Textile Fragment with Poetic Scenes and Verses Maker: Unknown

17th century

Asian Art

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center

The many illustrated panels of this textile alternate with inscribed cartouches and show equestrians, gentlemen, tiled pavilions, and animals. The phrases on the cartouches include one that extols the beauty of cloth spun from the soul. In addition to alluding to this textile, the verse may also refer to the popular fictional love story between the Sasanian king Khosrow II (r. 590–628 C.E.) and the Armenian princess Shinrin.

Medium

Double cloth with silver metallic thread

Dimensions

13 11/16 × 26 5/8 in. (34.8 × 67.6 cm)

Credit Line

Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Gift of Mrs. William H. Moore

Accession Number

1937.4625

Geography

Iran

Culture

Iranian/Persian, Islamic

Period

Safavid dynasty (1501–1722)

Classification

Textiles

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Mrs. William H. Moore (1858–1955), New York, purchased in Paris in 1933; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Kishwar Rizvi, "Art History and the Nation: Arthur Upham Pope and the Discourse on 'Persian Art' in the Early 20th Century," Muquarnas: Journal of Islamic Art and Architecture 24 (2007), 45–65
  • David Ake Sensabaugh and Susan B. Matheson, "Ada Small Moore: Collector and Patron," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2002), 31–49
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

fragments, textiles

Inscriptions

The panels alternate with inscribed cartouches which read: \r\nThe manifestation of thy figure, by virtue of its comeliness,\r\nHas breathed life into the body of grace.\r\nThou wouldst have said that this was woven of thread spun from the soul.\r\nCloth could not be so comely as this.\r\n\r\nTranslated in Bier, ed. Woven from the soul, Spun from the Heart, p. 184:\r\nThere has never been clothing of this beauty.\r\nIt's as though its thread has been spun from the soul\r\nCreating thy form this graceful\r\nHas made thy soul this beautiful.\r\n\r\nMetropolitan Museum fragment translated as:\r\nThe splendor of your figure comes from beauty\r\nIt has given life to this outer cloak\r\nThere has never been a garment of such beauty\r\nOne might say it has been woven from the threads of your soul.\r\nHorizontal: جلوۀ قد تو ز زیبایي کرده جان را بدین عباني\r\nVertical: گوئي از رشتۀ جان بافته اند نبود جامه بدین زیبایی

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