{
"data": {
"id": 124013,
"accession_number": "1944.499",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Khusrau Surprising Shirin While Bathing, 1550\u201399. 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",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Khusrau Surprising Shirin While Bathing",
"creation_date": "1550\u201399",
"creation_date_earliest": 1550,
"creation_date_latest": 1599,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Iran, Kashan, Safavid period (1501-1722)"
],
"technique": "Silk: velvet, pile-warp substitution",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Textiles",
"collection": "T - Islamic",
"type": "Velvet",
"measurements": "Mounted: 44.5 x 26.7 cm (17 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"mounted": {
"height": 0.445,
"width": 0.267
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 312146,
"title": "Islamic Art",
"description": "Islamic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1944-February 2, 1945).",
"opening_date": "1944-11-03T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 294015,
"title": "Arts of Iran (Islamic art rotation)",
"description": "Arts of Iran (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 2018-October 28, 2019).",
"opening_date": "2018-10-30T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Woven Treasures of Persian Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (April 1-May 23, 1959).",
"opening_date": "1959-04-01T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Purchased from the Dikran G. Kelekian Collection using income from the J.H. Wade Fund",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?-1944",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1944-",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"description": "These velvet fragments depict an episode from the Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami (1141\u20131209), 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\u2019s beauty and covets both her and her magnificent black horse. The horse\u2019s mane is just visible here, and she has placed her crown and tunic atop a branch.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60780021"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1944.499-khusrau-surprising-s"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "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": null
},
{
"citation": "Underhill, Gertrude. \"Fragments of a Khusraw and Shirin Velvet.\" CMA Bulletin 32 (June 1945): 95-97.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Kendrick, F.A. \"Persian Stuffs with Figural Subjects.\" Burlington Magazine 37 (Nov. 1920): 237.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "Underhill, Gertrude. \"Fragments of a Khusraw and Sh\u012br\u012bn 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"
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "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": null
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "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"
},
{
"citation": "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": ""
},
{
"citation": "Phillips, Amanda. Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. 2021.",
"page_number": "p. 116, fig. 3.13",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.499",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.499/1944.499_web.jpg",
"width": "713",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "359692",
"filename": "1944.499_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.499/1944.499_print.jpg",
"width": "2694",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "3816759",
"filename": "1944.499_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1944.499/1944.499_full.tif",
"width": "3555",
"height": "4487",
"filesize": "47884976",
"filename": "1944.499_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 124013,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1944-12-15T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1550,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1550\u201399",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "cover",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Velvet Fragment",
"Khusrau Sees Shirin Bathing",
"Velvet Fragment, Khusrau Sees Shirin Bathing"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:00:24.535000"
}
}