Ali Haravi. Sample of Persian Calligraphy from a Mughal Album, 16th century; margins 17th century. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, image: 7 13/16 x 3 14/16 in. (19.8 x 9.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by anonymous donors and Helen Babbott Sanders Fund, 1991.185 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.185_IMLS_SL2.jpg)
Ali Haravi. Sample of Persian Calligraphy from a Mughal Album, 16th century; margins 17th century. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, image: 7 13/16 x 3 14/16 in. (19.8 x 9.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by anonymous donors and Helen Babbott Sanders Fund, 1991.185 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.185_bw_IMLS.jpg)
Ali Haravi. Sample of Persian Calligraphy from a Mughal Album, 16th century; margins 17th century. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, image: 7 13/16 x 3 14/16 in. (19.8 x 9.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by anonymous donors and Helen Babbott Sanders Fund, 1991.185 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.185_PS2.jpg)
Sample of Persian Calligraphy from a Mughal Album
Asian Art
Set against a gilded background, two couplets of romantic poetry appear in the elegant nastaʿlīq script. The face of the beloved, considered the reflection of divine love, is fittingly compared to a bright moon and admired for its beauty: “Your face is flushed [and] has become [like] a bright moon; you have exalted your stature [and] have become the envy of the [tall] cypress.” A signature identifying “the lowly scribe, ʿAli” may refer to the talented sixteenth-century calligrapher Mir ʿAli al-Husayni al-Katib al-Haravi, also known as Mir ʿAli. The calligraphy was mounted on a seventeenth-century Indian album page decorated with flora and fauna in a Europeanizing style typical of the Mughal artistic tradition. It is possible that the folio, like the page with a portrait of the Sufi Shaykh Chishti displayed nearby, once belonged to the Shah Jahan Album.
CALLIGRAPHER
Ali Haravi
MEDIUM
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
DATES
16th century; margins 17th century
DYNASTY
Mughal
PERIOD
Mughal
DIMENSIONS
image: 7 13/16 x 3 14/16 in. (19.8 x 9.7 cm)
sheet: 14 7/16 x 10 in. (36.7 x 25.4 cm)
mat: 16 x 22 in. (40.6 x 55.9 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
'Ali (possibly Mir 'Ali, d. 1544)
INSCRIPTIONS
In Persian,
Your face is flushed [and] has become [like] a bright moon
You have exalted your stature [and] have become the envy of the [tall] cypress;
The beauty of your face increases day by day;
Although you were beautiful yesterday, you are more beautiful today.
Translated by Dr. Layla S. Diba and Dr. Ehsan Yarshater
COLLECTIONS
Asian Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
1991.185
CREDIT LINE
Purchased with funds given by anonymous donors and Helen Babbott Sanders Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Ali Haravi. Sample of Persian Calligraphy from a Mughal Album, 16th century; margins 17th century. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, image: 7 13/16 x 3 14/16 in. (19.8 x 9.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by anonymous donors and Helen Babbott Sanders Fund, 1991.185 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.185_IMLS_SL2.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 1991.185_IMLS_SL2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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