Here is a teeny hat for a hawk to wear during a hunting expedition. Dating to about 1700 CE, it was made for somebody’s pet “bāz”, or falcon/hawk in Persia/modern Iran.
The cover here is made of velvet and silver thread, but that’s not the only reason we know it was meant for this bāz to have belonged to a nobleman or ruler: falconry was a sport reserved for the ultra rich or even ruling class.
Hunting with birds of prey has a very long history in Persia — Omar Khayyam, the famous 11th century mathematician and poet, said of this pastime, “the bāz is the boon companion of the king at the hunting grounds. . . The bāz has some dispositions shared by kings, such as magnanimity and cleanliness. . . . Therefore, it is more proper to kings than to other people”.
And this very small hat is really fantastic.
Sources: Hood is from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1977-167-1507., https://iranicaonline.org/articles/bazdari-or-bazyari-lit
