Persian calligraphy framed by an ornamental border of flowers, birds, and deer, from the Late Shah Jahan Album (calligraphy: c. 1500–1540; border: c. 1630–40): Art, History and Details

Persian calligraphy framed by an ornamental border of flowers, birds, and deer, from the Late Shah Jahan Album (calligraphy: c. 1500–1540; border: c. 1630–40) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Mir 'Ali Haravi (Persian, active in Herat, Afghanistan, died c. 1550).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

About 100 years after the calligraphy was completed by a Persian master and embellished with gold and floral arabesques, the small page was mounted into an album for the Mughal emperor of India. Mughal artists filled the outer border with floral vines, blooming and budding with many varieties. Pairs of birds perch throughout; male and female deer relax, listening to the birdsong. The Indian artists chose to emphasize nature’s abundance and life-giving forces, whereas the Persian artists sought to achieve exquisite, gemlike refinement. The central poem, by Ibn-i Yamin (Persian, 1286–1368), encourages the reader not to worry about unexpected calamities.

Object facts

• Title: Persian calligraphy framed by an ornamental border of flowers, birds, and deer, from the Late Shah Jahan Album
• Date: calligraphy: c. 1500–1540; border: c. 1630–40
• Creator attribution: Mir 'Ali Haravi (Persian, active in Herat, Afghanistan, died c. 1550)
• Culture: Mughal India, court of Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–58)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, gold, and ink on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 36.8 x 25.2 cm (14 1/2 x 9 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1977.207

A detail from the museum

On the right, two white-throated kingfishers, a species native to Asia, sit on thin vines.

Collection credit

Gift of Herbert F. Leisy in memory of his wife, Helen Stamp Leisy

Further reading listed by the museum

• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Oriental Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.