Illustration from

Maqamat of al-Hariri

Bibliothèque nationale de France, manuscript Arabe 5847, 1237AD

Folio 74 Verso: maqama 25 Abu Zayd and his listeners

Abû Zayd et ses auditeurs

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Abu Zayd begs for clothing

Referenced in "Text and Paintings in the al-Wasiti Maqāmāt" by Bernard O'Kane in Ars Orientalis volume 42, 2012
Folios 74b-75a (fig. 8) from maqāmā 25 present a different problem. The illustration is supposed to show Abu Zayd, dressed in nothing but a turban and a loin-cloth, addressing a crowd. Instead, the crowd, to the left and right, looks toward a tower whose interior is black, the presumed location of Abu Zayd.²⁹ It was hardly prudery that prevented al-Wāsiṭī from depicting the nearly naked man; in maqāmā 20 he is shown displaying his genitals.³⁰ The two figures on the right of the tower obviously have been mostly repainted, and a visible line of damage extends into the side of the tower. The person responsible for repainting presumably not understanding the iconography of the scene, evidently decided that it was simpler to blacken out the entire interior than to repaint Abu Zayd.