In the miniature “Courtship” an old Persian custom is depicted: young men, rivals for the favour of a woman, try to mount an unsaddled horse and keep on it. Whoever is left on the horse’s back at the end acquires the right to ask for the hand of the adored one. She, in turn, watches the competition with understandable interest.

It is worth paying attention to details when looking at the miniature: the stones are not dead objects, but have faces, just like in fairy tales talking stones.