‘A Seated Holy Man’. Drawing mounted on an album leaf
Iran; c. 1560
H: 20.5; W: 13.4 cm (Drawing: H: 822; W: 5.8 cm)
Inventory number 2/1974
Painted with a thin line, the holy man is depicted in a typical meditation position. Meditation has been very widely used by Sufis to sever the ties between the soul and the material world. A Sufi’s goal is to prepare the soul for the mystical experience of absolute union with the divine.
Around the drawing are a number of panels with calligraphy in Nastaliq script. At the top and bottom is a verse by the poet Hafiz, and along the sides is one by Nizami. The drawing is signed “Shaykh Muhammad.”
Around the drawing are a number of panels with calligraphy in Nastaliq script. At the top and bottom is a verse by the poet Hafiz, and along the sides is one by Nizami. The drawing is signed “Shaykh Muhammad.”
Published in
Published in
Orientalisches Kunsthandwerk aus vier Jahrhunderten, Karl-Ernst-Osthaus-Museum, Hagen 1966, cat.no. 8, p. 5;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 280;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 280;
Sufis, Dervishes, and Holy Men and Women
