Woman with a spray of flowers

Detached album folio: Woman with a spray of flowers.
Border: The painting is set in gold, green and blue rulings on a paper with floral motifs, marginal cartouches with two couplets in white nasta’liq script and two marginal medallions with kneeling youths.

Historical period(s)
Safavid period, ca. 1575
Medium
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W (overall): 29.4 × 19.4 cm (11 9/16 × 7 5/8 in)
Geography
Iran
Credit Line
Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Accession Number
S1986.296
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Album, Painting
Type

Detached album folio

Keywords
Henri Vever collection, Iran, Safavid period (1501 - 1722), woman, youth
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Description

Detached album folio: Woman with a spray of flowers.
Border: The painting is set in gold, green and blue rulings on a paper with floral motifs, marginal cartouches with two couplets in white nasta'liq script and two marginal medallions with kneeling youths.

Label

The verses in the border of this painting seem integral to the composition. They imply the yearning of the lover, represented by the two kneeling youths in the upper and lower corners of the folio, for the beloved.  

 How long are you going to wound me with grief?
 Keep me wondering in the lane of separation?
 If in the end you will raise me from dust, 
 Why do you cast me away like an arrow?

Published References
  • Glenn D. Lowry, Milo Cleveland Beach, Elisabeth West FitzHugh, Susan Nemanzee, Janet Snyder. An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection. Washington and Seattle. cat. 354, p. 305.
Collection Area(s)
Arts of the Islamic World
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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