"Farhad Carves a Milk Channel for Shirin", Folio 74 from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Author:: Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (probably 1141–1217)

Calligrapher:: Sultan Muhammad Nur (ca. 1472–ca. 1536)

Calligrapher:: Mahmud Muzahhib

Artist:: Painting by Shaikh Zada

Object Name:: Folio from an illustrated manuscript

Date:: A.H. 931/A.D. 1524–25

Geography:: Made in present-day Afghanistan, Herat

Medium:: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Dimensions:: Painting: H. 8 3/8 in. (21.3 cm) W. 5 1/16 in. (12.9 cm) Page: H. 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm) W. 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm) Mat: H. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm) W. 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)

Classification:: Codices

Credit Line:: Gift of Alexander Smith Cochran, 1913

Accession Number:: 13.228.7.5

Not on view

In Nizami’s tale of Khusrau and Shirin, the princess Shirin has an ardent admirer in the talented sculptor and stonemason, Farhad. When Shirin desires milk from a herd of goats that graze in a distant field, Farhad sets to work cutting a channel from the goats’ mountain pastureland to a pool at the foot of Shirin’s palace. In this painting, Shirin visits Farhad upon his completion of the pool. At the very top of the composition, a goat cavorts in its hillside home.

F. R. Martin, Sweden; Alexander Smith Cochran, Yonkers, NY (until 1913; gifted to MMA)

Valentiner, William Reinhold. "The Cochran Collection of Persian Manuscripts." Museum of Metropolitan Art Bulletin, old series, vol. 8 (1913). pp. 80-86.

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 71, pp. 180-181, ill. p. 181 (b/w).

Brend, Barbara. "Illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsa." In Perspectives on Persian Painting. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. p. 190.

Timelines
Central and North Asia, 1400–1600 A.D.

Department

Islamic Art (14,462)

Artist / Maker / Culture

Mahmud Muzahhib (11)

Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (35)

Shaikh Zada (14)

Sultan Muhammad Nur (21)

Object Type / Material

Codices (1,205)

Folios (1,110)

Gold (17,215)

Illuminated manuscripts (733)

Geographic Location

Date / Era

A.D. 1400–1600 (26,266)

"Alexander at a Banquet", Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Artist: Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (probably 1141–1217) Date: dated A.H. 931/A.D. 1524–25 Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper Accession: 13.228.7.16 On view in:Gallery 455

"Battle between Alexander and Darius", Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Artist: Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (probably 1141–1217) Date: A.H. 931/A.D. 1524–25 Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper Accession: 13.228.7.15 On view in:Gallery 455

Overflap and Inside Cover of a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Artist: Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (probably 1141–1217) Date: dated A.H. 931/ A.D. 1524–25 Medium: Binding: leather; embossed; gold and color Manuscript: ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper Accession: 13.228.7.1 On view in:Not on view

"Khusrau Catches Sight of Shirin Bathing", Folio 50 from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami

Artist: Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (probably 1141–1217) Date: dated A.H. 931/A.D. 1524–25 Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper Accession: 13.228.7.3 On view in:Not on view

Iskandarnama (Book of Alexander)

Artist: Nizami (Ilyas Abu Muhammad Nizam al-Din of Ganja) (probably 1141–1217) Date: 1790–91 Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper Accession: 89.2.2154 On view in:Not on view