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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2011.526
People
Drawing attributed to Mir Sayyid ‘Ali, Persian (16th century)
Calligraphy by Mir `Ali Haravi, Persian (Calligrapher, active late 15th to first half of 16th century)
Title
Tethered Camel and Rider (drawing, recto; calligraphy, verso), folio from an album
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Tethered Camel with Groom
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1535
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Tabriz
Period
Safavid period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/217658

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink, opaque watercolor and gold with marbled paper border
Dimensions
17.5 x 23 cm (6 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: Verso: qit'a, or fragment of poetry: “Cherish the riches of life as capital and consider submission to God as a windfall. [Do not] trust an inexperienced person”. Mir ‘Ali.
    Translated by Afsaneh Firouz and Sunil Sharma.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[A. Sakisian], by 1929. Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., Warner, New Hampshire (by 1979-2008), 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
2011.526
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
The drawing on the recto of this folio depicts a man wearing a Safavid turban who faces a camel. The man holds the camel by a ring on its bridle. Both man and beast are portrayed in profile with open mouths. The man holds his left hand proper at head level, balled into a fist. The camel sports small bells around the forelegs and a red-tinted cloth on the back. The verso of the folio bears a fragment of Persian poetry written in nasta’liq script, surrounded by illumination.

Publication History

  • Armenag Sakisian, La Miniature Persane du XIIe au XVIIe Siecle, Les Editions G. van Oest (Paris, France, 1929), page 118/figure 176
  • Stuart Cary Welch, Wonders of the Age: Masterpieces of Early Safavid Painting, 1501-1576, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1979), page 190-191/figure 73
  • Martin Bernard Dickson and Stuart Cary Welch, The Houghton Shahnameh, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1981), Page 188/Figure 244
  • 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. 41-43, no. 2

Exhibition History

  • Five Masters of Persian and Indian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/11/1992 - 03/09/1992
  • 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

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