A contemporary painted illumination, mineral colours and gold on paper. 380 mm x 380 mm (15 x 15 ins).

The design and structure of a twelve pointed shamsa is simplified using a palette of flat black with red outlines, offset from its central disc of silver and gold.

The word 'Shamsa' derives from the Arabic word for the sun. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it became a customary device for the opening pages of royal manuscripts in Safavid Iran and Mughal India. Traditionally the centre is left as a plain gold disc, representing the singularity from which all emerges.