Persian Quatrains (Rubayi) and Calligraphic Exercises (recto) (c. 1509–59): Art, History and Details

Persian Quatrains (Rubayi) and Calligraphic Exercises (recto) (c. 1509–59) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Sultan Muhammad Khandan (Iranian, d. after 1550).

The work and its context

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

This page contains two quatrains—poems made up of four lines. The diagonally written text in the center of the page is a poem addressed to a ruler, expressing hope for his success and the downfall of his enemies. The second poem is split between the horizontal panels at the top and bottom of the page. This quatrain praises the beauty of the writer’s beloved, saying that “her moonlike face can steal away a hundred besotted hearts.” At the right are calligraphic exercises displaying letters of the alphabet and the virtuoso skill of the calligrapher Sultan Muhammad Khandan, who signed the page in the triangle at the lower left of the inner text block.

Object facts

• Title: Persian Quatrains (Rubayi) and Calligraphic Exercises (recto)
• Date: c. 1509–59
• Creator attribution: Sultan Muhammad Khandan (Iranian, d. after 1550)
• Culture: Afghanistan, Herat, Safavid period (1501–1722)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, gold, and opaque watercolor on paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 27.4 x 20 cm (10 13/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Text area: 18.7 x 10.9 cm (7 3/8 x 4 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Islamic Art
• Department: Islamic Art
• Accession number: 1983.1115.a

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Mehmed A. Simsar in memory of Dr. Mehmed A. Simsar

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.