Lecture “Topographies of the Unseen: Illustrated Hafiz Manuscripts and the ‘World of Image’ in Early Modern Iran” by Dr Michael Chagnon — Online, 23 July 2026

Hafiz of Shiraz (d. 1390) is considered the foremost lyric poet of the medieval Persian tradition. Since the fifteenth century, his Divan has been revered for its oracular authority, reflected both in its use as a tool of bibliomancy (fal) and in an epithet shared by poet and compendium alike: lisan al-ghayb, the Tongue of the Unseen. A sumptuously illustrated manuscript of the Divan from 1658, now dispersed, features paintings that depict varied combinations of stock characters who inhabit Hafiz’s verses—sufis, wine-servers, and musicians, among others. 

This lecture presents new discoveries in the manuscript’s codicological features and explores its distinctive pictorial language in relation to its intended bibliomantic application. This nexus of form and function will be situated within philosophical currents of later Safavid Iran, particularly a revived interest in ‘alam al-mithal (“the World of Image”), a liminal realm bridging the material and immaterial worlds. 

Poster

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