Folio from a Mihr-u Mushtari (The Sun and Jupiter) by Shams al-Din Muhammad Assar Tabrizi (d. ca. 1382); verso: Mihr at school; recto: text, Shah Shapur sends Mihr and Mushtari to school
Detached folio from a bound copy of Mihr-u Mushtari (The Sun and Jupiter) by Shams al-Din Muhammad Assar Tabrizi; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; recto: text: Shah Shapur sends Mihr and Mushtari to school, 2 columns, 12 lines; verso: illustration and text: Mihr at school; one of a group of 6: the manuscript (F1932.3a-b) and 5 detached folios are accessioned separately.
Border: The painting and the text are set in gold and blue rulings on cream-colored paper.
Inscriptions:
Above door on right: "God and none beside him."
Above the door on left: "and he was standing praying in the niche." (Sura al-'Imran, sura 3:39)
Provenance:
Before 1914-?
Victor Goloubew (1878-1945), method of acquisition unknown [1]
About 1914-1931
Ownership information unknown
By at least 1931-?
Kalebjian Frères, Paris and Cairo, method of acquisition unknown [2]
?-to at least 1932
H. Kevorkian, New York, method of acquisition unknown [3]
From 1932
The Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from H. Kevorkian, New York [4]
Notes:
[1] See Philipp Walter Schulz, “Die Persich-islamische Miniaturmalerei” v.2 [book] (Leipzig: Verlag von Karl W. Hiersemann, 1914), pl. 79. Schulz attributes the folio to the collection of Victor de Goloubew. Victor Goloubew was a Russian aristocrat who collected Persian, South-Asian, and European art. An archaeologist and engineer, he was among the first to use aerial photography to study Angkor Wat in Cambodia. He moved to Paris in 1904, and after losing his property in the Russian revolution he sold most of his collections.
[2] See Laurence Binyon, J.V.S. Wilkinson and Basil Grey, “Persian Miniature Painting: Including a Critical Descriptive catalogue of the Miniatures Exhibited at Burlington House, January-March, 1931” [book] (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 123, no.106(a), pl. LXXX-B. Entry states: “Four full-page miniatures. Lacquer binding. Lent by Kalebdjian [sic.], Paris”. Kalebjian Frères was an antiquities gallery in Paris operated by brothers Hagop and Garbis (1885-1954). They also maintained business in Cairo.
[3] Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962), was a dealer and collector of Islamic and Persian works with eponymous galleries in New York and Paris. See March 17, 1932 letter to J.E. Lodge, copy in object file; see also note 4.
[4] See H. Kevorkian invoice to Freer Gallery of Art, February 2, 1932, and marked approved on February 2, 1932.
Research updated December 14, 2022
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)
Art of the Near East (August 21, 1977 to December 14, 1979)
Near Eastern Art (June 15, 1973 to May 7, 1975)
2500 Years of Persian Art—Paintings, Pottery (February 10, 1972 to June 15, 1973)
Near Eastern Art—Paintings, Pottery (August 18, 1967 to February 10, 1972)
Near Eastern Art (June 5, 1964 to August 18, 1967)
Persian Art (January 1, 1963 to September 3, 1963)
Special Exhibition Afghanistan (September 3, 1963 to June 5, 1964)
Glass Exhibition, in honor of VI International Congress on Glass (July 4, 1962 to December 3, 1962)
Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Manuscripts (May 1, 1945 to September 25, 1947)
Untitled Exhibition, Persian Paintings and Ceramics (May 5, 1933 to January 9, 1945)
