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PERSIAN MINIATURES 159
thirteenth century, so I hope and believe we
shall yet see primitive Persian paintings
superior to anything that the late pre-Mongol
and Mongol period can show. For the present
we can only say that the works of this period
are not much inferior to the greatest that the
genius of any race or age has created.
In 1335 begins what is known as the Timourid
age the age beloved above all others
by discerning connoisseurs and it is tempting
to assign to this famous period the illustrations
in a manuscript belonging to Mr. Herramaneck,
now in the possession of Mr. Arthur Ruck,
from which are drawn the paintings re-
produced on Plate I. This temptation is
strengthened by the fact that the manuscript
is said to be dated 1398 ; yet it is a temptation
to which I am unwilling to yield. Rather,
I incline to think that these are the work of
an early contemporary of Behzad, by whom
they are not influenced, and that they belong,
therefore, to that interesting period of transi-
tion which lies between the Timourids of the
fifteenth and the Sefevaeans of the sixteenth
century. If we turn to the Burlington Magazine
for October 1912, we can compare our
Plate I, A, with two paintings, one in M.
Claude Anet's collection dating from the
fourteenth century, the other from M. Meyer-
Riefstahl's belonging to the fifteenth. All