Walters Ms. W.681, Single leaf of a man on a donkey

W.681

Single leaf of a man on a donkey

This Safavid single-leaf drawing with opaque watercolor and illuminated borders depicts a man with a large turban riding a donkey. Attributable to the early eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE, it is in the style of drawing defined by the school of the famous Persian artist Riẓā ʿAbbāsī (fl. 1001-1044 AH / 1591-2 to 1634 CE). The composition is the reverse of a work by the Safavid painter Ṣādiqī (939-1018 AH / 1533-1610 CE) in the Musée du Louvre published by Ivan Stchoukine in 1929 that has been identified as a depiction of a mullah (religious scholar). The illuminated borders of landscape scenes and gazelles are slightly later than the drawing and probably date to the late eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE.

Early 11th century AH / 17th CE

Iran

Leaf

Historical

No linguistic content; Not applicable

Paper

Mounted on pasteboard

Foliation: Not applicable

30.5 cm wide by 46.5 cm high

1. Image: 11.5 cm wide by 15.2 cm high

1. Title: Man on a donkey
2. Decoration note: Illuminated outer border of landscape scenes and gazelles; inner border of illuminated floral motifs on a red ground; dates to the late eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE

fol. W.681a:

1. 
2. Title: Man on a donkey
3. Form: Drawing
4. Label: This Safavid single-leaf drawing with opaque watercolor and illuminated borders depicts a man, possibly a mullah (religious scholar), riding a donkey. Attributable to the early eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE, it is in the style of drawing defined by the school of the famous Persian artist Riẓā ʿAbbāsī (fl. 1001-1044 AH / 1591-2 to 1634 CE).

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Stchoukine, Ivan. Les miniatures indiennes de l'époque des grands moghols au Musée du Louvre. (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1929), plate 10.

Grube, Ernst J. and Maria Alberta Fabris. Muslim Miniature Paintings from the XIII to XIX Century from Collections in the United States and Canada: Catalogue of the Exhibition. (Venezia: N. Pozza, 1962), 126.

Bailey, Gauvin Alexander. "Supplement: The Sins of Sadiqi's Old Age." In Persian Painting from the Mongols to the Qajars, by Robert Hillenbrand, 264. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2000.

Noel, William, and Daniel Weiss, eds. The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2002), 204, cat. 48.

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

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