What is Islamic Art

verisimilitude of the image (like the birds of Zeuxis), but of the effect of the

Real that he conveys through the image into the soul of the recipient,

indicated by her fluttering heart. Yet she misapprehends this inward

mimesis as outward: upon viewing the image for the third time, she

Figure 9Antonin Sevruguin,“Taq-e Bustan, Sasanian Rock Reliefs, Large Vault with

Relief of Khusro II,”photographic print, 1880s–1930. Myron Bement Smith Collection:

Antoin Sevruguin Photographs, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith,

1973 – 1985, FSA A.4 2.I2.GN.39.11

206 The Transcendent Image