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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2017.19
People
Husayn
Title
Self-portrait of the Painter Husayn
Classification
Architectural Elements
Work Type
architectural element
Date
c. 1900
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Teheran province
Period
Qajar period
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/337001

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Fritware with molded relief and painting under clear glaze
Dimensions
49.2 x 31.8 x 3.8 cm (19 3/8 x 12 1/2 x 1 1/2 in.)
boxed: 9.2 x 60.3 x 40 cm (3 5/8 x 23 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: center right, under clear glaze: husayn naqqāsh (Husayn, the painter)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Edwin Binney, 3rd, California (by 1986), bequest; to Harvard Art Museums, 2017.

NOTE:
Stored at the San Diego Museum of Art from some time before 1986 until 1991, then at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1991-2011.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Edwin Binney, 3rd Collection of Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums
Accession Year
2017
Object Number
2017.19
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
A polylobed medallion in the center of this tile holds a bust-length portrait of a painter named Husayn, also known as Ustad Husayn Kashi Saz, a known master tilemaker at the end of the Qajar era in Tehran. Split-leaf scrolls fill the corners, and a fruiting grape vine runs along the cavetto of the cornice. Following the fashion of the late Qajar period, the artist wears a black astrakhan cap and a close-fitting frock coat with upstanding collar. He is at work on a painting whose composition closely echoes the tile itself. The tile is molded, with the split-leaf scrolls and medallion border raised in relief. The predominant color is purplish-brown, with touches of pale orange.

Publication History

  • David Roxburgh and Mary McWilliams, ed., Technologies of the Image: Art in 19th-Century Iran, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2017), pp. 111-112, fig. 7

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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