Persian Quatrains (Rubayi) and Calligraphic Exercises (recto)

c. 1509–59

Sultan Muhammad Khandan

(Iranian, d. after 1550)

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Culture

Afghanistan, Herat, Safavid period (1501–1722)

Medium

ink, gold, and opaque watercolor on paper

Measurements

Sheet: 27.4 x 20 cm (10 13/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Text area: 18.7 x 10.9 cm (7 3/8 x 4 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Mehmed A. Simsar in memory of Dr. Mehmed A. Simsar 1983.1115.a

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Location

Not on view

Description

This page contains two quatrains—poems made up of four lines. The diagonally written text in the center of the page is a poem addressed to a ruler, expressing hope for his success and the downfall of his enemies. The second poem is split between the horizontal panels at the top and bottom of the page. This quatrain praises the beauty of the writer’s beloved, saying that “her moonlike face can steal away a hundred besotted hearts.” At the right are calligraphic exercises displaying letters of the alphabet and the virtuoso skill of the calligrapher Sultan Muhammad Khandan, who signed the page in the triangle at the lower left of the inner text block.