Tethered Camel and Rider (drawing, recto; calligraphy, verso), folio from an album

Artists

Description

The drawing on the recto of this folio depicts a man wearing a Safavid turban who faces a camel. The man holds the camel by a ring on its bridle. Both man and beast are portrayed in profile with open mouths. The man holds his left hand proper at head level, balled into a fist. The camel sports small bells around the forelegs and a red-tinted cloth on the back. The verso of the folio bears a fragment of Persian poetry written in nasta’liq script, surrounded by illumination.

Dimensions

17.5 x 23 cm (6 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)

Provenance

[A. Sakisian], by 1929. Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., Warner, New Hampshire (by 1979-2008), by inheritance; to Edith I. Welch, Warner, New Hampshire (2008-2011), gift; to Harvard Art Museums 2011.