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."

• Label

  This composition, attributed to the celebrated painter Aqa Mirak, embodies sixteenth-century Persian ideals of beauty and sophistication. The reclining youth is dressed in sumptuous clothing and holds up an open book inscribed with a poem that establishes a literary parallel to his refinement. Written in minute characters, it refers to the legendary beauty of Yusuf, the biblical Joseph, who was considered the ideal man in Islamic mysticism.

  Fate granted such beauty to the face of Yusuf

  Try to draw such [beauty] for your face, O slave.

• 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

  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

  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