Worlds within Worlds: Imperial Paintings from India and Iran will display 50 folios and paintings from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery collections.
Held as part of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery’s 25th anniversary celebration, the exhibition will open with a selection of Persian book arts that Mogul emperors collected and encouraged their artists to rival and surpass.
An exquisite 1486 work by Persian painter Kamaleddin Behzad will be one of the highlioghts of this section. Known as a royal atelier for Timurid and Safavid rulers, Behzad was a master artist against whom all other Persian and Mogul artists were measured.
The second section will illustrate the combination of styles used by Persian émigrés and local Indian artists under the emperor Akbar (1556-1605).
Highlights of this part will include three works by renowned Mogul artist Farrukh Beg and two groups of works created under Akbar’s son and grandson, Jahangir (Seizer of the World) and Shah Jahan (King of the World).
Worlds within Worlds: Imperial Paintings from India and Iran will conclude with a selection of folios produced for an album for Jahangir’s son, emperor Shah Jahan (1627-57).
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is one of the two Asian art museums at the Smithsonian Institution and showcases ancient and contemporary art from Iran, India, China, Japan, and other Asian countries.
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Publish Date: 2 July 2012 - 23:31
The Smithsonian Institution is set to mount an exhibition of Persian and Mogul art at the Sackler Gallery Asian art museum in Washington, DC.