Walters Ms. W.690, Single leaf of a couple embracing

W.690

Single leaf of a couple embracing

This single-leaf painting of a couple embracing, executed in Safavid Iran, is dated to 3 Sha`ban 1[0]98 AH / 1689 CE. The painting is in the style of the artist Mu'in Muṣawwir (Mu'in the painter), who was active in Isfahan from 1044-1109 AH / 1635-1697 CE. The illuminated landscape motifs are found in other paintings associated with this painter, who produced both single-leaf compositions and manuscript illustrations. The handwriting is also comparable to that found on Mu'in's accepted and signed works. The subject of couples embracing was a popular theme of single-leaf compositions in Isfahan of the eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE, repeated by Mu'in's contemporaries and students.

3 Sha`ban 1[0]98 AH / 1689 CE

Iran

Leaf

Historical

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Paper

Mounted on pasteboard

Foliation: Not applicable

24.0 cm wide by 35.5 cm high

1. Image: 10.5 cm wide by 19.5 cm high

1. Title: Couple embracing
2. Decoration note: Blue, salmon, cream, and buff paper with illuminated designs for borders

fol. W.690a:

1. 
2. Title: Couple embracing
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: This single-leaf painting of a couple embracing, executed in Safavid Iran, is dated to 3 Sha`ban 1[0]98 AH / 1689 CE. The painting is in the style of the artist Mu'in Muṣawwir (Mu'in the painter), who was active in Isfahan from 1044-1109 AH / 1635-1697 CE. The illuminated landscape motifs are found in other paintings associated with this painter, who produced both single-leaf compositions and manuscript illustrations. The handwriting is also comparable to that found on Mu'in's accepted and signed works. The subject of couples embracing was a popular theme of single-leaf compositions in Isfahan of the eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE, repeated by Mu'in's contemporaries and students.

fol. W.690b:

1. 
2. Title: Couple embracing (back)
3. Form: Back

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

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), 137.

Farhad, Massumeh, "Safavid Single Page Painting, 1629-1666" (PhD diss., Harvard University, 1987), 170-186.

Farhad, Massumeh, “The Art of Muʿin Musavvir: A Mirror of His Times,” in Persian Masters: Five Centuries of Painting, Sheila R. Canby, ed. (Bombay: Marg Publishing, 1990), 113-29.

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

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.