In the pre-modern Islamic world, the planet Venus is often depicted as a woman playing the lute (‘ud), considered as the queen of instruments in medieval Arabic treatises on music. Its pear-shape body, wooden soundboard, and bent neck have been documented in middle-eastern cultures for more than a thousand years. This illustration appears in an Arabiccopy of a popular work on cosmology and geography originally written in Persian in the thirteenth century. Today, musicians play the ‘ud in styles ranging from traditional and Arab classical music to jazz and fusion.
Hear a modern composition titled “Venus” by ‘ud virtuoso Naseer Shamma on the opening cut on this concert podcast with his Cairo-based ensemble recorded at the Freer Gallery.
Folio from a Aja'ib al-Makhluqat (Wonders of Creation) by al-Qazvini
- Provenance
- To 1945
- Friedrich Paul Theodor Sarre (1865-1945). [1]
- To 1954
- Mme. Maria Sarre, Ascona, Switzerland. [2]
- From 1954
- Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Dr. Paul Kempner, New York on behalf of Mme. Maria Sarre, Ascona, Switzerland. [3]
- Notes:
- [1] Object file F1954.33-114, undated folder sheet note 2. “The manuscript was originally acquired by Prof. Friedrich Sarre in Algiers”.
- [2] Object file F1954.33-114, undated folder sheet note 1. See also Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920 file, Collections Management Office.
- [3] See note 2. See also invoice dated July 22, 1954 and correspondences between Dr. Paul Kempner and the Freer Gallery, dated July 21, 1954; copies in object file.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
- Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)
- Wonders of Creation, Oddities of Existence: An Exhibition in Celebration of Halley's Comet (February 28, 1986 to October 27, 1986)
- Near Eastern Ceramics (May 10, 1985 to September 3, 1985)
- Near Eastern Ceramics (May 14, 1981 to May 10, 1985)
- Art of the Arab World (May 8, 1975 to August 20, 1977)
- Near Eastern Art (January 1, 1963 to August 18, 1967)
- Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 6 and 7 (February 25, 1956 to April 10, 1962)
- Collection of Friedrich and Maria Sarre (1932)
- Ausstellung von Meisterwerken Mohammedanischer Kunst in München (May to October 1910)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Friedrich Paul Theodor Sarre (1865-1945)
- Mme. Maria Sarre (1875-1971)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Author
- Zakariyya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (1203-1283)
- Date
- early 15th century
- Credit Line
- Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W (recto angel): 20.5 × 16.8 cm (8 1/16 × 6 5/8 in)
- Type
- Manuscript
