San Diego Museum of Art - Majnun in the wilderness

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Majnun in the wilderness

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Majnun in the wilderness

Creation date: ca. 1595

Creation place: India

Other Information

Type: Watercolor Painting

Medium and Support: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Accession Number: 1990.304

State/Province: Uttar Pradesh

Dimensions: 9 1/8 in. x 5 29/32 in. (23.2 cm x 15 cm)

Provenance

Sevadjian, Paris, France ( - March 20, 1961)

Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France (March 20, 1961 - March 20, 1961)

Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California (March 20, 1961 - August 27, 1990)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (August 27, 1990 - )

Label Copy

April 2000
Power & Desire
This delicate drawing shows the ravages of love denied. The Persian equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, Majnun and Laila were unable to unite. Love which should delight the body now turns into a disease that consumes Majnun till he is skin and bones. He wanders in the desert. Recognizing his harmlessness and his deep grief, animals cluster around him. But most of them are happily paired, while he remains alone and withdrawn.
Derived from Persian traditions, such drawings are called nim qalam or ‘half-pen’ as the coloring is so light. Their delicacy gives credence to the accounts of the finest brushes in the mughal atelier, the yak-bal qalam, or brush with a single hair.

June 2007
Lyric Visions
Majnun, tormented by his unconsummated love for Leyli, lives in the wilderness as an ascetic, emaciated and intent only on composing lyric poems about his beloved. Throughout his time spent in the wilderness, he wins the trust of animals in the wild, who recognize his gentle nature consumed by pure love. This scene of Majnun in the wilderness became a favorite composition of Indian artists, both at the imperial Mughal court of the 16th and 17th centuries and also in the courts of principalities in Rajasthan. It allowed the artists to showcase their virtuosity in depicting a wild menagerie. Furthermore, the ideal of the devoted ascetic who has renounced society particularly resonated with the Indian imagination, for holy men in India are revered for their renunciations and asceticism.
Last Updated: 8/30/2018

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Persian and Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd The Portland Art Association , 9/28/1962 - 11/29/1962

Islamic Art from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibitions Service , 10/1/1966 - 10/19/1969

Islamic Art Across the World Indiana University Art Museum , 6/18/1970 - 10/1/1970

The Mughal and Deccani Schools: Indian Miniature Painting from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd The Portland Art Association , 12/2/1973 - 3/7/1976

Power & Desire: South Asian Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art , 4/29/2000 - 10/5/2003

Lyric Visions from Nizami's "Quintet" , 6/14/2007 - 11/4/2007

Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture Brigham Young University Museum of Art , 2/24/2012 - 1/13/2013

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Dr. Edwin Binney, 3rd. The Mughal and Deccani Schools Portland Art Museum. Portland, Oregon, 1973
Page Number: 74, Figure Number: 48

Richard Ettinghausen. Islamic Art from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd Smithsonian Institution. Washington, District of Columbia, 1966
Page Number: no. 73, Figure Number: 73

Theodore Robert Bowie. Islamic Art from Across the World Indiana University Art Museum. Bloomington, Indiana, 1970
Page Number: 38, no. 134

Power and Desire: Hong Kong Museum of Art. 2001
Page Number: cat. no. 38, Figure Number: 38

Art Persan: Hôtel Drouot. Paris, France, March 20, 1961
Page Number: Lot no. 80

Dr. Edwin Binney, 3rd. Persian and Indian Miniatures, Portland Art Museum. Portland, Oregon, 1962
Page Number: 34 no. 60

Amina Okada. Pouvoir et Désir: Miniatures Indiennes, Collection Edwin Binney 3rd du San Diego Museum of Art Paris musées/Éditions Findakly. Paris/Suilly-la-Tour, France, 2002
Page Number: 104, 105, 107, Figure Number: 37

Molly Emma Aitken. The Intelligence of Tradition in Rajput Court Painting Yale University Press. New Haven and London, 2010
Page Number: 168, Figure Number: 4.14

Sabiha Al Khemir. Beauty and Belief Brigham Young University Museum of Art. Provo, Utah, 2012
Page Number: 218

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