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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.262
People
Mu‘in Musavvir (1635 - 1697)
Title
Malik Shah Rustam in the Presence of Shah Isma'il, illustrated folio from a manuscript of the Tarikh-i `Alamara-yi Shah Isma`il
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript folio
Date
c. 1688
Places
Find Spot: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan province
Period
Safavid period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/317617

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions
Foilo: 36 x 22.5 cm (14 3/16 x 8 7/8 in.)

Just the painting: 15.4 x 12 cm

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Ezzat-Malek Soudavar in honor of Tom Lentz
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.262
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
This is a folio with painting that has been detached from a manuscript of theTarikh-i `Alamara-yi Shah Isma`il. Four lines of Persian in nastal'iq script frame a painting of figures kneeling in a garden pavilion. A caption in red ink in the left margin identifies this scene as "Malik Shah Rustam in the Presence of Shah Isma`il." The main figures in the scene are identified by inscriptions written on their bodies. The kneeling figure framed by the architecture is Isma'il and the rotund, white-bearded figure is Malik Shah Rustam.

The painting illustrates an episode from the life of the Shah Isma`il (d. 1524), founder of the Safavid dynasty in Iran that took place around the year 1508. The story relates the arrival of the Lur chieftain Malik Shah Rustam at the royal camp. Delighted by the chieftain's accent, Isma'il ordered that Malik Shah's beard be filled with gems, and further ordered a jewel-studded cover for it.

This painting is unsigned, but it is almost certainly the work of Mu`in Musavvir, one of the most prolific Persian artists of the seventeenth century and the last important practitioner of the classical style.

Publication History

  • Yvonne Tan, "Strolling Through Isfahan: Seventeenth Century Paintings from Safavid Iran", The Asian Art Newspaper, ed. Sarah Callaghan, Sarah Callaghan (London, 2010), Vol. 13, Issue 6, p.13-14, article p. 13-14, image p. 14
  • Massumeh Farhad and Mary McWilliams, ed., A Collector’s Passion: Ezzat-Malek Soudavar and Persian Lacquer, Harvard Art Museums and Freer/Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution (Cambridge, MA/Washington, D.C., 2017), p. 21, ill.

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S231 (Islamic rotation: 4) Strolling Through Isfahan: Seventeenth-Century Paintings From Safavid Iran, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 01/08/2010 - 06/13/2010
  • 32Q: 2550 Islamic, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/26/2017 - 11/08/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu