Poets and painters associated with the Sultanate courts of India created an artistic culture that integrated Persian, Islamic and local elements. The author of the Khamsa (Quintet), the great poet, musician and mystic Amir Khusrau (ca. 1253-1325), composed poetry in both Persian and Hindi. Two centuries later, painters at another Sultanate court depicted the Khamsa stories in a style that combined the rounded silhouettes and three-quarter profile faces of near Eastern painting with the strong color of local Indian painting. The prince's throne and bolster is also an Indian type.
This page comes from the romance of Shirin and Khusrau. In this scene, a priest brings a document of marriage to Khusrau.
Provenance:
?-?
Demotte, Inc., Paris, France and New York, NY, method of acquisition unknown [1]
At least 1957-1959
Heeramaneck Galleries (active 1928-1964), New York, NY, method of acquisition unknown [2]
From 1959
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Heeramaneck Galleries [3]
Notes:
[1] See Milo Beach, “The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court,” (Washington, DC and Ahmedabad, India: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Mapin International Inc., 2012), cat. 2a, 2c, p. 45-46. The provenance for F1959.1 and F1959.3 is described as “Ex-collection: Heeramaneck; Demotte.”
[2] See Freer Gallery of Art Vault Card, V101.57a-m, copy in object file. The object was transferred from the Heeramaneck Galleries to the Freer Gallery of Art for acquisition consideration on May 28, 1957.
See letter from H. Elise Buckman, Secretary to the Director, to Nasli Heeramaneck, dated May 28, 1957, copy in object file. The F1959.1 to F1959.4 were transferred from the Heeramaneck Galleries to the Freer Gallery of Art for acquisition consideration on May 28, 1957.
Heeramaneck Galleries in New York, NY owned and operated by Nasli M. (1902-1971) and Alice N. Heeramaneck (née Arvine) (1910-1993). The Heeramaneck’s were dealers and collectors of Pre-Columbian and Asian art. Nasli Heeramaneck began his career as a dealer in Paris during the 1920s and relocated to New York, NY in 1927. In 1939, Nasli married Alice Arvine, an American portrait painter from New Haven, CT. Nasli founded Heeramaneck Galleries in New York, NY by 1928. He began to retire in 1964 and liquidated some of the gallery’s stock at auction at Parke-Barnet, New York in 1964 and 1965. Many objects from the Heeramaneck collection were either purchased or donated to American museums. Items from their collection may be found in The British Museum; the Cleveland Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Museum of New Delhi; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and Yale University.
[3] See object file for copy of the Heeramaneck Galleries invoice to Freer Gallery of Art, dated February 16, 1959, and marked approved on February 6, 1958. Payment was later approved on February 18, 1959. F1959.1 to F1959.4 are described as “Persian miniature[s]” of a “Prince and lady,” “King, Vizier, and 2 attendants,” “Majnun at Laila’s Tomb,” and “Two men at stove,” respectively.
Research updated November 30, 2023
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas (October 16, 2004 to January 3, 2016)
Masterworks of Indian Painting (December 13, 1997 to June 13, 1998)