Bahrām Gūr in the Green Pavilion, folio from a manuscript of the Khamsa of Niẓāmī

This painting shows Sassanian king Bahrām V (r.420–438), ruler of the vast Empire of Iranians, visiting Princess Pari Naz of Khwarazm in the Green Pavilion on a Monday. A famous Persian epic tale imagined that Bahrām married seven princesses, who each lived in a colored, domed pavilion that aligned with a planet and day of the week. The pavilion here is green and corresponded with the moon, considered a planet in the 15th century. Bahrām V and Pari Naz are seated on cushions while female attendants serve wine and play music. Other women of his court look in from upper balconies and windows. Passages of Persian script are visible above and below the image. This detached sheet is from an illuminated manuscript of the "Khamsa," a collection of five long poems by Ilyas Yusuf Nizami (c.1141–c.1209) from Ganja in present-day Azerbaijan. The "Khamsa" includes the "Haft Paykar" (Seven Portraits), a narrative poem composed c.1197, describing the exploits of Bahrām V. Due to his love of hunting wild ass ("gūr"), he became known as Bahrām Gūr.