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Calligraphic exercises and verses of Hafiz (Persian, about 1325–1389) (verso) | musefully
Mahmud ibn Ishaq al-Shahabi. Calligraphic exercises and verses of Hafiz (Persian, about 1325–1389) (verso), 1575–76. ink and opaque watercolor with gold on paper, illuminated calligraphy (verso), Page: 28 x 23.8 cm (11 x 9 3/8 in.). 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. CC0.
Calligraphic exercises and verses of Hafiz (Persian, about 1325–1389) (verso)
1575–76
Mahmud ibn Ishaq al-Shahabi
Mahmud ibn Ishaq al-Shahabi (Persian, active mid- to late 1500s)
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Calligraphic exercises and verses of Hafiz (Persian, about 1325–1389) (verso), 1575–76. Mahmud ibn Ishaq al-Shahabi (Persian, active mid- to late 1500s). Ink and opaque watercolor with gold on paper, illuminated calligraphy (verso); 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 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.
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 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. 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.
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
