Object Details
- Artist
- Signed by Sayyid Ali (active 1555-1575)
- Patron
- Shah Tahmasp (1524-1576)
- Description
- Detached album folio: School scene, signed by Mir Sayyid Ali
- Border: The painting is set in gold rulings in a turquoise blue inner frame and a black outer frame mounted on a bright red paperboard.
- Inscriptions
- On rug: "rely not upon the place of great men; unless you have prepared the quality of greatness in yourself [From the Divan of Hafiz]."
- Label
- Composed of a series of interrelated scenes, this painting vividly depicts a master disciplining a youth, a group of students copying texts, craftsmen making paper, and several men cooking by an open fire. Although the lively vignettes create the impression of having been drawn from life, they are composed for the most part of stock images. For instance, the setting of the school, the man leaning on a staff, and the master beating a student are all based on details found in sixteenth-century Persian painting. The artist Mir Sayyid-Ali transformed the generic quality of the images into specific scenes by concentrating on the description of minute details, such as the shoes in the niches in front of the school or the colored paper drying in the foreground.
- Provenance
- To 1912
- Georges Demotte (1877-1923), Paris, France. [1]
- From 1912 to 1942
- Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France, purchased from Georges Demotte, Paris, France on November 30, 1912. [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. 406. 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. 232.
- [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
- Worlds within Worlds: Imperial Paintings from India and Iran (July 28 to September 16, 2012)
- Le Chant du monde: L'Art de l'Iran safavide, 1501-1736 (October 05, 2007 to January 07, 2008)
- The Adventures of Hamza (June 26 to September 29, 2002)
- A Jeweler's Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection (November 20, 1988 to April 30, 1989)
- Persian and Indian Painting - Selections from a Recent Acquisition (September 28, 1987 to February 28, 1988)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Henri Vever (1854-1942)
- Georges Demotte (1877-1923)
- Francois Mautin (1907-2003)
- Credit Line
- Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
- ca.1540
- Period
- Safavid period
- Accession Number
- S1986.221
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Manuscript
- Medium
- Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 37.2 x 23.9 cm (14 5/8 x 9 7/16 in)
- Origin
- Tabriz, Iran
- Related Online Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- See more items in
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Topic
- Safavid period (1501 - 1722)
- writing
- reading
- mosque
- cooking
- Iran
- Arts of the Islamic World
- school
- student
- Henri Vever collection
- teacher
- muezzin
- punishment
- Record ID
- fsg_S1986.221
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3eb080c3d-18e5-4042-8586-7f218570fba0
