The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

A woman mistakes a cow for the Angel of Death, from a Lights of Canopus (Anwar-i Suhaili) of Kashifi (Iranian, d. 1504)

A woman mistakes a cow for the Angel of Death, from a Lights of Canopus (Anwar-i Suhaili) of Kashifi (Iranian, d. 1504)

c. 1610
Painting: 19.7 x 10.2 cm (7 3/4 x 4 in.); Framed: 38.1 x 26.7 cm (15 x 10 1/2 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

A previous owner identified the scene as the first cesarean section.

Description

In this gently colored, amply shaded painting, an ailing girl lies listless, eyes barely open, as an attendant fans her. A cow who got her head stuck in a pot has entered the yard in confusion. The girl’s mother, who had been weeping and praying to exchange her own life for the health of her daughter, thought the Angel of Death had come to take her. Pointing to heaven, the woman begs that her daughter be taken instead. Outside the gate, a wandering holy man dozes, indicating this scene takes place in the evening, and a calf annoys her mother as she eats.
  • ?–1981
    (Spink & Sons, London, England, sold to Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver)
    1981–?
    Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver [1928–1989] and Mrs. Adele Z. Silver, Cleveland, OH, given to their son, Michael Silver
    ?–2019
    Michael Silver and Deborah Lader, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2019–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Animal Fables of India (Indian art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 12-August 29, 2021).
  • {{cite web|title=A woman mistakes a cow for the Angel of Death, from a Lights of Canopus (Anwar-i Suhaili) of Kashifi (Iranian, d. 1504)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1610|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.81