Collection Online as of December 7, 2023

Demon in chains

c. 1453

style of Muhammad Siya Qalam

(Iranian)

Iran or Central Asia, Timurid or Turkoman Period

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Image: 25.7 x 34.4 cm (10 1/8 x 13 9/16 in.); Overall: 27 x 35.2 cm (10 5/8 x 13 7/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1982.63

Location

not on view

Description

This page once belonged to a miscellany from the library of the early Ottonian sultans. It depicts two people in nomadic garb leading a demon, or Persian div, in chains between them. The female figure holding the chain to her face is painted to look nearly as ferocious as the captured div. The concept of divs as evil supernatural creatures of mysterious origin dates to pre-Islamic Persia, but they are also described in the text of the Qur'an. Divs in Persian literature and folktales are sometimes captured and forced to use their magic to serve a king or hero.

Provenance

W. Schultz, Leipzig, Germany

before May 19,1982

Vignier, Paris, France

May 19, 1982

(Sotheby's, New York, NY, Islamic Works of Art, May 19, 1982 sale, no. 4867Y, lot 114, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1982–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 70, no. 1 (January 1983): pp. 3–55. Reproduced: pp. 24, 52, no. 64 www.jstor.org

Grube, Ernst J., and Eleanor Sims. Between China and Iran: Paintings from Four Istanbul Albums: a Colloquy Held 23-26 June 1980. [London]: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 1985. Reproduced: fig. 295

Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Mentioned: p. 358, cat. no. 43 www.jstor.org

Blair, Sheila, Jonathan Bloom, and Richard Ettinghausen. The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800. New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 1994. Mentioned: no. 82, p. 62

Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Mentioned: p. 100-103; Reproduced: p. 101

Exhibition history

The House of Timur: Princely Arts in Fifteenth Century Iran and Central Asia. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC (April 14-July 6, 1989); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, (August 13-November 5, 1989).

The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).

The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).