Ken Munsie: The Sultan's Garden

Yet another rescued timber case polished up and fitted out with more rescued "stuff" sorted into a vague story about a 14th century Sultan and his garden ...

The timber case from another era another time - perhaps from the early 1900's - and maybe kept in grandma's cupboard covered in dust but filled with treasured family photographs - and then when she went the way of all flesh, her kin, having no use for this old wooden case, tossed it out along with grannie's memories - or maybe it belonged to a ratbag school kid or a high flying business executive used to carry his important papers to and from the office each day - or perhaps a young man leaving home and setting off on an exciting adventure on the other side of the globe - we'll never know its history - nor what memories it holds under its old timber skin ... I'll let you fantasize on that one ... who even it belonged to had their initials MYH engraved on a small silver disc mounted on the lid - who was this MYH person ... ??? ... I can remember that my old Globite school case had my initials embossed in gold on the lid ... !!! ... I wonder where he is now ...

... opening the case reveals a locked door...
and a gold-high-lighted ancient Persian garden scene

untold stories written on parchment, rolled up and tightly tied with cotton

stories about conquests, stories about love, stories about adventures

... and opening the locked door reveals an image of the grand Sultan himself ...
surrounded about with gold leaf and ancient texts

Sultan Ahmad was a Jalayirid ruler (1382–1410)

The Jalairids were a Mongol Jalayir dynasty which ruled over Iraq and western Persia after the breakup of the Mongol khanate of Persia in the 1330s. The Jalairid sultanate lasted about fifty years, until disrupted by Timur's conquests and the revolts of the Kara Koyunlu ("Black Sheep") Turkmen. After Timur's death in 1405, there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and Khuzistan. The Jalairids were finally eliminated by the Kara Koyunlu in 1432.

The garden's purpose in early Persian times was to provide a place for protected relaxation in a variety of manners: spiritual and leisurely (such as meetings with friends or lovers), essentially a paradise on earth - away from the drudgery and harshness of daily life ...

I'll let you make up your own story about this garden scene ...