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An ink and watercolor painting of a standing woman on a blue, patterned background. She wears a long patterned purple dress and striped white cloth that covers her hair, shoulders, and drapes down along her side and back. She holds a small golden bowl in one hand and her face in another.

A rectangular ink and watercolor painting of a standing woman on a blue, patterned background. The background is patterned with small, narrow dark blue details and is framed with a thin gold line along the edges. The woman wears a long patterned purple dress that reaches the floor and covers her arms. Her feet are shown wearing red shoes. She also wears a white cloth with gold and pink stripes that covers her hair, shoulders, and drapes down along her side and back and a gold circlet with protruding details around her head. She holds a small golden bowl in her left hand and her face in her right. Her hair curls around her face.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1936.20
Title
Lady Holding a Golden Dish
Classification
Albums
Work Type
album folio
Date
16th-17th century
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)
Period
Ottoman period
Culture
Ottoman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216737

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Sarah C. Sears Collection
Accession Year
1936
Object Number
1936.20
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This painting of a single lady appears to be made for an album. Albums containing single figures, drawings, and calligraphies became more popular in the Ottoman court in the 17th century. Some of the figure paintings and drawings were made after Safavid examples that were brought to the Ottoman court. This figure wears a pink dress with a white veil covering her head and body. A golden sash is tied around her head holding two plumes. She carries a jeweled gold dish with her right hand as she holds her face with the other hand. Her gaze is cast outside the picture frame. The background is covered with a repeating flowering grass pattern. The inscription in a cartouche near her feet has been erroneously associated with the Ottoman artist Veli Jan. Other readings have been La’lin Qaba and Amin al-Khalafa. However none of these readings can be presently associated with a known artist.

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), pp.133-134, pl. 229
  • Eric Schroeder, Persian Miniatures in the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1942), p. 114-115, fig. 20

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