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Persian Quatrains (Rubayi) and Calligraphic Exercises (recto); Persian Verse (khamriyya) (verso)

Sultan Muhammad Khandan (Iranian, d. after 1550)c. 1509–50

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

This page contains two quatrains—poems made up of four lines. The diagonally written text in the center of the page is a poem addressed to a ruler, expressing hope for his success and the downfall of his enemies. The second poem is split between the horizontal panels at the top and bottom of the page. This quatrain praises the beauty of the writer’s beloved, saying that “her moonlike face can steal away a hundred besotted hearts.” At the right are calligraphic exercises displaying letters of the alphabet and the virtuoso skill of the calligrapher Sultan Muhammad Khandan, who signed the page in the triangle at the lower left of the inner text block.

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Details

  • Title: Persian Quatrains (Rubayi) and Calligraphic Exercises (recto); Persian Verse (khamriyya) (verso)
  • Creator: Sultan Muhammad Khandan (Iranian, d. after 1550)
  • Date Created: c. 1509–50
  • Provenance: Mrs. Mehmed A. [Louise Dean] Simsar [1900–1986], Washington, DC, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Manuscript
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1983.1115
  • Medium: ink, gold, and opaque watercolor on paper
  • Inscriptions: [Persian quatrain], [Persian quatrain], Al-faqīr Sulṭān Muḥammad Khandān, [Persian khamriyya]
  • Department: Islamic Art
  • Culture: Afghanistan, Herat, Safavid period (1501–1722)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Mehmed A. Simsar in memory of Dr. Mehmed A. Simsar
  • Collection: Islamic Art
  • Accession Number: 1983.1115

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