© The Metropolitan Museum of Art


This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Khusraw Hunting, folio from Khusraw and Shirin

Location:

New York, United States of America

Holding Museum:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

About The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Date of Object:

Dated Hegira 904 / AD 1498–99

Museum Inventory Number:

69.27

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Main support: ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper; binding: leather

Dimensions:

Entire sheet: L: 24cm, W: 16.4cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Probably Istanbul or Amasya, Turkey

Description:

This painting from a manuscript of Khusraw and Shirin by the poet Hatifi demonstrates the importance of Persian literature in the Ottoman world. The manuscript contains seven paintings, executed in a distinctive style related to western Iranian tradition from the Aq Quyunlu but also borrowing elements from European sources. This scene depicts Khusraw riding on his horse Shabdiz while hunting. A poem on the final page of the manuscript identifies the sole artist of the work, who completed the calligraphy, illumination, gilding, and painting, as Suzi (“the burning one”).

How Object was obtained:

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1969

Poet: Written by Hatifi

Artist: Calligraphy and paintings by Suzi

Vendor: Sotheby's, London

Former owner: Osman Ata'ullah, Turkey

Former owner: Sir Gregory O. Page-Turner, England (until 1827; his sale, March 1827, no. 190)

Former owner: Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet, England (1827–d. 1872)

Former owner: Bibliotheca Phillippica, England (1872–1968; its sale, Sotheby's, London)

Selected bibliography:

Atil, Esin (ed), Turkish Art, Washington D.C/New York: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1980: 161, ill. fig. 71 (b/w), fol. 22b.
Brend, Barbara, Perspectives on Persian Painting. Illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsa, New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003: 153.
Ekhtiar, Maryam, Canby, Shelia R., Haidar, Navina and Soucek, Priscilla P. (eds), Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011: 288–89, no. 200, ill. 289 (colour).
Ettinghausen, Richard, "Reports of the Departments: Islamic Art", Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 28/ 2 (1969): 79-81, ill. 79 (b/w), folio 22r.
Grube, Ernst J., Studies in Islamic Painting, London: Pindar Press, 1995: 460, ill. fig. 11 (b/w).
Petsopoulos, Yanni (ed), Tulips, Arabesques & Turbans. Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, New York: Abbeville Press, 1982: no. 195, 199, ill. pl. 195 (colour), folio 22r.
Swietochowski, Marie and Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, Notable Acquisitions 1965–1975, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975: 133, ill. (b/w).
Swietochowski, Marie and Ettinghausen, Richard, "Islamic Painting", Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, 36/ 2 (Autumn 1978): 46–47, ill. 46–47 (colour), folios 15r and 22r.
Welch, Stuart Cary, The Islamic World. Vol. 11, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987: 117, ill. fig. 87 (colour).
Yoltar-Yildirim, Aysin and Brill, Robert H., "A 1498–99 Khusraw va Shirin: Turning the Pages of an Ottoman Illustrated Manuscript", Muqarnas, 22 (2005): 96–109, ill. figs. 1–12, folio 1v fig. 4; 2r fig. 5; 2v fig. 6; 15v fig. 8; 22v fig. 9; 32r fig. 10; 49v fig. 11; 67v fig. 12; 78r fig 7 (colour).

Additional Copyright Information:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1969

Citation of this web page:

 "Khusraw Hunting, folio from Khusraw and Shirin" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus23;36;en

MWNF Working Number: US3 36

RELATED CONTENT

 Artistic Introduction

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Ottomans


On display in


Download

As PDF (including images) As Word (text only)