Book Cover with Tree, Birds, and Insects
This book cover decorated with opulent and fantastical flowering scenes on lacquer was made for a manuscript or album that has since been disseminated. Depictions of flowering vases are a known design from the Deccan, and the fertile trees are oftentimes interpreted as "Tree of Life" motifs. The unusually large scale of the birds and insects in the scene is characteristic of the whimsical creativity of artists from the Deccan region of India.
Artwork Details
- Title: Book Cover with Tree, Birds, and Insects
- Date: ca. 1700
- Geography: Made in India, Deccan, Bijapur or Golconda
- Medium: Lacquer, opaque watercolor, and gold on leather
- Dimensions: Frame: 12 15/16 × 10 1/4 × 9/16 in. (32.9 × 26.1 × 1.5 cm)
Image: 9 1/16 × 6 7/16 in. (23 × 16.3 cm) - Classification: Lacquer
- Credit Line: Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions, Harris Brisbane Dick, and 2020 Benefit Funds; Howard S. and Nancy Marks, Lila Acheson Wallace, and Friends of Islamic Art Gifts; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; and funds from various donors, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.205
- Curatorial Department: Islamic Art
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ca. 1700
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second half 16th century
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