According to tradition, Alexander the Great, accompanied by the saintly prophet, Khizr, traveled to the land of eternal darkness to find the spring of immortality. This image shows Khizr and Ilyas, who stumbled on the spring by chance. After dropping a dried fish into the pool and seeing it revive, the pair bathed in its waters and gained everlasting life. Although the silver pigment has oxidized, turning black over time, the resuscitated fish can still be seen swimming in the miraculous spring.
Niẓāmī, Khamsa (“The Quintet”), in Persian, Qazvīn, Iran, copied ca. 1549–51, illuminated ca. 1579, MS M.836, fol. 116r. Gift of the Estate of Belle da Costa Greene, 1950.