Unknown Maker, Persian

Textile fragment

Maker

Unknown Maker, Persian

Culture

Persian

Title

Textile fragment

Year

1600s-1700s

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

silk

Geography

Place Made: Persia

Dimensions

Length: 55.9 cm (22 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

13.1516

Type

Exhibition History

A Thousand Words
Narrative Traditions in Asian Textiles
Jun 27, 2003 – Oct 12, 2003

Label copy

Persian poetry and literature abounds with references to the nightingale and the rose. In love poetry it is often used as a metaphor for unrequited love. However, the poet Farid ud-Din Attar (c. 1120-c.1220) wrote an allegorical poem in which a convention of birds gather together to begin a quest for the mystical being the Simurgh-representing the soul’s desire for unity with God. Many of the birds try to excuse themselves from the journey. Among the latter are the nightingale, which pleads its love for the rose above all else, and the parrot, whose excuse is that it is imprisoned in a cage because of it’s beauty, and seeks only liberty.

Excerpt from The Nightingale’s Excuse ( The Conference of the Birds)

My love is here; the journey you propose

Cannot beguile me from my life - the rose.

It is for me she flowers; what greater bliss

Could life provide for me - anywhere - than this?

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Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Persian
Textile fragment, 1600s-1700s
Silk; compound weave, embossed
Length: 55.9 cm (22 inches)
Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 13.1516

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