- Title
- Female Sufi Dancer
- Date Made
- circa 1650
- Medium
- Ink with opaque watercolor and gold on paper; Inner margin: marbled paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 5 1/4 x 2 5/8 in. (13.34 x 6.67 cm); Sheet: 9 3/4 x 5 9/16 in. (24.77 x 14.13 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.73.5.466
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This nim qalam (half-pen) lightly tinted drawing depicts a long-haired female dancer rendered in a Persianate figural and clothing style. She has a white conical cap with a bejeweled golden circlet and a feather plume. She wears dangling earrings and several necklace strands. Her waist-length green coat is open with long sleeves dangling from her hidden hands, which suggests she is a Sufi as this is a characteristic mode of dress for Sufi dancers. Her V-necked long frock is bound at the waist by a bejeweled golden belt and a loosely knotted white waist sash. She stands against a plain background beside lyrical flowering plants and Chinese-style clouds in gold. Two illegible seal stamps are above her.
The central panel is set within several diverse margins, including one made of marbled paper. There are calligraphic headers and footers bordered with scenes of animal combat in the corners. In the top left is a makara (mythical aquatic creature) and lion; the top right has a simurgh (mythical avian creature) and makara; the bottom left has a simurgh and serpent; the bottom right has a lion and deer.
The poetic verses read as follows:
{0 Lord, whoever} found {Thee} knows thee,
{0 Lord,} finding Thee is our wish but comprehending Thee . . .
(Translation by Z. Faridany-Akhavan.)
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Painting, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
