Calligraphy of Lyrical Quatrains (verso)

mid-1700s

Maker Unknown

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Calligraphy of Lyrical Quatrains (verso), mid-1700s. Mughal India, probably Lucknow. Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; calligraphy: 17 x 9.6 cm (6 11/16 x 3 3/4 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 2013.348.b

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Maker Unknown
Classification: Calligraphy
Formatted Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Medium: gum, tempera, ink, gold, paper
Dimensions: calligraphy: 17 x 9.6 cm (6 11/16 x 3 3/4 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: verso: Persian verses in nasta‘liq script. Whoever set eyes on the Opening Verses of your face recited “Say He is the Only God” and breathed it out in pure sincerity./ “God has made her grow in purity and beauty,” So recited and passed by Khizr, the moment he saw the green [pubescent] sprouting around your lips. Inscription: verso: Persian verses in top horizontal border, right to left, in nasta‘liq script. My heart became shackled to her tresses;/ You have lost your head in fulfilling this desire./ Go and become entangled in her tresses./ If you see her mouth, do not say a word. Inscription: verso: Persian verses in bottom horizontal border, right to left, in nasta‘liq script. If she asks you what you desire, say “your heart.”/ Since once she knows it, one could never banish her from one’s heart./ For one cannot assure one’s heart based on her words of promise;/ It is not fitting that one should lose one’s heart for naught. Inscription: verso: Persian verses in right vertical border, top to bottom, in nasta‘liq script: From the anguished mood and state of this sorrowful heart,/ Narrate down the story as you brush down her tresses [conjectural]/ Of me, in an unfit state, shackled and in chains/ How I fare in that stifling prison./ If you go and seek her out in that abode/ Once you find her, you should say of me, the heartbroken. Inscription: verso: Persian verses in left vertical border, bottom to top, in nasta‘liq script: I have a heart ensnared by her tresses/ Exiled in foreign lands [. . .] of her tresses/ The tale of this broken-hearted soul, like disheveled hair/ Bring to her ears in a well-composed manner, like well-arranged hair/ Enchain her tresses in your speech/ Brush her locks behind her for a while.
Departments: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Accession Number: 2013.348.b
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: Art and Stories from Mughal India
Rights Statement: CC0