Composite album folio, Dancing sufis; Cluster of primrose, calligraphic panels

Detached album folio: page of calligraphy with paintings; two calligraphic panels in Persian black nasta’liq script and two paintings; panel of calligraphy from Gulistan (Rose garden) by Sa’di in the upper right-hand corner; painting: Cluster of primrose by Master Murad in the lower right-hand corner; five couplets of poem by Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri in the lower left-hand corner; tinted drawing: Dancing sufis attributed to Muhammadi of Herat in the upper left-hand corner.
Border: The painting and the text are set in red and gold rulings with a tendril scroll inner frame and gold, red and black outer frame mounted on a green paperboard with gold floral motifs.

Maker(s)
Artist: Muhammadi Master Murad
Calligrapher: Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri
Historical period(s)
Safavid period, ca. 1575
Medium
Ink, color, and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W (album sheet): 45 x 30.3 cm (17 11/16 x 11 15/16 in)
Geography
Iran, Qazvin
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1946.15a-d
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Album, Painting
Type

Manuscript folio

Keywords
dance, flower, Iran, nasta'liq script, poems, Safavid period (1501 - 1722), Sufism
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Description

Detached album folio: page of calligraphy with paintings; two calligraphic panels in Persian black nasta'liq script and two paintings; panel of calligraphy from Gulistan (Rose garden) by Sa'di in the upper right-hand corner; painting: Cluster of primrose by Master Murad in the lower right-hand corner; five couplets of poem by Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri in the lower left-hand corner; tinted drawing: Dancing sufis attributed to Muhammadi of Herat in the upper left-hand corner.
Border: The painting and the text are set in red and gold rulings with a tendril scroll inner frame and gold, red and black outer frame mounted on a green paperboard with gold floral motifs.

Inscription(s)

Lower right, "work of Ustad Murad."
Lower left, "work of the slave Shah Mahmud."
Upper left, "done by Master Muhammadi of Herat."
Seal: Abbas, slave of the monarch sainthood [Ali b. Abi-Talib]."

Label

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Iran, individual paintings and drawings were often mounted together with fragments of poetry and bound in albums. This album leaf is formed of four very different elements. The text page in the upper right is from a sixteenth-century manuscript of the Gulistan (Rose Garden) by the Persian poet Sa'di (ca. 1213-1292). The lines of delicate script in the lower left comprise a love poem copied by the sixteenth century calligrapher Shah-Mahmud al-Nishapuri (died ca. 1564-;65). The primrose plant is inscribed with the name of the seventeenth-century painter Master Murad. The tinted line drawing of dancers, who may belong to the mystical order of Sufism, is attributed to the well-known artist Muhammadi of Herat (active ca. 1560-91).

Published References
  • Joseph Allen Boone. The Homoerotics of Orientalism. New York. .
  • Toledo Museum of Art. Special Exhibition of Persian Art. Exh. cat. Toledo, January 6-27, 1935. cat. 193.
  • Philipp Walter Schulz. Die Persisch-Islamische Miniaturmalerei: Ein Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte Irans. 2 vols, Leipzig. vol. 1: pp. 181, 243.
  • David J. Roxburgh. The Persian Album 1400-1600: From Dispersal to Collection. New Haven. fig. 12.
  • Mehmet Aga-Oglu. Exhibition of Islamic Art. Exh. cat. San Francisco, February 24 - March 22, 1937. cat. 63.
  • B. W. Robinson. Muhammadi and the Khurasani Style. no. 30. p. 20, pl. 5b.
  • Dr. Esin Atil. The Brush of the Masters: Drawings from Iran and India. Exh. cat. Washington, 1978. cat. 15, pp. 44-46.
  • Gustave E. Von Grunebaum. Muhammadan Festivals. New York. p. 81, pl. 14.
  • Richard Ettinghausen. The Exhibition of Persian Art at the Toledo Museum of Art. vol. 2 Ann Arbor. p. 138.
  • , Robert H Dyson, Jr., Charles K. Wilkinson, Prudence Oliver Harper. Highlights of Persian Art. Persian Art Series, no. 1 Boulder. p. 264, fig. 172.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
SI Usage Statement

Usage Conditions Apply

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery welcome information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

citation | Save this image How to download an image | Request Permission | Terms of Use