A prince conversing with a woman while taking refreshments on a terrace (recto); Calligraphy (verso)

c. 1710–1720

Maker Unknown

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

A prince conversing with a woman while taking refreshments on a terrace (recto); Calligraphy (verso), c. 1710–1720. India, Mughal, 18th century. Opaque watercolor with gold on paper, blue and buff borders (recto); ink on paper, script from Sadi's Bustan (verso); page: 30.5 x 24.1 cm (12 x 9 1/2 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 2013.335 The prince removed his shoes before joining the picnic on the carpeted terrace.

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Maker Unknown
Classification: Painting
Formatted Medium: opaque watercolor with gold on paper, blue and buff borders (recto); ink on paper, script from Sadi's Bustan (verso)
Medium: opaque, watercolor, gold, paper, blue, buff, borders, recto, ink, script, from, sadi, bustan, verso
Dimensions: Page: 30.5 x 24.1 cm (12 x 9 1/2 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: Verso: From a Bustan (Fragrant Herb Garden) of Sa‘di (Persian, 1210–1291). Persian text in nasta‘liq script: Why do the adherents of Idea to this not cleave—/ That only the Elect may go in water or in fire?/ As for the infant, uninformed of fire,/ Does not his mother guard him lovingly?/ Those, then, who’re drowned in ecstasy/ By night and day are in the very care of Truth:/ He guards the Friend against the fire’s heat/ As Moses’s crib against the whirlpools of the Nile;/ When an infant’s in a swimmer’s arms/ He knows no fear, broad though the Tigris be;/ But how shall you step on the ocean’s face/ As do real men, when even on dry land your skirt is wet?/ The way of the intellect is all twists and turns,/ But the concern of the gnostics is for God alone!/ This can be said to those who recognize realities,/ Though adherents of analogy may carp thereat and say:/ “What, then, is heaven, and what earth besides?/ Who are the sons of Adam, and the beasts both wild and tame?”/ A proper thing you’ve asked, O prudent one!/ I’ll tell you—if you find the answer proper:/ The plain and the ocean, the mountain and the sky,/ Pari and manchild, demon and angel—/ All, whatsoever they be, are less than That/ By virtue of Whose being they utter being’s name!/ Monstrous before you, with its waves, lies the ocean;/ High is the sun, all ablaze at the zenith; (after Wickens 1974, 113)
Departments: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Accession Number: 2013.335
Credit Line: 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
Exhibitions: <em>Art and Stories from Mughal India</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016). (2013.335.a only)
Rights Statement: CC0