Metropolitan Museum V

Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: 22-5/8 x 20-3/4 x 2-3/8 in. (57.5 x 52.7 x 6.0 cm) weight 42 lbs Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Purchase, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gift, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.1 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327829

Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: 22-5/8 x 20-3/4 x 2-3/8 in. (57.5 x 52.7 x 6.0 cm) weight 42 lbs Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Purchase, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gift, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.1 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327829

Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: 22-5/8 x 20-3/4 x 2-3/8 in. (57.5 x 52.7 x 6.0 cm) weight 42 lbs Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Purchase, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gift, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.1 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327829

Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel with the god Pharro and worshiper Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: 22-5/8 x 20-3/4 x 2-3/8 in. (57.5 x 52.7 x 6.0 cm) weight 42 lbs Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Purchase, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gift, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.1 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327829

Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: H. 57.2 cm, W. 41.6 cm, D. 5.7 cm Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Gift of Isao Kurita, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.4 This rare Central Asian votive panel depicts a deity (with nimbus) being approached by a worshiper, probably nonroyal but portrayed as of equal stature to the god. Compositionally, they follow scenes of homage and investiture from the post-Hellenistic West and from Iran in which a king and a god appear side by side. Along with the hands of a missing worshiper, the god Siva/Oesho is depicted. Four-armed and three-headed, with a prominent third eye, he wears an animal skin and a belted, diaphanous garment and holds a trident. Here, the rich intercultural style that developed in the Kushan realm is most clearly displayed: Indian divine iconography; the Iranian type of two-figured composition; and Greco-Roman naturalism in the drapery and pose, as well as in the use of light and shadow to suggest modeling. The panel has holes at the corners and was probably set up, together with three others acquired by the Museum (MMA 2000.42.1, .2, .3), on the interior walls of a sanctuary, perhaps a family shrine. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327832

Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: H. 57.2 cm, W. 41.6 cm, D. 5.7 cm Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Gift of Isao Kurita, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.4 This rare Central Asian votive panel depicts a deity (with nimbus) being approached by a worshiper, probably nonroyal but portrayed as of equal stature to the god. Compositionally, they follow scenes of homage and investiture from the post-Hellenistic West and from Iran in which a king and a god appear side by side. Along with the hands of a missing worshiper, the god Siva/Oesho is depicted. Four-armed and three-headed, with a prominent third eye, he wears an animal skin and a belted, diaphanous garment and holds a trident. Here, the rich intercultural style that developed in the Kushan realm is most clearly displayed: Indian divine iconography; the Iranian type of two-figured composition; and Greco-Roman naturalism in the drapery and pose, as well as in the use of light and shadow to suggest modeling. The panel has holes at the corners and was probably set up, together with three others acquired by the Museum (MMA 2000.42.1, .2, .3), on the interior walls of a sanctuary, perhaps a family shrine. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327832

Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: H. 57.2 cm, W. 41.6 cm, D. 5.7 cm Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Gift of Isao Kurita, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.4 This rare Central Asian votive panel depicts a deity (with nimbus) being approached by a worshiper, probably nonroyal but portrayed as of equal stature to the god. Compositionally, they follow scenes of homage and investiture from the post-Hellenistic West and from Iran in which a king and a god appear side by side. Along with the hands of a missing worshiper, the god Siva/Oesho is depicted. Four-armed and three-headed, with a prominent third eye, he wears an animal skin and a belted, diaphanous garment and holds a trident. Here, the rich intercultural style that developed in the Kushan realm is most clearly displayed: Indian divine iconography; the Iranian type of two-figured composition; and Greco-Roman naturalism in the drapery and pose, as well as in the use of light and shadow to suggest modeling. The panel has holes at the corners and was probably set up, together with three others acquired by the Museum (MMA 2000.42.1, .2, .3), on the interior walls of a sanctuary, perhaps a family shrine. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327832

Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho ca. 3rd century A.D. Object Details Title: Panel fragment with the god Shiva/Oesho Period: Kushan Date: ca. 3rd century A.D. Geography: Bactria Culture: Kushan Medium: Terracotta, gouache Dimensions: H. 57.2 cm, W. 41.6 cm, D. 5.7 cm Classification: Ceramics-Paintings Credit Line: Gift of Isao Kurita, 2000 Accession Number: 2000.42.4 This rare Central Asian votive panel depicts a deity (with nimbus) being approached by a worshiper, probably nonroyal but portrayed as of equal stature to the god. Compositionally, they follow scenes of homage and investiture from the post-Hellenistic West and from Iran in which a king and a god appear side by side. Along with the hands of a missing worshiper, the god Siva/Oesho is depicted. Four-armed and three-headed, with a prominent third eye, he wears an animal skin and a belted, diaphanous garment and holds a trident. Here, the rich intercultural style that developed in the Kushan realm is most clearly displayed: Indian divine iconography; the Iranian type of two-figured composition; and Greco-Roman naturalism in the drapery and pose, as well as in the use of light and shadow to suggest modeling. The panel has holes at the corners and was probably set up, together with three others acquired by the Museum (MMA 2000.42.1, .2, .3), on the interior walls of a sanctuary, perhaps a family shrine. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/327832

Enameled and Gilded Bottle late 13th century Object Details Title: Enameled and Gilded Bottle Date: late 13th century Geography: Attributed to Egypt, possibly Cairo Medium: Glass, greenish; blown, folded foot; enameled and gilded Dimensions: H. 17 1/8 in. (43.5 cm) Max. Diam. 11 in. (27.9 cm) Classification: Glass Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1941 Accession Number: 41.150 The size and delicate decoration of this bottle are remarkable; few such large or painterly examples of enameled glass are known. The polychrome phoenix on the neck soars above the central scene of mounted warriors wielding maces, swords, and bows. The warriors might well be participants in a horsemanship exercise, outfitted as combatants from the rival Ilkhanid and Mamluk states. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/450409

Enameled and Gilded Bottle late 13th century Object Details Title: Enameled and Gilded Bottle Date: late 13th century Geography: Attributed to Egypt, possibly Cairo Medium: Glass, greenish; blown, folded foot; enameled and gilded Dimensions: H. 17 1/8 in. (43.5 cm) Max. Diam. 11 in. (27.9 cm) Classification: Glass Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1941 Accession Number: 41.150 The size and delicate decoration of this bottle are remarkable; few such large or painterly examples of enameled glass are known. The polychrome phoenix on the neck soars above the central scene of mounted warriors wielding maces, swords, and bows. The warriors might well be participants in a horsemanship exercise, outfitted as combatants from the rival Ilkhanid and Mamluk states. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/450409

Damascus Room dated A.H. 1119/A.D. 1707 Object Details Title: Damascus Room Date: dated A.H. 1119/A.D. 1707 Geography: From Syria, Damascus Medium: Wood (poplar) with gesso relief, gold and tin leaf, glazes and paint; wood (cypress, poplar, and mulberry), mother-of-pearl, marble and other stones, stucco with glass, plaster ceramic tiles, iron, brass Dimensions: H. 22 ft. 1/2 in. x 16 ft. 8 1/2 in. (671.6 x 509.2 cm), D. from inside front entrance to back wall 26 ft. 4 3/4 in. (804.2 cm) Classification: Wood Credit Line: Gift of The Hagop Kevorkian Fund, 1970 Accession Number: 1970.170 The Damascus Room is a residential winter reception chamber (qa'a) typical of the late Ottoman period in Damascus, Syria. Among the earliest extant, nearly complete interiors of its kind, the room’s large scale and refined decoration suggest that it was part of the house of an important, affluent family. Poetry inscribed on its walls indicates that the patron was Muslim and possibly a member of the religious elite who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad. The Damascus Room, like most winter reception rooms (qa'as) of its time, is divided into two areas: a raised, square seating area (tazar) and a small antechamber ('ataba) entered through a doorway from a courtyard. The opening from which visitors view the room today would originally have been a wall with a cupboard. (The cupboard doors are now mounted in the passageway leading to the room.) Wealthy Damascene homeowners periodically refurbished reception rooms in accordance with shifting trends and tastes in interior decoration. Therefore, houses in the old city of Damascus as well as their interiors rarely date to a single building phase. Although the inscription dates most of the woodwork elements in the room to A.D. 1707, alterations were made to the room in the subsequent three centuries. The woodwork’s relief decoration is made of gesso covered with gold leaf, tin leaf with tinted glazes, and bright egg tempera paint. Known as 'ajami, this characteristic Ottoman-Syrian technique and style creates a rich texture with varied surfaces that are responsive to changes in light. The palette of the 'ajami decoration was originally much more colorful and more varied than it appears today. Periodically the surfaces were coated with a layer of varnish as a form of maintenance. Over time, subsequent coats of varnish have darkened, muting the colorful surfaces in the Damascus Room. The Damascus Room is decorated with forty stanzas of poetry. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/452102

Damascus Room dated A.H. 1119/A.D. 1707 Object Details Title: Damascus Room Date: dated A.H. 1119/A.D. 1707 Geography: From Syria, Damascus Medium: Wood (poplar) with gesso relief, gold and tin leaf, glazes and paint; wood (cypress, poplar, and mulberry), mother-of-pearl, marble and other stones, stucco with glass, plaster ceramic tiles, iron, brass Dimensions: H. 22 ft. 1/2 in. x 16 ft. 8 1/2 in. (671.6 x 509.2 cm), D. from inside front entrance to back wall 26 ft. 4 3/4 in. (804.2 cm) Classification: Wood Credit Line: Gift of The Hagop Kevorkian Fund, 1970 Accession Number: 1970.170 The Damascus Room is a residential winter reception chamber (qa'a) typical of the late Ottoman period in Damascus, Syria. Among the earliest extant, nearly complete interiors of its kind, the room’s large scale and refined decoration suggest that it was part of the house of an important, affluent family. Poetry inscribed on its walls indicates that the patron was Muslim and possibly a member of the religious elite who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad. The Damascus Room, like most winter reception rooms (qa'as) of its time, is divided into two areas: a raised, square seating area (tazar) and a small antechamber ('ataba) entered through a doorway from a courtyard. The opening from which visitors view the room today would originally have been a wall with a cupboard. (The cupboard doors are now mounted in the passageway leading to the room.) Wealthy Damascene homeowners periodically refurbished reception rooms in accordance with shifting trends and tastes in interior decoration. Therefore, houses in the old city of Damascus as well as their interiors rarely date to a single building phase. Although the inscription dates most of the woodwork elements in the room to A.D. 1707, alterations were made to the room in the subsequent three centuries. The woodwork’s relief decoration is made of gesso covered with gold leaf, tin leaf with tinted glazes, and bright egg tempera paint. Known as 'ajami, this characteristic Ottoman-Syrian technique and style creates a rich texture with varied surfaces that are responsive to changes in light. The palette of the 'ajami decoration was originally much more colorful and more varied than it appears today. Periodically the surfaces were coated with a layer of varnish as a form of maintenance. Over time, subsequent coats of varnish have darkened, muting the colorful surfaces in the Damascus Room. The Damascus Room is decorated with forty stanzas of poetry. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/452102

Damascus Room dated A.H. 1119/A.D. 1707 Object Details Title: Damascus Room Date: dated A.H. 1119/A.D. 1707 Geography: From Syria, Damascus Medium: Wood (poplar) with gesso relief, gold and tin leaf, glazes and paint; wood (cypress, poplar, and mulberry), mother-of-pearl, marble and other stones, stucco with glass, plaster ceramic tiles, iron, brass Dimensions: H. 22 ft. 1/2 in. x 16 ft. 8 1/2 in. (671.6 x 509.2 cm), D. from inside front entrance to back wall 26 ft. 4 3/4 in. (804.2 cm) Classification: Wood Credit Line: Gift of The Hagop Kevorkian Fund, 1970 Accession Number: 1970.170 The Damascus Room is a residential winter reception chamber (qa'a) typical of the late Ottoman period in Damascus, Syria. Among the earliest extant, nearly complete interiors of its kind, the room’s large scale and refined decoration suggest that it was part of the house of an important, affluent family. Poetry inscribed on its walls indicates that the patron was Muslim and possibly a member of the religious elite who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad. The Damascus Room, like most winter reception rooms (qa'as) of its time, is divided into two areas: a raised, square seating area (tazar) and a small antechamber ('ataba) entered through a doorway from a courtyard. The opening from which visitors view the room today would originally have been a wall with a cupboard. (The cupboard doors are now mounted in the passageway leading to the room.) Wealthy Damascene homeowners periodically refurbished reception rooms in accordance with shifting trends and tastes in interior decoration. Therefore, houses in the old city of Damascus as well as their interiors rarely date to a single building phase. Although the inscription dates most of the woodwork elements in the room to A.D. 1707, alterations were made to the room in the subsequent three centuries. The woodwork’s relief decoration is made of gesso covered with gold leaf, tin leaf with tinted glazes, and bright egg tempera paint. Known as 'ajami, this characteristic Ottoman-Syrian technique and style creates a rich texture with varied surfaces that are responsive to changes in light. The palette of the 'ajami decoration was originally much more colorful and more varied than it appears today. Periodically the surfaces were coated with a layer of varnish as a form of maintenance. Over time, subsequent coats of varnish have darkened, muting the colorful surfaces in the Damascus Room. The Damascus Room is decorated with forty stanzas of poetry. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/452102

Seascape with Three Boats 20th century Object Details Artist: Sadequain (Pakistani [born India], Amroha 1930–1987 Karachi) Title: Seascape with Three Boats Date: 20th century Geography: Made in Pakistan Medium: Oil on wood Dimensions: Painting: H. 22 1/2 in. (57.2 cm) W. 32 in. (81.3 cm) With Frame: H. 30 1/2 in. (77.5 cm) W. 39 3/4 in. (101 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Gift of the Government of Pakistan, 1980 Accession Number: 2016.12 This calligraphic painting represents just one aspect of the Pakistani artist Sadequain's oeuvre. He was from a family of scribes and had trained in calligraphy in his youth, but started his career with oil paintings and murals. His works depicting Cubist-like figures, seascapes, and landscapes, which often tackled moral and political issues, gained him local fame and state patronage in the 1950s. In 1961, he won recognition at the Paris Biennal and throughout the decade exhibited in the United States and Europe. But calligraphy remained an interest and he came to focus on this genre during the 1970s, when many modern artists of the Islamic world were returning to this traditional form of art. In this painting, Sadequain has arranged the inscription on a series of boats which, in the Qur'an, often symbolize safety and security. The inscription reads: "In the name of the memorable Qur'an. In the name of the glorious Qur'an. In the name of the pen [and anything it writes]." The letters in the front of each boat, sad, qaf, and nun, may refer to the appearance of individual letters at the beginning of some suras of the Qur'an, and playfully, perhaps, allude to the artist's own name. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/442986

Seascape with Three Boats 20th century Object Details Artist: Sadequain (Pakistani [born India], Amroha 1930–1987 Karachi) Title: Seascape with Three Boats Date: 20th century Geography: Made in Pakistan Medium: Oil on wood Dimensions: Painting: H. 22 1/2 in. (57.2 cm) W. 32 in. (81.3 cm) With Frame: H. 30 1/2 in. (77.5 cm) W. 39 3/4 in. (101 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Gift of the Government of Pakistan, 1980 Accession Number: 2016.12 This calligraphic painting represents just one aspect of the Pakistani artist Sadequain's oeuvre. He was from a family of scribes and had trained in calligraphy in his youth, but started his career with oil paintings and murals. His works depicting Cubist-like figures, seascapes, and landscapes, which often tackled moral and political issues, gained him local fame and state patronage in the 1950s. In 1961, he won recognition at the Paris Biennal and throughout the decade exhibited in the United States and Europe. But calligraphy remained an interest and he came to focus on this genre during the 1970s, when many modern artists of the Islamic world were returning to this traditional form of art. In this painting, Sadequain has arranged the inscription on a series of boats which, in the Qur'an, often symbolize safety and security. The inscription reads: "In the name of the memorable Qur'an. In the name of the glorious Qur'an. In the name of the pen [and anything it writes]." The letters in the front of each boat, sad, qaf, and nun, may refer to the appearance of individual letters at the beginning of some suras of the Qur'an, and playfully, perhaps, allude to the artist's own name. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/442986

Seascape with Three Boats 20th century Object Details Artist: Sadequain (Pakistani [born India], Amroha 1930–1987 Karachi) Title: Seascape with Three Boats Date: 20th century Geography: Made in Pakistan Medium: Oil on wood Dimensions: Painting: H. 22 1/2 in. (57.2 cm) W. 32 in. (81.3 cm) With Frame: H. 30 1/2 in. (77.5 cm) W. 39 3/4 in. (101 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Gift of the Government of Pakistan, 1980 Accession Number: 2016.12 This calligraphic painting represents just one aspect of the Pakistani artist Sadequain's oeuvre. He was from a family of scribes and had trained in calligraphy in his youth, but started his career with oil paintings and murals. His works depicting Cubist-like figures, seascapes, and landscapes, which often tackled moral and political issues, gained him local fame and state patronage in the 1950s. In 1961, he won recognition at the Paris Biennal and throughout the decade exhibited in the United States and Europe. But calligraphy remained an interest and he came to focus on this genre during the 1970s, when many modern artists of the Islamic world were returning to this traditional form of art. In this painting, Sadequain has arranged the inscription on a series of boats which, in the Qur'an, often symbolize safety and security. The inscription reads: "In the name of the memorable Qur'an. In the name of the glorious Qur'an. In the name of the pen [and anything it writes]." The letters in the front of each boat, sad, qaf, and nun, may refer to the appearance of individual letters at the beginning of some suras of the Qur'an, and playfully, perhaps, allude to the artist's own name. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/442986

Calligraphic Galleon dated A.H. 1180/ A.D. 1766–67 Object Details Title: Calligraphic Galleon Calligrapher: 'Abd al-Qadir Hisari Date: dated A.H. 1180/ A.D. 1766–67 Geography: Made in Turkey Medium: Ink and gold on paper Dimensions: H. 19 in. (48.3 cm) W. 17 in. (43.2 cm) Classification: Codices Credit Line: Louis E. and Theresa S. Seley Purchase Fund for Islamic Art and Rogers Fund, 2003 Accession Number: 2003.241 The hull of this sailing ship comprises the names of the Seven Sleepers and their dog. The tale of the Seven Sleepers, found in pre-Islamic Christian sources, concerns a group of men who sleep for centuries within a cave, protected by God from religious persecution. Both hadith (sayings of the Prophet), and tafsir (commentaries on the Qur'an) suggest that these verses from the Qur'an have protective qualities. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454611

Calligraphic Galleon dated A.H. 1180/ A.D. 1766–67 Object Details Title: Calligraphic Galleon Calligrapher: 'Abd al-Qadir Hisari Date: dated A.H. 1180/ A.D. 1766–67 Geography: Made in Turkey Medium: Ink and gold on paper Dimensions: H. 19 in. (48.3 cm) W. 17 in. (43.2 cm) Classification: Codices Credit Line: Louis E. and Theresa S. Seley Purchase Fund for Islamic Art and Rogers Fund, 2003 Accession Number: 2003.241 The hull of this sailing ship comprises the names of the Seven Sleepers and their dog. The tale of the Seven Sleepers, found in pre-Islamic Christian sources, concerns a group of men who sleep for centuries within a cave, protected by God from religious persecution. Both hadith (sayings of the Prophet), and tafsir (commentaries on the Qur'an) suggest that these verses from the Qur'an have protective qualities. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454611