The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Khusrau Surprising Shirin While Bathing

Khusrau Surprising Shirin While Bathing

1550–99
(1501-1722)
Silk: velvet, pile-warp substitution
Mounted: 44.5 x 26.7 cm (17 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.499
Location: not on view

Description

These velvet fragments depict an episode from the Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami (1141–1209), in which the lovers Khusrau and Shirin first see each other. A pre-Islamic king of Iran, Khusrau has fallen in love with Shirin after seeing her portrait and is traveling to meet her when he happens across her bathing in a stream. Not yet realizing that she is Shirin, Khusrau is transfixed by the woman’s beauty and covets both her and her magnificent black horse. The horse’s mane is just visible here, and she has placed her crown and tunic atop a branch.
  • ?-1944
    Purchased from the Dikran G. Kelekian Collection using income from the J.H. Wade Fund
    1944-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Bier, Carol. Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, 16. - 19. Centuries. 1987. 190-191 and 65
    Underhill, Gertrude. "Fragments of a Khusraw and Shirin Velvet." CMA Bulletin 32 (June 1945): 95-97.
    Kendrick, F.A. "Persian Stuffs with Figural Subjects." Burlington Magazine 37 (Nov. 1920): 237.
    Kendrick, A. F., and T. W. Arnold. "Persian Stuffs with Figure-Subjects-I." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 37, no. 212 (1920): 237-45. p. 237 861122
    Underhill, Gertrude. "Fragments of a Khusraw and Shīrīn Velvet." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 6 (1945): 95-99. Mentioned: pp. 95-97 25141215
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 735 archive.org
    Woven Treasures of Persian Art; Persian Textiles from the 6th to the 19th Century. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum, 1959. Mentioned: p. 38, cat nos. 68 and 69
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 216 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 216 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 276 archive.org
    Bier, Carol. Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, 16th-19th Centuries. Washington, D.C.: Textile Museum, 1987. 109-91 and 65
    Phillips, Amanda. Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. 2021. p. 116, fig. 3.13
  • Arts of Iran (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 2018-October 28, 2019).
    Woven Treasures of Persian Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (April 1-May 23, 1959).
    Islamic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1944-February 2, 1945).
  • {{cite web|title=Khusrau Surprising Shirin While Bathing|url=false|author=|year=1550–99|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.499