1958.76: Nighttime in a City, probably a folio from an illustrated manuscript

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1958.76

People

Attributed to Mir Sayyid ‘Ali, Persian (16th century)

Title

Nighttime in a City, probably a folio from an illustrated manuscript

Classification

Manuscripts

Work Type

manuscript folio

Date

c. 1540

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Tabriz

Period

Safavid period

Culture

Persian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/303390

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Opaque watercolor, gold and silver on paper

Dimensions

image: 28.6 x 20 cm (11 1/4 x 7 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Louis Cartier Collection, Paris (1910-1958). John Goelet, New York (by 1958), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum.

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

1958.76

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

• Armenag Sakisian, La Miniature Persane du XIIe au XVIIe Siecle, Les Editions G. van Oest (Paris, France, 1929), pl. CVI, fig. 190
• Maurice Sven Dimand, A Guide to an Exhibition of Islamic Miniature Painting and Book Illumination, exh. cat. (Portland, ME, 1933), pls. 23, 24
• Ivan Stchoukine, Les peintures des manuscrits safavis 1502-1587, P. Guenther (Paris, 1959), p. 79, no. 33B
• Ernst Grube, The World of Islam (New York, NY, 1966), p. 126, fig. 79
• David Lewis James, Islamic Art: An Introduction, Hamlyn Publishing Group (London, 1974), p. 50
• Anthony Welch, Artists for the Shah: Late Sixteenth-Century Painting at the Imperial Court of Iran, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT, 1976), p. 142
• Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, A Survey of Persian Art From Prehistoric Times to the Present, Soroush Press (Tehran, Iran, 1977), pls. 908B, 909B
• Stuart Cary Welch, Wonders of the Age: Masterpieces of Early Safavid Painting, 1501-1576, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1979), pp. 180-181, no. 68
• Marianna Shreve Simpson, Arab and Persian Painting in the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1980), pp. 13, 58-61, no. 18, ill.
• Exhibitions: Muslim Architects, The Boston Globe (December 31, 1981), p. A19, p. A19, ill.
• Martin Bernard Dickson and Stuart Cary Welch, The Houghton Shahnameh, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1981), Page 184/Figure 239
• Michele de Angelis and Thomas W. Lentz, Architecture in Islamic Painting: Permanent and Impermanent Worlds, brochure, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, Mass, 1982)
• A. M. Kevorkian and J.P. Sicre, Les Jardins du desir: Sept siecles de peinture persane, Phebus (Paris, France, 1983), pp168
• Layla S. Diba, "Clothing", Encyclopaedia Iranica, Volume V, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, Mazda Publishers (1992), p. 786, plate XCIX
• Najmieh Batmanglij, New Food of Life: A Book of Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies, Mage Publishers (Washington, DC, 1994), pp. 2, 76, 281, ill.
• James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), page 136-137
• Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
• Gavin R. G. Hambly, Women in the Medieval Islamic World, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY, 1998), pg. 368, b/w
• 40 Years On... Donations by John Goelet: Sculpture, Paintings and Drawings, Miniatures and Calligraphy, Tankas and Mandala, M. T. Train and Scala Books (New York, NY, 2000), page 170, 239
• Oleg Grabar and Mika Natif, Two Safavid Paintings: An Essay in Interpretation, Muqarnas, Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden) (2001), Vol. 18, pp. 173-202, fig. 2
• Eleanor Sims, Boris I. Marshak, and Ernst Grube, Peerless Images: Persian Painting and its Sources, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven; London, 2002), pp. 196-197, fig. 109
• Abolala Soudavar, Reassessing Early Safavid Art and History: Thirty Five Years after Dickson & Welch 1981 (Houston, 2016), fig. 13
• Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity (London, Thames & Hudson, 2021)., p. 89, ill.; pp. 296-297, no. 11

Exhibition History

• Arab and Persian Painting, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/10/1981 - 03/09/1981
• The Heavenly Court: Persian Poetry and Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/09/1985 - 03/31/1985
• Early Safavid Painting 1501 - 1576, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/21/1987 - 04/12/1987
• Paintings for Princes: The Art of the Book in Islam, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/27/1990 - 03/25/1990
• Five Masters of Persian and Indian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/11/1992 - 03/09/1992
• An Imperial Vision. The Art of Mughal India, 1526-1658, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/17/1992 - 12/06/1992
• Arts of Empire: Mughal India, 1526-1705, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/17/1992 - 12/13/1992
• In Detail: Looking at Persian, Turkish and Indian Pictures, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/11/1995 - 01/21/1996
• Shadows of God On Earth: Arts of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Dynasties, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/21/1997 - 08/31/1997
• Courts and Countryside: Islamic Paintings from the 14th through the 17th Century, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/21/1999 - 08/22/1999
• The Enlightened Eye: Gifts from John Goelet, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/12/2000 - 05/07/2000
• 32Q: 2550 Islamic, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/14/2015 - 11/03/2015
• Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity, Dallas Museum of Art, 05/14/2022 - 09/18/2022

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