ALLEGORY OF WORDLY AND OTHERWORDLY DRUNKENNESS
Persian miniature, ca. 1531/33
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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'As long as I am not drunk, my joy is incomplete.
When wine takes me, ignorance supplants my wit.
There exists a state between drunkenness and healthy reason.
Oh! With what happiness do I make myself slave to this state, for all life is there!'
Omar Khayyam, Les Rubaiyat (quatrain 37)
The tavern party, complete with ecstatic dancers, singers and overindulgent drinkers, is given a new meaning by the presence of angels on top of the pavilion, suggesting that the state of drunkenness can be likened to that of spiritual enlightenment. As a Sufi symbol, wine stands for heaven's divine light and the cup into which it is poured, for the devotee's heart.
(Source : The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
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