Reclining prince

Object Details

• Artist

  Attributed to Aqa Mirak

• Description

  Album folio: A reclining prince; mounted on an album page with illuminated panels in Arabic white thuluth script; inscription on the book held by the figure.

  Border: The folio is set in gold, green and black rulings mounted on a paperboard with floral and animal motifs.

• Inscriptions

  In the book held by the figure: "fate granted such beauty to the face of Yusuf; try to draw such [beauty] for your face, O slave."

  Top page panel: "Sura al-Bayyina [Clear proof] 98, Medina, nine verses."

  Bottom page panel: "Sura al-Qadr [the Power] 97, Mecca, five verses."

  Bottom page panel: "Sura al-Qadr [the Power] 97, Mecca, five verses."

• Provenance

  From at least 1910

  Stéphane Bourgeois, from at least 1910 [1]

  From at least 1912

  Ducote, from at least 1912 [2]

  Arthur Sambon (1867-1947), Paris [3]

  From at least 1913

  Léonce Rosenberg (1879-1947), Paris, from at least 1913 [4]

  To 1942

  Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France, to 1942 [5]

  From 1942 to 1986

  Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France [6]

  From 1986

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France [7]

  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. 409.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

  [4] The object is documented as having appeared in the collection of Léonce Rosenberg by at least May 26, 1913. See note 1.

  [5] See Glenn D. Lowry et al., An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler

  Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 299, no. 349.

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

  [7] See note 6.

  [6] François Mautin, grandson of Henri Vever, inherited Vever's Near Eastern collection upon Vever's death in 1942, see Glenn D. Lowry and Susan Nemazee, 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), pp. 10-11.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  Visual Poetry: Paintings and Drawings from Iran (December 16, 2001 to May 5, 2004)

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

  Ausstellung von Meisterwerken Mohammedanischer Kunst in München (May to October 1910)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Stéphane Bourgeois

  Ducote

  Arthur Sambon (1867-1947)

  Léonce Rosenberg (1879-1947)

  Henri Vever (1854-1942)

  Francois Mautin (1907-2003)

• Origin

  Tabriz, Iran

• Credit Line

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

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

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• Name

  Bourgeois, Stéphane, Mautin, Francois Albert, Ducote, Sambon, Arthur, Rosenberg, Léonce, Vever, Henri

• Place

  Tabriz

• Topic

  S?afavid dynasty, 1501-1736, Reading, Prince, Art, Books and reading, Henri Vever collection, Arts of the Islamic World, Qur'an

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Paintings