Fettered camel and keeper; reverse: calligraphy panel

Object Details

• Artist

  Ascribed to Bizhad

• Description

  Detached album folio; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; Fettered camel and the keeper, inscriptions; reverse: calligraphy panel, signed by Sultan Muhammad Khandan and Baba Muzahhab.

  Border: The painting is set in gold and black rulings on beige-colored paper; the calligraphy panel is set in gold and green rulings in an illuminated outer frame with a narrow red frame on one side, on a cream-colored paper.

• Inscriptions

  Top page, sawwarahu Bihzad, kar-i a'la-yi Ustad Bihzad

  "depicted by Bihzad, outstanding work of Master Bihzad."

  Reverse: . . . fath u zafar u dawlat u iqbal zi dahr / bada ba murad-i dil hama hasil-i tu" al-'abd Sultan Muhammad Khandan, harrarahu Baba al-Mudhahhib.

  Reverse: . . . fath u zafar u dawlat u iqbal zi dahr / bada ba murad-i dil hama hasil-i tu" al-'abd Sultan Muhammad Khandan, harrarahu Baba al-Mudhahhib.

• Provenance

  From at least 1929-no later than 1937

  Armenag Bey Sakisian (1875-1949), method of acquisition unknown [1]

  By 1937

  H. Kevorkian, New York, method of acquisition unknown [2]

  From 1937

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from H. Kevorkian, New York [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Ernst Kühnel “History of Miniature Painting and Drawing” in “A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Time to the Present”, ed. Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman [book] (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1938), vol. III, p. 1864. See Laurence Binyon, J.V.S. Wilkinson and Basil Grey, “Persian Miniature Painting: Including a Critical Descriptive catalogue of the Miniatures Exhibited at Burlington House, January-March, 1931” [book] (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 100, no. 90, “Lent by Armenag Bey Sakisian, Paris”.

  See also Arménag Bey Sakisian, “La Miniature Persane du XIIe au XVIIe siècle: ouvrage accompagné de la reproduction de 193 miniatures dont deux en couleurs” [book] (Paris et Bruxelles: Les Editions G. Van Ouest, 1929), fig. 156 and p. 117. The miniature is cited as being in the collection of the author. Armenag Bey Sakisian was a collector and art historian, and an archaeologist who lived in Paris but worked extensively in Syria and the surrounding region.

  [2] Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962) was a dealer and collector of Islamic Art with eponymous galleries in New York and Paris. See note 3 for details regarding purchase invoice.

  [3] The Freer Gallery of Art paid H. Kevorkian in installments, the first on April 23, 1937, and the last on June 2, 1937, and approved on June 1, 1937. See object file for copies of invoices.

  Research updated December 9, 2022

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)

  Persian Art (January 1, 1963 to September 3, 1963)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 6 and 7 (February 25, 1956 to April 10, 1962)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Manuscripts, Pottery, Metalwork, and Glass (April 12, 1955 to November 21, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Arts, 1947 (October 6, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Paintings (May 1, 1945 to September 25, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, Persian Paintings and Ceramics (May 5, 1933 to January 9, 1945)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Armenag Sakisian (1875-1949)

  Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962)

• Origin

  Herat, Afghanistan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1500s, 1590s, 1540s, 1530s, 1520s, 1510s, 1580s, 1730s, 1570s, 1560s, 1550s, 1610s, 1600s, 1650s, 1640s, 1400s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1680s, 1670s, 1660s

• Name

  Sakisian, Armenag, Kevorkian, Hagop

• Place

  Afghanistan, Herat

• Topic

  S?afavid dynasty, 1501-1736, Art, Arts of the Islamic World, Illumination, Camel

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Paintings