2011.526: Tethered Camel and Rider (drawing, recto; calligraphy, verso), folio from an album

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2011.526

People

Drawing attributed to Mir Sayyid ‘Ali, Persian (16th century)
Calligraphy by Mir `Ali Haravi, Persian (Calligrapher, active late 15th to first half of 16th century)

Title

Tethered Camel and Rider (drawing, recto; calligraphy, verso), folio from an album

Other Titles

Alternate Title: Tethered Camel with Groom

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

c. 1535

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Tabriz

Period

Safavid period

Culture

Persian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/217658

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Black ink, opaque watercolor and gold with marbled paper border

Dimensions

17.5 x 23 cm (6 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: Verso: qit'a, or fragment of poetry: “Cherish the riches of life as capital and consider submission to God as a windfall. [Do not] trust an inexperienced person”. Mir ‘Ali.
  Translated by Afsaneh Firouz and Sunil Sharma.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[A. Sakisian], by 1929. Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., Warner, New Hampshire (by 1979-2008), by inheritance; to Edith I. Welch, Warner, New Hampshire (2008-2011), gift; to Harvard Art Museums 2011.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch

Accession Year

2011

Object Number

2011.526

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

The drawing on the recto of this folio depicts a man wearing a Safavid turban who faces a camel. The man holds the camel by a ring on its bridle. Both man and beast are portrayed in profile with open mouths. The man holds his left hand proper at head level, balled into a fist. The camel sports small bells around the forelegs and a red-tinted cloth on the back. The verso of the folio bears a fragment of Persian poetry written in nasta’liq script, surrounded by illumination.

Publication History

• Armenag Sakisian, La Miniature Persane du XIIe au XVIIe Siecle, Les Editions G. van Oest (Paris, France, 1929), page 118/figure 176
• Stuart Cary Welch, Wonders of the Age: Masterpieces of Early Safavid Painting, 1501-1576, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1979), page 190-191/figure 73
• Martin Bernard Dickson and Stuart Cary Welch, The Houghton Shahnameh, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1981), Page 188/Figure 244
• Stuart Cary Welch and Kim Masteller, From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, 2004), pp. 41-43, no. 2

Exhibition History

• Five Masters of Persian and Indian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/11/1992 - 03/09/1992
• From Mind, Heart, and Hand: Persian, Turkish, and Indian Drawings from SCWelch, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/19/2005 - 06/02/2005

Verification Level