DOI issue:
No. 207 (May, 1914)
DOI article:N., W. H.: Persian art in a New York gallery
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43455#0454
Persian Art in a New York Gallery
FIG. I—A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PERSIAN MINIATURE
For some weeks past an unique exhi-
bition of Mohammedan art has been
held by Mr. Kevorkian in the galleries of Charles
of London at 718 Fifth Avenue, New York.
European art has been immensely benefited by
such glimpses of Persian art as are occasionally
vouchsafed to the public through the enterprise of
some museum or collector, but it has remained for
Mr. Kevorkian to give a comprehensive display,
covering centuries of artistic development, from
the time of the Sassanians to the Safavid period,
PERSIAN ART IN A NEW YORK
GALLERY
including over 250 miniature paint-
ings and a wondrous assortment of
ceramics, bronzes, mosque decora-
tions, hangings, carpets, metal work,
writings, book ornamentations, etc.
Rhajes (Rei), near Teheran, was a
flourishing city in the ninth century,
ruled by a dynasty of immense wealth
and culture, and it is due to excava-
tions on this site that so many beau-
tiful ob jects have rewarded the labour
of the spade. Yakoud, the geo-
grapher, mentions this city as hav-
ing been of vast importance before
its destruction by Mongolian invad-
ers, putting its population then at
close upon a million and mentioning,
probably with Oriental exaggeration,
“several thousand palaces and eight
thousand luxurious baths. ’ ’ His state-
ment that treasures were hidden in
the wells has been justified by fact.
It is interesting to note that, unlike
the Chinese, Egyptian or Phoenician
races, the Persians did not bury house-
hold goods with their dead, conse-
quently none of the objects discov-
ered has mortuary interest.
The Mihrab or sanctum sanctorum
FIG. 2—A TWELFTH-CENTURY’ FLOWER VASE
XCVII
FIG. I—A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PERSIAN MINIATURE
For some weeks past an unique exhi-
bition of Mohammedan art has been
held by Mr. Kevorkian in the galleries of Charles
of London at 718 Fifth Avenue, New York.
European art has been immensely benefited by
such glimpses of Persian art as are occasionally
vouchsafed to the public through the enterprise of
some museum or collector, but it has remained for
Mr. Kevorkian to give a comprehensive display,
covering centuries of artistic development, from
the time of the Sassanians to the Safavid period,
PERSIAN ART IN A NEW YORK
GALLERY
including over 250 miniature paint-
ings and a wondrous assortment of
ceramics, bronzes, mosque decora-
tions, hangings, carpets, metal work,
writings, book ornamentations, etc.
Rhajes (Rei), near Teheran, was a
flourishing city in the ninth century,
ruled by a dynasty of immense wealth
and culture, and it is due to excava-
tions on this site that so many beau-
tiful ob jects have rewarded the labour
of the spade. Yakoud, the geo-
grapher, mentions this city as hav-
ing been of vast importance before
its destruction by Mongolian invad-
ers, putting its population then at
close upon a million and mentioning,
probably with Oriental exaggeration,
“several thousand palaces and eight
thousand luxurious baths. ’ ’ His state-
ment that treasures were hidden in
the wells has been justified by fact.
It is interesting to note that, unlike
the Chinese, Egyptian or Phoenician
races, the Persians did not bury house-
hold goods with their dead, conse-
quently none of the objects discov-
ered has mortuary interest.
The Mihrab or sanctum sanctorum
FIG. 2—A TWELFTH-CENTURY’ FLOWER VASE
XCVII