What is Islamic Art

with verdant, perfumed nature suggests romance as more heavenly than

dangerous, perhaps because it exists in the imaginary realm.

Writing of the Mughal era, Kavita Singh suggests that normally the

position at the right of the page, where Arabic script begins, features the

ruler. Here, the musician takes this place of honor, implying an inversion

of medium and audience. The music becomes an agent that conjures its

listeners into being, much as the story in which thefigures occur are

Figure 2Anonymous,Bayad Plays the Oud to the Lady, from theStory of Bayad and

Riyad, Vatican Apostolic Library, Vat.ar.368, 10r, 17.5 × 19 cm. By permission of

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, with all rights reserved. © 2019 Biblioteca Apostolica

Vaticana

62 Seeing with the Ear