A Father Advises His Son About Love

A father sits with his son under a plane tree, instructing him on the gulf between carnal and spiritual love. The real lesson is happening just to their left, where two men bend over a red chessboard. In Persian poetry chess is the contest of lover and beloved. A lover's couplet runs across the pavilion wall behind them. The silent game argues what the father preaches. From the Haft Awrang — Seven Thrones — by Jami, one of the masterworks of Persian literature. Now at Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C. @natasianart