u012bv\u0101n<\/em>. Alternatively, the animal\u2019s \u201cbody language\u201d \u2013 seemingly curled up like a cat sleeping on a lap and here immediately beneath the prophet\u2019s seat \u2013 could be a conscious marker of domesticity in contrast to the \u201cwilderness\u201d represented by the tigers, bears, foxes and other wild beasts who fill the scene. A closer look, however, suggests that the cat is not at rest, but tensely coiled or hunched, with pricked ears and an intense, even fierce, outward stare. Indeed, it appears poised to spring out and pounce, perhaps at the rooster on the edge of the pool that looks up in something like alarm as if sensing danger. Cats are, of course, born hunters. The lurking specimen in the Peck Sh\u0101hn\u0101ma <\/em>may represent a menacing or threatening, albeit natural, predator, about to disrupt Solomon\u2019s otherwise peaceful and harmonious kingdom. At the same time, this secret cat serves as a reminder that the iconographic tradition of King Solomon enthroned\u2013where divs exist with humans and lions lie down with deer\u2013constitutes a special, even wondrous, realm that encourages artistic imagination to flourish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nFigures<\/h2>\n
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