An Early Talismanic document, manuscript on paper [Probably Persian territories, c. 1200 AD]

An Early Talismanic document containing the illustration of a horse, with surrounding prayers and inscriptions in Arabic, decorated manuscript on paper [Probably Persian territories, c. 1200 AD] single leaf, containing a centrally placed primitive drawing of a horse fitted with saddle, with sacred passages of text in an early cursive hand in the borders, a few small holes and thinning of paper in places, remains of old fold lines, reverse blank, 225 by 157 mm. A rare and important witness to medieval Islamic drawing. The present primitive ink drawing of a horse is likely the product of an untrained artist's work, produced for the protective and magical properties of the ink used, which together with the encircling prayers and invocations would have been used to protect the horse and rider on their journeys. The presence of a saddle in the illustrations strongly indicates that the horse was used for travel, and the remains of old fold lines suggests the paper was folded up into a small rectangle and placed in a small pouch on the horse itself, as a talisman. The paper here is characteristically twelfth century and typical of paper from the eastern Persian regions.