Man with Prayer Beads

Man with Prayer Beads

Signed by Muhammad 'Ali, this drawing is another variation on the isolated, contemplative older man (see MMA 11.6.2, cat. no. 30 in this volume). Here, however, the natural surroundings seem to complement the spiritual state of the sitter. A visual parallel to this mood is provided by the evenly ascending striations in the rock formation behind him.

Muhammad 'Ali has left a number of drawings of this particular figure that are near carbon copies of one another: the same pose; the tilting upward of the head; the left hand resting on the knee; the slippers, with one seen in profile, the other from its sole; and even the folds of the cloak as they turn and fall under the left leg.[1]

[Swietochowski and Babaie 1989]

Footnotes:

1. See Sotheby's, July 11, 1972, lot 171; and Schulz, Ph. Walter. Die persisch-islamische Miniaturmalerei. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1914, pI. 171.

Signature: Muhammad 'Ali

Alexander Smith Cochran, Yonkers, NY (until 1913; gifted to MMA)

Palm Beach, FL. The Society of the Four Arts. "Loan to the Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Fl," February 2, 1962–February 27, 1962, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Persian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 13–December 31, 1989, no. 31.

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

Swietochowski, Marie, and Sussan Babaie. Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 31, pp. 72–73, ill. pl. 31 (b/w).

Petrosyan, Yuri A., Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Stefano Carboni, Oleg F. Akimushkin, Anas B. Khalidov, and Efim A. Rezvan. "Islamic Paintings and Calligraphy from the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg." In Pages of Perfection. Lugano, Switzerland: Arch Foundation, 1995. p. 104, ill. fig. 12 (color).