photos: left, World History Archive/age fotostock; center, From the Psalter of Charles the Bold, 15th century/Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK/Bridgeman Images; right, From History of the Mongols, India (Lahore), Moghul, Court of Akbar the Great, ca. 1590/Library, Golestan Palace, Teheran, Iran/Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY