id: 170879 accession number: 2013.347.b share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.347.b updated: 2023-08-24 01:00:02.573000 Calligraphic exercises and verses of Hafiz (Persian, about 1325–1389) (verso), 1575–76. Mahmud ibn Ishaq al-Shahabi (Persian, active mid- to late 1500s). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; page: 28 x 23.8 cm (11 x 9 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.347.b title: Calligraphic exercises and verses of Hafiz (Persian, about 1325–1389) (verso) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1575–76 creation date earliest: 1575 creation date latest: 1576 current location: creditline: Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection copyright: --- culture: Persian, Uzbekistan, Bukhara technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Mughal type: Calligraphy find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Mahmud ibn Ishaq al-Shahabi (Persian, active mid- to late 1500s) - calligraphy by --- measurements: Page: 28 x 23.8 cm (11 x 9 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: In center, Persian exercises including on the second line down the “abjad” letters of numeration followed by calligrapher’s signature, in nasta‘liq script: Done by the hand of the sinful slave Mahmud ibn Ishaq al-Shahabi, may God forgive his sins, in the year 982 translation: remark: inscription: Persian verses above from a ghazal of Hafiz (Persian, 1325–1389), in nasta‘liq script: For some days now the Daughter of the Vine has been lost to us,/ Gone away to tend to her own affairs. Be alert and prepared (as a search party)./ Her dress is of rubies and she wears a tiara of delicate glass./ She carries off wisdom and knowledge. Till you feel safe and secure from her, remain alert!/ Whoever will bring her bitter presence to me, I will give him sweet confectionaries (halwa) in exchange,/ And should she be hiding in disguise in the underworld, go down (and seek her out)/ The daughter of the dark-colored (vine) is quick-tempered, petulant, rose-colored and drunk./ Should you find her, take her towards Hafiz’s house. translation: remark: inscription: Persian verses below, continued from above, in nasta‘liq script: I saw her last night, sauntering and tipsy./ A cup in hand, she was heading towards a gathering of the drunk/ I was so vexed that my poetic powers/ Became distraught and fled away from me/ She was harboring thoughts of Khwarazm and the shores of the Oxus/ With a thousand complaints she was leaving the Kingdom of Solomon/ Gone would be the person who knew the very soul of poetry as no one else./ I was witnessing this and my soul was seeping out of my body/ I protested and much lamented but to no avail/ For this was a matter for the Sultan’s compassion to tend. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Art and Stories from Mughal India opening date: 2016-07-31T04:00:00 Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Sir Charles Forbes, 7th Baronet [1773-1849], Bengal, London, and Scotland, by descent to his great-grandson, Colonel Sir John Forbes date: before 1811-1849 footnotes: citations: Colonel Sir John Stewart Forbes [1901-1984], Baronet, DSO, DL, Allargue House, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK, consigned to Sotheby's London for sale date: ?-1962 footnotes: citations: (Sotheby’s, London, Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 10 December 1962, lot 25, sold to Ralph Benkaim) date: December 10, 1962 footnotes: citations: Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1962-2013 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2013- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The work was part of an album of paintings collected in India before 1811 by a Scottish politician who worked for the British East India Company. digital description: wall description: This fine calligraphic work is signed and dated by a calligrapher who was highly regarded in both Safavid Iran and Mughal India. Mughal albums typically had a painted portrait or figural scene on one side, and a work of calligraphy on the other. The British civil servant Sir Charles Forbes made his album following that format.

The verses are a lament over a lack of wine, beginning:
For some days now the Daughter of the Vine has been lost to us,
Gone away to tend to her own affairs.
Be alert and prepared as a search party.
Her dress is of rubies, and she wears a tiara of delicate glass. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.347.b/2013.347.b_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.347.b/2013.347.b_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.347.b/2013.347.b_full.tif