Object Slow Looking
The object chosen for the exhibit is a 7th century textile featuring decorated boar heads encircled by pearl roundels. Although faded, the textile consists of a dark brown backdrop with shades of blue, green, red, gold, and white used for the various objects that ornaments the piece. The piece’s edges are torn and most of the outer border is gone, but the central embroidery is still almost entirely intact and a border made of pearl roundels remains visible. A total of six boar heads with open mouths, white tusks, and unfurled tongues features on the textile. Each boar head appears slightly different in design and is arranged in a 2x3 layout.
Weaved from silk, the textile was likely of great value given the rarity of the material and its noble status during the Middle Ages around Central Asia due to the limited production of silk (Tortora and Eubank 110). The textile was then presumably of great value and was likely used as a decorative piece for high-class Buddhist residents or treasured in Buddhist temples due to its luxurious nature, delicate designs, and moderate size.
Its worth is made further apparent by the brocaded textile displayed on the left, which features repeating floral medallions and lozenges in a decorative and luxurious fashion produced in China during the 8th century. It shows that silk textile is often made to be ornate and carries great value.
The piece itself is also reminiscent of the brocade covering mentioned in the passage, which further highlights the opulence of the palace through its exotic nature and rarity in the context of Medieval Iran. One can interpret the opulence as an aspect of the palace’s monstrosity, where the excessive wealth demonstrated by the textile and other similar objects is intertwined with the ghostly atmosphere and functions as a warning/moral lesson of sorts against the desire for material wealth. The covering could also act as a representation of the riches desired by Sekandar and possibly hints at the royalty/nobility of the corpse, possibly implying that Sekandar might one day join the corpse or become the enthroned corpse himself.
Additionally, the image of boar heads encircled by roundels found on the intricate embroidery of the textile was also a popular image in Buddhist culture that acted as a common protective motif. Paintings that display textiles similar to the artifact can be found in the Buddhist caves of Bamiyan in Afghanistan and on many objects originating from the Eastern region.
One such example is a small piece of metalwork with a similar design from the period A.D. 200-650 in Iran. For one, the artifact demonstrates the longevity of the imagery (possibly made centuries before the boar head textile) and also its prominence in Buddhist culture, as the portable size of the artifact indicate that it could have acted as some sort of protective charm carried by Buddhists around the early Middle Ages during the Sasanian period of Iran where Buddhism was persecuted in favour of the state Zoroastrianism (Fisher and Yarshater 956).
As Ferdowsi wrote the Shahnameh as a preservation of the pre-Islamic Persia/Iran cultural traditions, the inclusion of the boar head in the passage (although without the roundels) could be read as a distorted representation of Buddhist imagery. To both Sekandar and the contemporary Iranian reader, the religion of Buddhism is likely foreign and formidable, and that unfamiliarity contributes to the eeriness of the palace and the use of the Buddhist boar-head imagery can be seen as to add to the feeling of unfamiliarity and uneasiness, much like many of the other objects within the palace and perhaps in a similar fashion to how cults are used in modern literature.
It being a symbol of protection found in Buddhist households (as demnstrated by the boar head textile) and the context of Buddhism in Medieval Iran gives the impression that the palace is guarded by some "mystical" power that protects its riches from being stolen. Once again, this contributes to the idea of the palace as a warning to Sekandar of his avarice.
Absent from this artifact but noticeably present in the main textile is the inclusion of peacocks scattered throughout the material. This suggests that the peacocks are not central to the imagery as a whole, but are more decorative and intended to imbue themes of life and nature to the piece along with the floral embellishments. This is in direct contrast to how the motif is used within the passage, as Ferdowsi explicitly mentions that the area had "no sign of either wild or domestic animals". In a way, it supports the idea that the boar head is a twisted rendition of Buddhist imagery, meant to embellish the palace's mysterious presence and strengthen the theme of Sekandar's greed.