Horse and Groom bears an ascription to Haydar Ali, Bihzad’s nephew and one of the leading painters of the early sixteenth century. The composition’s vibrant palette, fine draftsmanship, and intricate details are characteristic of the finest paintings of the period. Recent scholarship has determined that the two works once appeared on the same page of an early sixteenth-century royal album, which comprised individual drawings, paintings, and calligraphies.

Date: early 16th century Period One: Safavid period Historical Region: Tabriz, Iran Origin: Tabriz, Iran Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper Description: Detached album folio; Horse and groom; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; attributed to Haydar Ali; reverse: illuminated panel of calligraphy.

                                  The painting is set in gold and black rulings mounted on a tan-colored paper. The text is mounted on a cream-colored paper.

Dimensions: H x W: 11.3 x 11 cm (4 7/16 x 4 5/16 in) Inscription(s): The work of Ustad _(Master) Haydar Ali Archived Curatorial Remarks (see Text Entries): 1. Purchased from H. Kevorkian, New York. For price, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920.

                                  2. Edged for mounting by Y. Kinoshita, May 1937.
                                  3. (G.D.G., 1937)  The attribution is written [Arbc] Work of Master Haydar 'Ali
                                  4. (R.E., 1946). A close parallel to this miniature is illustrated in the Illustrated London News<e>, January 3rd, 1931; it comes from the collections of the Turkish Government and was on loan at the London Exhibition of 1931.
                                  5. (E. Atil, 1980) "Qazvin school" is added to the attribution.
                                  6. (Exhibition label - Art of the Court of Shah Tahmasp).  The attribution of this painting to Haydar 'Ali is based on the inscription at the upper edge: "[Arbc]"  "work of master Haydar 'Ali."  Similar rectangular frames containing artists' names, set in contour panels and flanked by two arabesque panels, are found on various paintings known to have come from the Imperial Safavid albums now in Istanbul.  Judging from the groom's stance and his horse's cropped tail, it is likely that this work was cut from a larger composition and then mounted into an album, along with the illuminated "caption."
                                  According to a note in a khamsa<e> manuscript [Arbc] (quintet) dated 1522 (Tehran, Gulistan Library), Haydar 'Ali was the nephew of the great Timurid master Bihzad.  Haydar "Ali may have begun his career in Herat, perhaps under his famous uncle's tutelage, and then moved on to Tabriz or Bukhara.  In any case, his work reflects the prevailing idiom of the early Safavid period, especially in the bold palette, minute textile designs (in particular the gold ducks on the saddle and the phoenix-like simurgh<e> [Arbc] on the saddle cloth), and the representation of the Safavid baton turban.  Changed from Qazvin school to Tabriz school.
                                  7. (Dr. Wheeler Thackston, Harvard University, Summer 1990)
                                  Inscript:  [Arbc]
                                  'amal-i Ustad Haydar 'Ali
                                  "done by master Haydar-Ali"
                                  Verso, calligraphy in white ink, fragment ending in: [Arbc]
                                  Dahanat ghuncha, 'ariz gul, barat nasrin, khatat 'sabza / mabada kin bahar-i husnra hargiz khazan ayad
                                  "Your mouth is a bud, your cheek a rose, your breast a lily, your down verdure: may the autumn of this springtime of beauty never come."
                                  8. Folder sheet file contains a letter from Dr. J.E. Lodge, Curator, to Mr. Kevorkian, dated July 18, 1939.
                                 
                                  9. (Homira Pashai per J. Smith, 22 May, 2012) Title changed from "A horse, saddled and bridled, attendant by a groom" to "Horse and groom." The reverse title added "text, illuminated panel of calligraphy with verses of poem."

                                  "Arts of the Islamic World", Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gallery 3,
                                  6 April 2007 - 9 September 2007.
                                 
                                  "Arts of the Islamic World", Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gallery 4,
                                  17 November 2012 - 19 May 2013.  Recto exhibited.

                                  ^^Sakisian, A.: La miniature persane<e>, Fig. 156 and p. 117.
                                 
                                  ^^Diem, Carl  Asiatische Reiterspiele<e>...Berlin, 1940, p. 84.
                                 
                                  ^^Cammann, Schuyler.  "Ancient symbols in modern Afghanistan."  In Ars orientalis<e>. v. 2, 1957. pp. 5-34. pl. 4, fig. 11.
                                 
                                  ^^"Persia's marvelous miniatures."  In Iran Review<e>, Washington, D.C., Nov.-Dec. 1960. v. 5, no. 4, p. 17.
                                 
                                  ~~Guest, Grace D.  "The iconography of a Kashan luster plate", by Grace D. Guest and Richard Ettinghausen.  In Ars Orientalis<e>, v. 4, 1961. pl. 9, fig. 34.
                                 
                                  ^^Ettinghausen, Richard.  Islamic art and archaeology:  collected papers.<e> - Berlin: G. Mann Verlag, c1984.  p. 619.