School scene

Object Details

• Artist

  Signed by Sayyid Ali (active 1555-1575)

• Patron

  Shah Tahmasp (1524-1576)

• Description

  Detached album folio: School scene, signed by Mir Sayyid Ali

  Border: The painting is set in gold rulings in a turquoise blue inner frame and a black outer frame mounted on a bright red paperboard.

• Inscriptions

  On rug: "rely not upon the place of great men; unless you have prepared the quality of greatness in yourself [From the Divan of Hafiz]."

• Label

  Composed of a series of interrelated scenes, this painting vividly depicts a master disciplining a youth, a group of students copying texts, craftsmen making paper, and several men cooking by an open fire. Although the lively vignettes create the impression of having been drawn from life, they are composed for the most part of stock images. For instance, the setting of the school, the man leaning on a staff, and the master beating a student are all based on details found in sixteenth-century Persian painting. The artist Mir Sayyid-Ali transformed the generic quality of the images into specific scenes by concentrating on the description of minute details, such as the shoes in the niches in front of the school or the colored paper drying in the foreground.

• Provenance

  To 1912

  Georges Demotte (1877-1923), Paris, France. [1]

  From 1912 to 1942

  Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France, purchased from Georges Demotte, Paris, France on November 30, 1912. [2]

  From 1942 to 1986

  Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France. [3]

  From 1986

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France. [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 7: Chart of Recent Provenance" in An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection, Glenn D. Lowry et al (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 406. See also Glen D. Lowry and Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 2: Ledger of Acquisitions, 1894 and 1907-17" in A Jeweler’s Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 232.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See the Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection of January 9, 1986, Collections Management Office.

  [4] See note 3.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  Worlds within Worlds: Imperial Paintings from India and Iran (July 28 to September 16, 2012)

  Le Chant du monde: L'Art de l'Iran safavide, 1501-1736 (October 05, 2007 to January 07, 2008)

  The Adventures of Hamza (June 26 to September 29, 2002)

  A Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection (November 20, 1988 to April 30, 1989)

  Persian and Indian Painting - Selections from a Recent Acquisition (September 28, 1987 to February 28, 1988)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Henri Vever (1854-1942)

  Georges Demotte (1877-1923)

  Francois Mautin (1907-2003)

• Origin

  Tabriz, Iran

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

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

• Name

  Mautin, Francois Albert, Demotte, Georges, Vever, Henri

• Place

  Tabriz

• Topic

  S?afavid dynasty, 1501-1736, Mosques, Punishment, Reading, Art, Cooking, Henri Vever collection, Writing, Arts of the Islamic World, Schools, Educators, Muezzin

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Manuscripts