Moʿin Moṣavver | Individual Drawings and Paintings
Drawing 1678.1
Camel Seen from the Rear
Location: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, 2011.534.
Drawing: (H x W) 18.5 x 13 cm. Page: 28 x 19 cm.
Signature: Signed and dated 1089/1678.
Inscription
At the top left, reads: hu! dar šab-e čahar-šanba bist-o-haftom-e šahr-e šavvāl ba eqbāl sana 1089 in do šotor ṭarḥ marḥum-e ostād-e behzād solṭāni ʿala al-raḥma mašq šod. mašqa-e moʿin-e moṣavver. Translation: “God! On the evening [preceding] Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of the fortunate month of Šavvāl in the year 1089/13 December 1678 these two camels were drawn after the deceased Master Behzād Sultan, may God bless his soul. Drawn by Moʿin Moṣavver.” The date was actually a Tuesday, not a Wednesday. The inscription is in Moʿin’s handwriting.
Description:
The drawing depicts a single camel, seen from the rear, with its head turned in profile toward the left. Its front legs are hobbled and tied to a stump on the left. A chain hangs loosely from its bridle. The animal appears to be deftly drawn from observation. Off to the right, the head of a man wearing a flat top Safavid tāj with kolāh appears behind a sloping ridge line. A small shrub grows on the left.
Bibliography:
Rabino, PC_1916, pl.16
Wiet, EP_1913., pp.85-86, no.XXVIII and pl. XL.
Wiet, Syria, XIII, 1932, p.210, no.2.
BWG_1933, no.375.
Kühnel, Survey,_1939 p.1893 and pl.924.
Kühnel, Pantheon_1942 p.113, fig.7.
Schroeder, Fogg_1941, p.150.
Sotheby’s (London) sale catalog, 5/16/55, Lot 39.
Maggs Bros., sale catalog 838, 1956, no.67, fig. 76.
Grube, MMP_1962, no.120 (ill.).
Stchoukine, SA_1964, pp.68-69
Robinson, PD_1965, p.95, pl.67 (in color).
Welch, SA_1973, no.78 (ill.).
Commentary:
There is no controversy about the attribution of this drawing, which is one of the most profusely published of Moʿin’s works. The signed and dated inscription in the master’s hand, the subtle wit and keen observation, the fine calligraphic brushwork all support that attribution. The personage in the upper right, it might be noted, is wearing the same hat that is abundantly depicted in Moʿin’s Shah Esmāʿil miniatures (cf. Mss. L, M, and N), but in none of Moʿin’s other work -- except in this drawing. Mss. M, which is the earlist of the three Esmāʿil manuscripts that Moʿin illustrated, can be dated to June 1679, only six months later than this drawing.
The interpretation of the inscription, in particular the three words immediately following the year, has been the source of some consternation and confusion. They clearly read in do šotor, “these two camels”, yet the drawing depicts only one camel. The most widely held view, that the composition may have been originally larger depicting two camels, and subsequently cut down, would seem to be the most plausible explanation. Grube’s theory, which was based upon Nasr’s reading of the inscription, that the words refer to two lines of poetry originally accompanying the miniature, does not seem as plausible. The words clearly read in do šotor (these two camels) and not in do saṭr (these two lines).
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Courtesy of Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch.
Robert Eng
Last Updated: November 10, 2018 | Originally published: November 10, 2018
Drawing 1678.1
Camel Seen from the Rear
Location: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, 2011.534.
Drawing: (H x W) 18.5 x 13 cm. Page: 28 x 19 cm.
Signature: Signed and dated 1089/1678.
Inscription
At the top left, reads: hu! dar šab-e čahar-šanba bist-o-haftom-e šahr-e šavvāl ba eqbāl sana 1089 in do šotor ṭarḥ marḥum-e ostād-e behzād solṭāni ʿala al-raḥma mašq šod. mašqa-e moʿin-e moṣavver. Translation: “God! On the evening [preceding] Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of the fortunate month of Šavvāl in the year 1089/13 December 1678 these two camels were drawn after the deceased Master Behzād Sultan, may God bless his soul. Drawn by Moʿin Moṣavver.” The date was actually a Tuesday, not a Wednesday. The inscription is in Moʿin’s handwriting.
Description:
The drawing depicts a single camel, seen from the rear, with its head turned in profile toward the left. Its front legs are hobbled and tied to a stump on the left. A chain hangs loosely from its bridle. The animal appears to be deftly drawn from observation. Off to the right, the head of a man wearing a flat top Safavid tāj with kolāh appears behind a sloping ridge line. A small shrub grows on the left.
Bibliography:
Rabino, PC_1916, pl.16
Wiet, EP_1913., pp.85-86, no.XXVIII and pl. XL.
Wiet, Syria, XIII, 1932, p.210, no.2.
BWG_1933, no.375.
Kühnel, Survey,_1939 p.1893 and pl.924.
Kühnel, Pantheon_1942 p.113, fig.7.
Schroeder, Fogg_1941, p.150.
Sotheby’s (London) sale catalog, 5/16/55, Lot 39.
Maggs Bros., sale catalog 838, 1956, no.67, fig. 76.
Grube, MMP_1962, no.120 (ill.).
Stchoukine, SA_1964, pp.68-69
Robinson, PD_1965, p.95, pl.67 (in color).
Welch, SA_1973, no.78 (ill.).
Commentary:
There is no controversy about the attribution of this drawing, which is one of the most profusely published of Moʿin’s works. The signed and dated inscription in the master’s hand, the subtle wit and keen observation, the fine calligraphic brushwork all support that attribution. The personage in the upper right, it might be noted, is wearing the same hat that is abundantly depicted in Moʿin’s Shah Esmāʿil miniatures (cf. Mss. L, M, and N), but in none of Moʿin’s other work -- except in this drawing. Mss. M, which is the earlist of the three Esmāʿil manuscripts that Moʿin illustrated, can be dated to June 1679, only six months later than this drawing.
The interpretation of the inscription, in particular the three words immediately following the year, has been the source of some consternation and confusion. They clearly read in do šotor, “these two camels”, yet the drawing depicts only one camel. The most widely held view, that the composition may have been originally larger depicting two camels, and subsequently cut down, would seem to be the most plausible explanation. Grube’s theory, which was based upon Nasr’s reading of the inscription, that the words refer to two lines of poetry originally accompanying the miniature, does not seem as plausible. The words clearly read in do šotor (these two camels) and not in do saṭr (these two lines).
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Courtesy of Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch.
Robert Eng
Last Updated: November 10, 2018 | Originally published: November 10, 2018
