id: 124013 accession number: 1944.499 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.499 updated: 2022-01-12 10:00:54.830000 Khusrau Surprising Shirin While Bathing, 1550-99. Iran, Kashan, Safavid period (1501-1722). Silk: velvet, pile-warp substitution; mounted: 44.5 x 26.7 cm (17 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.499 title: Khusrau Surprising Shirin While Bathing title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1550-99 creation date earliest: 1550 creation date latest: 1599 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Iran, Kashan, Safavid period (1501-1722) technique: Silk: velvet, pile-warp substitution department: Textiles collection: T - Islamic type: Velvet find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Mounted: 44.5 x 26.7 cm (17 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Islamic Art opening date: 1944-11-03T04:00:00 Islamic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1944-February 2, 1945). title: Arts of Iran (Islamic art rotation) opening date: 2018-10-30T04:00:00 Arts of Iran (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 2018-October 28, 2019). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Woven Treasures of Persian Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (April 1-May 23, 1959). --- PROVENANCE Purchased from the Dikran G. Kelekian Collection using income from the J.H. Wade Fund date: ?-1944 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1944- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: These velvet fragments depict an episode from the Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami (1141–1209), in which the lovers Khusrau and Shirin first see each other. A pre-Islamic king of Iran, Khusrau has fallen in love with Shirin after seeing her portrait and is traveling to meet her when he happens across her bathing in a stream. Not yet realizing that she is Shirin, Khusrau is transfixed by the woman’s beauty and covets both her and her magnificent black horse. The horse’s mane is just visible here, and she has placed her crown and tunic atop a branch. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Bier, Carol. Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, 16. - 19. Centuries. 1987. page number: 190-191 and 65 url: Underhill, Gertrude. "Fragments of a Khusraw and Shirin Velvet." CMA Bulletin 32 (June 1945): 95-97. page number: url: Kendrick, F.A. "Persian Stuffs with Figural Subjects." Burlington Magazine 37 (Nov. 1920): 237. page number: url: Kendrick, A. F., and T. W. Arnold. "Persian Stuffs with Figure-Subjects-I." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 37, no. 212 (1920): 237-45. page number: p. 237 url: www.jstor.org/stable/861122 Underhill, Gertrude. "Fragments of a Khusraw and Shīrīn Velvet." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 6 (1945): 95-99. page number: Mentioned: pp. 95-97 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25141215 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 735 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n133 Woven Treasures of Persian Art; Persian Textiles from the 6th to the 19th Century. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum, 1959. page number: Mentioned: p. 38, cat nos. 68 and 69 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 216 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n240 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 216 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n240 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 276 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n296 Bier, Carol. Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, 16th-19th Centuries. Washington, D.C.: Textile Museum, 1987. page number: 109-91 and 65 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.499/1944.499_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.499/1944.499_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.499/1944.499_full.tif