Detached folio from a dispersed copy of the Habib al-siyar (The beloved of virtues) by Khwandamir; recto: Nushirwan enthroned; verso: illumination.
Border: The painting is set in gold, red, and blue rulings on an illuminated page with floral, bird, and animal motifs.
Inscriptions:
On the tile spandrels in the background: Qaroon halak shud ke [?] dar khaneh ghanj dast/ Nushirvan namurd ke nam-i neku ghozasht
"Qaroon passed away though he had forty houses of treasure/ while Noushirwan's fame did not die because he left a good name."
Provenance:
To 1909
Léonce Rosenberg (1879-1947), Paris, France. [1]
From 1909 to 1942
Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France, purchased from Léonce Rosenberg, Paris, France on December 21, 1909. [2]
From 1942 to 1986
Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France. [3]
From 1986
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France. [4]
Notes:
[1] See Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 7: Chart of Recent Provenance" in An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection, Glenn D. Lowry et al (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 405. See also Glen D. Lowry and Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 2: Ledger of Acquisitions, 1894 and 1907-17" in A Jeweler’s Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 229.
[2] See note 1.
[3] See the Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection of January 9, 1986, Collections Management Office.
[4] See note 3.
Collection:
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Exhibition History:
Fashioning an Empire: Safavid Textiles from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (December 18, 2021 to May 15, 2022)
Queensland Art Gallery permanent gallery (November, 2006 to November, 2009)
Permanent Gallery Exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, 11/2006-11/2009 (November 2006 to November 2009)
L'Age d'or des sciences arabes (October 25, 2005 to March 19, 2006)
Crushed Lapis and Burnished Gold: The Art of Illumination (June 9 to December 8, 1991)
A Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection (November 20, 1988 to April 30, 1989)
