Folio from a Gulistan (Rosegarden) by Sa'di; recto: A prince riding; verso: text

Object Details

• Calligrapher

  Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi

• Artist

  Attributed to Balchand

• Court

  Mughal Court

• School/Tradition

  Mughal school

• Label

  This composition is by Payag's brother, Balchand, another of Shah-Jahan's celebrated painters. More traditional in style than his brother, Balchand avoided the use of European techniques and was particularly renowned for the richly textured surfaces of his paintings and his fine portraits of the Mughal imperial family. In the Gulistan, Balchand's sensitive portrayal of the two main figures--a prince and a lovesick youth--has resulted in an intense and emotionally charged pictorial equivalent of Sa'di's anecdote on the nature of love.

• Provenance

  1468

  Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi, the calligrapher, copied the text in Herat (now in Afghanistan), Iran [1]

  ?-at least 1557/58

  Shah Tahmasp (1514-1576; reign 1524-1576), method of acquisition unknown in Tabriz, Iran [2]

  At least 1557/58-1567/68

  Mughal Library, Delhi, India, under Akbar (1542-1605; reign 1556-1605), method of acquisition unknown [3]

  1567/68-?

  Munim Khan (d. 1575), gift from Akbar in Karra, India [4]

  ?-1635/36

  Mughal Library, Delhi, India, under Akbar or Jahangir (1569-1627; reign 1605-1627), method of acquisition unknown [5]

  1635/36-?

  Jahan-ara (1614-1681), gift from Shah Jahan (1592-1666; reign 1628-1658) [6]

  ?-?

  Ownership information unknown

  ?-1848/49

  Unidentified individual or dealer, method of acquisition unknown, probably in India [7]

  1848/49-?

  Unidentified individual, purchased from an unidentified individual or dealer, probably in India [8]

  ?-?

  Ownership information unknown

  ?-?

  Marquess of Bute, United Kingdom, method of acquisition unknown [9]

  ?-at least 1991

  Ownership information unknown

  At least 1991-1998

  Art and History Trust (established 1991), Liechtenstein, method of acquisition unknown [10]

  From 1998

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift from the Art and History Trust [11]

  Notes:

  [1] See Thomas Lawton and Thomas W. Lentz, “Beyond Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery” [book], (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1998), p. 148. According to the colophon of this manuscript, this copy of the Gulistan (Rosegarden) by Sa'di was copied in 1468 by the celebrated Persian calligrapher Sultan Ali Mashhadi in the Timurid capital of Herat (now in Afghanistan). Additional inscriptions in the manuscript indicate that by 1557/58, the manuscript had entered the collection of the Mughal library in India during the rule of Akbar (1542-1605; reign 1556-1605).

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

  [4] See Milo Beach, “The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court,” (Washington, DC and Ahmedabad, India: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Mapin International Inc., 2012), cat. 16, pp. 93-94. According to an inscription in the manuscript, Akbar presented this manuscript at Karra in AH 975 [1567/68] to Munim Khan (d. 1575), Khan Khanan (commander in chief) under Akbar and Humayun (1508-1556; reign 1530-1540 and 1555-1556). The manuscript then passed to Jahangir (1569-1627; reign 1605-1627) and Shah Jahan (1592-1666; reign 1628-1658). Shah Jahan subsequently gave the manuscript to his daughter, Jahan-ara (1614-1681), in 1635/36.

  [5] See note 4.

  [6] See note 4.

  [7] See Abolala Soudavar and Milo Cleveland Beach, “Art of the Persian Courts: Selections from the Art and History Trust Collection” [book], (New York: Rizzoli, 1992), p. 334. On the manuscript, “[a] further note states that the book was ‘purchased for Rs. 700. 1265 [1848-49].’”

  [8] See note 7.

  [9] See note 7.

  [10] See also offer letter from the Art and History Trust, Liechtenstein, to Milo Beach, dated February 17, 1998, copy in object file.

  The Art and History Trust was established in 1991 by Abolala Soudavar, a devoted scholar and collector of Persian and Indian arts of the book, and his family of distinguished bibliophiles. The Art and History Trust’s collection includes more than one hundred of the finest manuscripts, individual paintings, drawings, and calligraphies from the Islamic world, ranging from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century.

  [11] See the Freer Gallery of Art, “Acquisition Consideration Form,” approved on March 23, 1998, copy in object file.

  See also the signed “Deed of Gift to the Freer Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution,” copy in object file.

  Research updated February 6, 2024

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art (February 24 to May 13, 2007)

  In the Realm of Princes: The Arts of the Book in Fifteenth Century Iran and Central Asia (March 19 to August 7, 2005)

  Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)

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

  Beyond the Legacy--Anniversary Acquisitions of the Freer Gallery of Art (October 11, 1998 to April 11, 1999)

  The Jewel and the Rose: Art of Shah Jahan (May 4, 1997 to January 25, 1998)

  A Mughal Hunt (March 13 to September 11, 1994)

  Art of the Persian Courts: Selections from the Art and History Trust (November 5, 1992 to April 6, 1997)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Shah Tahmasp (1524-1576)

  Mughal Library

  Akbar (reigned 1556-1605)

  Jahangir جهانگیر (1569-1627)

  Shah Jahan (1592-1666; reigned 1628-1658)

  Munim Khan (died 1575)

  Jahan-ara (1614-1681)

  Marquess of Bute

  The Art and History Trust

• Origin

  India and Iran

• Credit Line

  Gift of the Art and History Trust in honor of Ezzat-Malek Soudavar

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1640s, 1400s

• Name

  The Art and History Trust, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Khan, Munim, Shah Tahmasp, Mughal Library, Jahan-ara, Marquess of Bute, Akbar

• Place

  India

• Topic

  Reign of Shah Jahan (1628 - 1658), Prince, Art, Animals, Horsemen and horsewomen, Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858), Horses, Arts of the Islamic World, Gulistan

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians

• Object Type

  Manuscripts