{
"data": {
"id": 124166,
"accession_number": "1945.169.a",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Shamsa (recto) from right folio from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940\u20131019 or 1025), c. 1444. Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501). Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; image: 27.7 x 10.3 cm (10 7/8 x 4 1/16 in.); overall: 32.5 x 22.1 cm (12 13/16 x 8 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1945.169.a",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Shamsa (recto) from right folio from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940\u20131019 or 1025)",
"creation_date": "c. 1444",
"creation_date_earliest": 1439,
"creation_date_latest": 1449,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501)"
],
"technique": "opaque watercolor and gold on paper",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Islamic Art",
"collection": "Islamic Art",
"type": "Manuscript",
"measurements": "Image: 27.7 x 10.3 cm (10 7/8 x 4 1/16 in.); Overall: 32.5 x 22.1 cm (12 13/16 x 8 11/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.325,
"height_inch": 12,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"width": 0.221,
"width_inch": 8,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.6875
},
"image": {
"height": 0.277,
"height_inch": 10,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.875,
"width": 0.103,
"width_inch": 4,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Y\u0101 kab\u012bkaj",
"inscription_translation": "King of Cockroaches",
"inscription_remark": "This is a talismanic inscription against insects that might damage the book.",
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 443710,
"title": "Persian Miniature Manuscripts",
"description": "Persian Miniature Manuscripts. The Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (August 13-September 11, 1977).",
"opening_date": "1977-08-13T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Exhibition of Muhammedan Art [Die Ausstellung Von Meisterwerken der Muhammadanischen Kunst in Munchen]. Munich, Germany (1910).",
"opening_date": "1910-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (1935). [lent by Minassian] (both folios?)",
"opening_date": "1935-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Exhibition of Islamic Art. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA (February 24-March 22, 1937).",
"opening_date": "1937-02-24T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Exhibition of Persian Art. The Iranian Institute, New York, NY (1940).",
"opening_date": "1940-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Exhibition of Islamic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1944).",
"opening_date": "1944-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Mostra d'Arte Iranica [Exhibition of Iranian art]. Instituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente, Rome (June-August 1956).",
"opening_date": "1956-06-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "7000 Ans d'art en Iran. Petit Palais, Paris (October-November 1961).",
"opening_date": "1961-10-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Muslim Miniature Paintings from American Collections. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy; Asia House, New York, NY (September 1962-February 1963).",
"opening_date": "1962-09-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).",
"opening_date": "1965-09-11T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Imperial Images in Persian Painting. The Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland (August 13-September 11, 1977).",
"opening_date": "1977-08-13T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).",
"opening_date": "1985-10-30T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Order and Rhythm: Carpets from the Islamic World. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 10-November 7, 1993).",
"opening_date": "1993-09-10T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Philipp Walter Schulz [1864-1920], Leipzig, Germany",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "by 1914",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Mrs. Kirkor [Antoinette P. Clark] Minassian [1874-1961], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "before 1935-1945",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1945-",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [
{
"id": 133448,
"description": "Royal Reception in a Landscape, left folio from the double frontispiece of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 940\u20131019 or 1025), 1444. Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501). Opaque watercolor, ink, gold, and silver on paper; overall: 32.7 x 22 cm (12 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.); image: 26.1 x 20.7 cm (10 1/4 x 8 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1956.10.a",
"relationship": null
}
],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "At the center of the recto side of this folio is a shamsa, or sunburst, an exquisite symmetrical pattern of floral and geometric shapes painted in precious pigments and gold to reference divine light. The shamsa might have been intended to contain a name or portrait identifying the manuscript\u2019s original owner, but in this case it is empty.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60752142"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: cat. no. 722",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n132"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 228-229",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1945.169.a",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
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"date_created": "2009-11-23T15:21:05",
"annotation": ""
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],
"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 124166,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1945-08-16T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1439,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1444",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "part",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": "1945.169",
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Shamsa, Opening Page (recto); Illumination from the Manuscript of the Shahnama of Firdawsi",
"Shamsa, recto of right folio from the double-page frontispiece of a Shah-nama of Firdausi (Persian, about 934\u20131020)"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 06:24:08.572000"
}
}