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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1958.79
People
Unknown Artist
Calligraphy attributed to Mir Ali al Husayni (flourished 1514-43)
Mahmud 'Arifi of Herat (died 1449)
Title
Manuscript of the Guy u Chawgan (The Ball and the Polo Stick ) of `Arifi
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Also known as the Halnamah
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript
Date
1523
Places
Creation Place: Central Asia, Afghanistan, Herat
Period
Safavid period
Culture
Persian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216259

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Paintings with text; ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, with red and gold leather binding
Dimensions
22.9 x 15.3 cm (9 x 6 in.)
page: 22.7 x 15 cm (8 15/16 x 5 7/8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Goelet, formerly in the collection of Louis J. Cartier
Accession Year
1958
Object Number
1958.79
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Copied in Persian, in nasta’liq script, by [Mir] Ali al-Husayni [of Herat] (flourished 1514-43); includes double-page sarlawh (illuminated frontispiece); two detached illustrated folios have been framed separately.

Publication History

  • F.R. Martin, The Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey, from the 8th to the 18th century, B. Quaritch (London, England, 1912), vol. 1, p. 52, fig. 27
  • Georges Marteau and Henri Vever, Miniatures persanes; tirées des collections de MM. Henry d'Allemagne, Claude Anet, Henri Aubry...et exposées au Musée des arts décoratifs, juin -- octobre 1912., exh. cat., Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie (Paris, 1913), vol. 1, pl. LXVIII
  • Basil William Robinson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian Paintings in the Bodleian Library, The Clarendon Press (Oxford, 1958), p. 85
  • Laurence Binyon, J. V. S. Wilkinson, and Basil Gray, Persian Miniature Painting, Dover Publications Inc. (New York, 1971), no. 105, pl. LXXVIII-B
  • Marianna Shreve Simpson, Arab and Persian Painting in the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1980), pp. 13, 50, 54-55, no. 15, ill.
  • Michele de Angelis and Thomas W. Lentz, Architecture in Islamic Painting: Permanent and Impermanent Worlds, brochure, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, Mass, 1982)
  • Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity (London, Thames & Hudson, 2021)., p. 69, ill.; pp. 292-293, no. 2a-b

Exhibition History

  • Geometry of the Spirit: Islamic Illumination and Calligraphy, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/30/1988 - 06/26/1988
  • The Ottomans and their Contemporaries, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/21/1992 - 05/17/1992
  • Earthly Paradise: Gardens in Islamic Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/08/1993 - 08/22/1993
  • Calligraphy and the Arts of the Book, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/25/1993 - 01/30/1994
  • Shadows of God On Earth: Arts of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Dynasties, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/21/1997 - 08/31/1997

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be 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