You Make Sweet Life Increase (painting, verso; text, recto), folio 208 from a manuscript of the Divan (Collection of Works) of Anvari

The recto side of the folio features a painting depicting an enthroned figure, identified through the accompanying text as Khwaja Mansur. He looks towards a line of attendants. In the foreground, an attendant hands out favors to beggars on behalf of the king. The painting features two text blocks containing Persian text written in nasta’liq script and black ink. The text is part of a qasida (a panegyric in praise of a king or nobleman) that praises Khwaja Mansur and a description of the Mansuriyya palace and garden, as well as a praise poem for the grand vizier, Nasiruddin Tahir: How incredible [you are], you garden and you palace of Mansur! Perhaps you are a heaven sent by God into the world? Even if you are not paradise – you are surely not of this world, For this world makes life diminish, And you make sweet life increase … The verso side of the folio features two columns of rows of Persian text written in black ink and nasta’liq script. At the bottom of the columns is a small rectangle that also contains Persian text written in black ink and nasta’liq script. The folio belongs to an illustrated copy of the Divan of Anvari commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) in 1588 and in Lahore. The poet Anvari (1126-1189) is considered one of the greatest figures in Persian literature. His panegyric in honor of the Seljuq sultan, Ahmad Sanjar (r. 1118-1157) earned him royal favor and the patronage of two of Sanjar’s successors. Anvari’s poems were collected in a Divan, which contains eulogies, satire, panegyrics, and other forms of poetry and prose.