Iraq: A milling crowd of people. A miniature from the 'Maqam' or 'Assembly' illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, 1237 CE
Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî was a 13th-century Arab Islamic artist. Al-Wasiti was born in Wasit in southern Iraq. He was noted for his illustrations of the Maqam of al-Hariri.
Maqāma (literally 'assemblies') are an (originally) Arabic literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The 10th century author Badī' al-Zaman al-Hamadhāni is said to have invented the form, which was extended by al-Hariri of Basra in the next century. Both authors' maqāmāt center on trickster figures whose wanderings and exploits in speaking to assemblies of the powerful are conveyed by a narrator.
Manuscripts of al-Harīrī's Maqāmāt, anecdotes of a roguish wanderer Abu Zayd from Saruj, were frequently illustrated with miniatures.
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![Iraq: Ritual slaughter of a camel and cooking a meal. A miniature from the 'Maqam' or 'Assembly' of Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, 1237 CE](http://c12505795.r95.cf2.rackcdn.com/9736bf00ea91b5311c1eb07bda6d23e9/CPA0015699.jpg)
![Iraq: A man riding on camel back. A miniature from the 'Maqam' or 'Assembly' illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, 1237 CE](http://c12505795.r95.cf2.rackcdn.com/9736bf00ea91b5311c1eb07bda6d23e9/CPA0015700.jpg)
![Iraq: A milling crowd of people. A miniature from the 'Maqam' or 'Assembly' illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, 1237 CE](http://c12505795.r95.cf2.rackcdn.com/9736bf00ea91b5311c1eb07bda6d23e9/CPA0015701.jpg)
![Iraq: Travellers on horseback and by foot. A miniature from the 'Maqam' or 'Assembly' illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, 1237 CE](http://c12505795.r95.cf2.rackcdn.com/9736bf00ea91b5311c1eb07bda6d23e9/CPA0015702.jpg)
![Iraq: A group of Arab men travelling in a boat. A miniature from the 'Maqam' or 'Assembly' illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, 1237 CE](http://c12505795.r95.cf2.rackcdn.com/9736bf00ea91b5311c1eb07bda6d23e9/CPA0015703.jpg)
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