2011.522: The Bagpipe Player (drawing, recto; calligraphy, verso)

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2011.522

People

Drawing by circle of Aqa Riza (Riza ‘Abbasi), Persian (c. 1560-70 - 1635)
Calligraphy attributed to Shah Mahmud al-Nishapuri, Persian

Title

The Bagpipe Player (drawing, recto; calligraphy, verso)

Classification

Albums

Work Type

album folio

Date

c. 1600

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Isfahan

Period

Safavid period

Culture

Persian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/192058

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Black ink and watercolor on off-white paper

Dimensions

35.5 x 23 cm (14 x 9 1/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: Translation of Persian verses on verso by Sunil Sharma:
  "What are paradise and houris? Everything appears fine from afar. My glance is only for you, I don't look at houris and angels. Lifeless, in separation I am sorrowful, [while] my enemies are rejoicing in assemblies of union" "Written by the slave Shah Mahmud"

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., Warner, New Hampshire (by 1997-2008), by inheritance; to Edith I. Welch, Warner, New Hampshire (2008-2011), gift; to Harvard Art Museums 2011.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch

Accession Year

2011

Object Number

2011.522

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description

This drawing depicts a middle-aged man sitting on a rock and playing a bagpipe; clouds, tinted in blue, appear at the upper left corner. The man is hunched over his musical instrument, holding it close to his body. He gazes into the distance, his eyebrows tense with concentration as he blows air into the bagpipe.

Publication History

• Stuart Cary Welch and Kim Masteller, From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, 2004), pp. 62-64, no. 11

Exhibition History

• From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from SCWelch, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/19/2005 - 06/02/2005

Verification Level