Collection Online as of January 24, 2021

Left side of a double-page album folio: Outside a Royal Encampment (recto) and Calligraphy, Persian Verses (verso)

c. 1485

Part of a set. See all set records

style of Bihzad

(Iranian, active 1470–1506)

Afghanistan or Iran, Timurid period

(1370–1501)

Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper

Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1944.490

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Intoxicated, a man in blue at the lower right has fallen.

Description

The painting is the left side of a double composition; at the upper left are musicians who provide ambient entertainment. A cook prepares meat over a brazier, while a servant brings kebab on a shallow bowl. The unfinished state of this painting reveals the artist's process of creating underdrawings that are filled with color. The verso has an example of calligraphy.

Provenance

?-1944

Purchased from Philip Hofer by Edward L. Whittemore Endowment Fund

1944-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Martin, F. R. The Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey, from the 8th to the 18th Century. London: B. Quaritch, 1912. Mentioned: Vol. I, p. 43; Reproduced: Vol. II pl. 68.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), and Maurice Sven Dimand. A Guide to an Exhibition of Islamic Miniature Painting and Book Illumination. [Portland, Me.]: [The Southworth Press], 1933. Reproduced: P. 31, fig. 19 libmma.contentdm.oclc.org

Hollis, Howard. "Three Iranian Miniatures." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 4 (1945): 35-41. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 35 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 723 archive.org

Grube, Ernst J. Muslim Miniature Paintings from the XIII to XIX Century from Collections in the United States and Canada. Catalogue of the Exhibition. Venezia: N. Pozza, 1962. Reproduced: cat. no. 53

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 222 archive.org

Grube, Ernst J, and Pierpont Morgan Library. The Classical Style in Islamic Painting : The Early School of Herat and Its Impact on Islamic Painting of the Later 15th, the 16th and 17th Centuries : Some Examples in American Collections. Place of publication not identified: Edizioni Oriens, 1968. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 191, No. 37

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 222 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 279 archive.org

Exhibition history

International Exhibition of Persian Art. Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (January 7-February 28, 1931). [Lent by Philip Hofer, New York]

Islamic Miniature Painting and Book Illumination. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (October 9, 1933-January 7, 1934).

Islamic and Indian Miniature Paintings and Manuscripts. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (December 15, 1955-February 19, 1956).

Exhibition of Persian Art. Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Rome, Italy (May-October 1956).

7000 Ans d'art en Iran. Petit Palais, Paris, France (October-November 1961).

Muslim Miniature Paintings from American Collections. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy; Asia House, New York, NY (September 1962-February 1963).

The Classical Style in Islamic Painting.... Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, NY (November 6, 1968-January 4, 1969).

Imperial Images in Persian Painting. The Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, Scotland (August 13-September 11, 1977).

Islamic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1944-February 2, 1945).