Court Lady Pouring Wine (recto); Calligraphy of Lyrical Quatrains (verso)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Court Lady Pouring Wine (recto); Calligraphy of Lyrical Quatrains (verso)

Date
c. 1760; borders mid-1700s
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Culture
Mughal India, probably Lucknow
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
170880

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

The artist has depicted a glass or crystal duck-headed decanter adorned with a gilded grapevine motif, signaling the contents. The red wine flows from the duck’s mouth into a tiny cup. Such bird-shaped wine vessels are vestiges of the blood sacrifices once part of ancient Persian court rituals. On the verso, floral sprigs illuminate the central calligraphic work, and paired verses have been written in smaller script all around the border. On this page, all the verses are about the beauty of—and longing for—the beloved. The bird-headed decanter evokes blood rites of kingship in pre-Islamic Iran.

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Provenance & credit

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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
Provenance
?-1849: Sir Charles Forbes, 7th Baronet [1773-1849], Bengal, London, and Scotland, by descent to his great-grandson, Colonel Sir John Forbes | ?-1962: Colonel Sir John Stewart Forbes [1901-1984], Baronet, DSO, DL, Allargue House, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK, consigned to Sotheby's London for sale | December 10, 1962: (Sotheby's, London, Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, lot 21) | 1962-2001: Ralph Benkaim [1914-2001], Beverly Hills, CA, by descent to his wife Catherine Benkaim | 2001-2013: (Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 2013-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

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