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Artwork Details
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Title:Dervish Leaning on a Staff
Date:16th century
Geography:Attributed to Iran
Medium:Ink, transparent and opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions:H. 3 3/16 in. (8.1 cm) W. 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm)
Classification:Codices
Credit Line:Bequest of George D. Pratt, 1935
Accession Number:45.174.1
Dervish Leaning on a Staff
If numerical evidence is a sign of popularity, there is perhaps no subject more popular in Persian drawing than the single figure of a mature-to-elderly man posed seated or standing. These men vary in profession, social rank, and race and constitute one of the richest repertories of costume, motif, gesture, and pose. This drawing and the following five entries in this catalogue (MMA 25.83.8, 45.174.12, 1976.183, 11.6.2, and 13.228.34) exhibit a sampling of this visual diversity within a single type.[1]
Attributes and details of costume distinguish these men and often denote membership of a particular Sufi order (MMA 45.174.12). Sufi orders customarily bestowed the adept, on the festive day of the initiation, with a taj (cap) and a khirqa (frock) of the order.[2] Each order was distinguished by the color and shape of its headdress.[3] Regardless of whether a Sufi or religious vocation is intended, all these images display a preference for a contemplative mood.
In this small drawing the man leans on a stick for support, lifting his head in the opposite direction from his bent back. The age of the subject and his tired posture are implied by the sensitive drawing of the drooping lines on the face, and the gently curving lines of the cloak, which opens in front to reveal a frail body beneath, silhouetted against the rougher texture of the animal skin he wears.
In its delicacy and incisiveness this drawing resembles the Two Seated Men, attributed to Behzad, in the Sackler Museum of Harvard University (1972.299b). The appearance of the Museum's figure seems to correspond to the description of the wandering dervishes whose modest worldly possessions included a stick and a beggar's bowl; the latter is not seen in this drawing.[4] A tinted drawing from one of the Saray albums, dated to the end of the sixteenth century, shows a landscape filled with men and animals engaged in a variety of activities, among whom two similarly dressed and posed dervishes can be seen leaning on staffs.[5] The type later became popular in Indian art.[6]
[Swietochowski and Babaie 1989]
Footnotes:
1. For a brief discussion of the costumes of this group, see Farhad, Massumeh. "Safavid Single-Page Painting, 1629–1666." Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1987, p. 232.
. Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill, 1975, p. 234.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., p. 235.
5. Hazine 2160, fol. 27r; and Ipşiroglu, M. S, Masterpieces from the Topkapi Museum: Paintings and Miniatures. London, 1980, fig. 29.
6. See, for example, Welch, Anthony, and Stuart Cary Welch. Arts of the Islamic Book: the Collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan. Ithaca and London, 1982, fig. 68.
George D. Pratt, New York (by 1933–d. 1935); Vera Amherst Hale Pratt, New York (life interest 1935–45)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Persian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 13–December 31, 1989, no. 26.
Swietochowski, Marie, and Sussan Babaie. Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 26, pp. 62–63, ill. pl. 26 (b/w).
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)
ca. 1525
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