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recto: "Portrait of Prince Danyal", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Painting by Manohar
Calligrapher Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi Iranian
recto: late 16th century; verso: ca. 1500
Not on view
Verso: This richly illuminated folio of calligraphy features the work of the preeminent Timurid calligrapher, Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi. Patronized by the Timurid court, Mashhadi was a poet and a recognized master of the nasta'liq script. In the following poem, composed by Khwaja Salman al-Savuji, he writes:

Coil up in your own tress
And then ask how I am,
How those are whom the snare
Of your affliction broke:
You want to know how all
Those broken lovers fare–
Then ask me first, for I
Am the most broken one.

This love poem belongs to a larger tradition of mystical poetry in which the lover longs for the unattainable object of his affections. His lover's tresses ensnare him and, hopelessly caught, the poet mourns his plight.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: recto: "Portrait of Prince Danyal", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
  • Artist: Painting by Manohar (active ca. 1582–1624)
  • Calligrapher: Sultan 'Ali al-Mashhadi (Iranian, Mashhad 1453–1520 Mashhad)
  • Date: recto: late 16th century; verso: ca. 1500
  • Geography: Attributed to India
  • Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
  • Dimensions: H. 15 5/16 in. (38.9 cm)
    W. 10 1/4 in. (26 cm)
  • Classification: Codices
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955
  • Object Number: 55.121.10.32
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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The Virgin and Child Attended by Angels, Manohar, Brown and blue ink with gold on paper, Islamic
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Lacquered Pen Box (Qalamdan), Manohar, Papier-maché; painted, gilded, and lacquered
Lacquered Pen Box (Qalamdan)
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late 17th–early 18th century
"Portrait of Zamana Beg, Mahabat Khan", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album, Manohar, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Portrait of Zamana Beg, Mahabat Khan", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Manohar
Mir 'Ali Haravi
recto: ca. 1610; verso: ca. 1530–40
"Jahangir and His Vizier, I'timad al-Daula", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album, Manohar, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Jahangir and His Vizier, I'timad al-Daula", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Manohar
Mir 'Ali Haravi
recto: ca. 1615; verso: ca. 1530–45
"Jahangir and His Vizier, I'timad al-Daula", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album, Manohar, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Jahangir and His Vizier, I'timad al-Daula", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album
Manohar
Mir 'Ali Haravi
recto: ca. 1615; verso: ca. 1530–45

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