As I wandered the Freer-Sackler Gallery’s Falnama: The Book of Omens exhibit a couple weekends ago, all I could think was: yes, there was a time when books mattered. In fact, the exhibit’s 60 illustrated manuscripts — commissioned by shahs and sultans in 16th century Turkey and Iran — mattered so much that readers performed ablutions before opening their covers. How’s that for a Luddite fantasy?
While the Falnama illustrations are magnificent as works of art — you’ll see raucous depictions of heroes, villains and sages, painted in lapis and gold — it’s the accompanying fortunes that inject a sense of humor into the show. Here, a few of the books’ auguries, impressive in range and tone:
Obvious: “Seeing kings and important people is good.”
Dismissive: “There is loss in mingling with those who are not of your sort.”
Surreally specific: “Do not feel secure from the plots of a sallow-faced short man with a defect on his head or eye.”
And my favorite, which exposes 21st century life coaches as wildly unoriginal: “Shun diabolical suggestion and bad company.” Words to live by.
Falnama: The Book of Omens runs through January 24, 2010.
