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A man cutting his own branch. Saadi. “Bustan”. The Metropolitan Museum, NewYork.11.134.2 f.61.1522-1523. Bukhara
A MAN CUTTING HIS OWN BRANCH, Saadi. «Buslan»


In “Bustan” there is a parable about à mad man sitting on the tree began to cut his own branch. This made people stare. The author compares this man with a tsar who resorts to violence against his people thereby breaking his tsar power.
This parable is a philosophic piece of literature. The main idea is temporality of human life, uneternity of tsar power.
Saadi’s ideas are not described directly on the picture. This miniature is a genre scene. Clear lines, geometrical scheme, composition symmetry are typical for Maverannakhr painting. In the centre of composition there is a large tree with a man sitting on the branch. The gardener is looking on him with astonishment. There are two small trees around the large one. A dervish and a young man are sitting under the trees. The figures of the men form a triangular as the trees do. All flowers and grass are geometrically placed. The faces of people are various. Fine features of the young man’s face differ from the face of the gardener and the man with a saw. Clothes of the people on the miniature vary in forms and give us some knowledge about wear fashion of that epoch.