"Farhad Carves a Milk Channel for Shirin", Folio 74 from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami of Ganja
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.
Artwork Details
- Title: "Farhad Carves a Milk Channel for Shirin", Folio 74 from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami of Ganja
- Author: Nizami (present-day Azerbaijan, Ganja 1141–1209 Ganja)
- Calligrapher: Sultan Muhammad Nur (Iranian, ca. 1472–ca. 1536)
- Calligrapher: Mahmud Muzahib (Iranian, ca. 1500–1560)
- Artist: Painting by Shaikh Zada (Iranian, active 1510–1550)
- Date: 931 AH/1524–25 CE
- 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
- Object Number: 13.228.7.5
- Curatorial Department: Islamic Art
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Nizami
Sultan Muhammad Nur
931 AH/1524–25 CE
Multiple artists/makers
dated 931 AH/1524–25 CE
Multiple artists/makers
dated 931 AH/1524–25 CE
Nizami
Sultan Muhammad Nur
dated 931 AH/1524–25 CE
Multiple artists/makers
dated 931 AH/1524–25 CE
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