Folio (text, recto and verso) preceding the illustrated folio depicting "Lovers' Picnic", from a manuscript of the Divan (Collected Works) of Hafiz

Artists

Description

This folio precedes the folio illustrating the well-known painting (see 2007.183.2) which features a pair of courtly lovers in a spring garden. The painting appears on what was once folio 66 recto of a famous manuscript of the Divan of Hafiz. Because the name of Sam Mirza (b. 1517), brother to the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp, appears on one of the now dispersed paintings, it is posited that the prince was the patron of the manuscript.

Dimensions

19 x 12.4 cm (7 1/2 x 4 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Arthur Sambon, Paris (by 1912). Louis Cartier Collection, Paris, (by 1931-1958), sold; to Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Cary Welch, Jr., Warner, NH, (1958-2007), gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums.