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Calligraphy panel
Calligraphy panel

Calligraphy panel

Dateearly 17th century
Label TextFlowers, including chrysanthemums and lilies, bloom within the frame of the calligraphy and the panel’s outer border. The calligraphic inscription is thus “planted” in the center of the page with sprouting leaves and flowers, evoking a garden. The Persian couplets also make reference to floral growth through the language of spring (bahar). While gardens can invoke paradise, here the garden alludes to a lover’s sanctuary. Throughout the poem, night (shām/shafaq) and morning (subh/sahar) are contrasted: ruby redtwilight versus the white pearl of dawn. This duality of day and night echoes the union of a man and woman, referenced in the poem’s first line (mardān and zan), and reinforces the idea of the garden as a lover’s abode.
Object number44.39
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle Center, Aug. 1975. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012 Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view beginning Jan. 20, 2023].
Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions9 x 4 1/8 in. (22.9 x 10.5 cm)
MediumInk, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Three Mughal Princes Before a Guru
Mughal
late 16th century
Object number: 63.38
Nobleman and Reader with Attendants
Mughal
probably 16th century
Object number: 40.34
Portrait of Shah Aurangzeb with a man, possibly Ashraf Khan
Mughal
early 18th century
Object number: 38.154
Portrait of a man
Mughal
17th century
Object number: 57.80
Falcon
Mughal
17th century
Object number: 57.79
Untitled Calligraphy
Mark Tobey
1953
Object number: 70.90
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Indian
ca. 1685
Object number: 44.44
Photo: Paul Macapia
Persian
probably 18th century
Object number: 40.37