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Portrait of a Portuguese Gentleman
Portrait of a Portuguese Gentleman

Portrait of a Portuguese Gentleman

about 1600
Object PlaceNorthern India
Medium/TechniqueInk, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
DimensionsHeight x width: 14 × 11.5 cm (5 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912 and by contribution
Accession number14.661
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPaintings
Collections
InscriptionsInscription on front: Two Persian inscriptions, one consisting of a quartrain relating to wine (and hence to the image of the Portuguese man drinking): Ankas ki ba-dast jam darad / Sultani jam mudam darad / Abi ki khiizr hayat az mi yaft / Dar maikada ju ki jam darad. "He who has in his hand a cup / Has eternal power over Jamshid: / The water, from which Khizr found life, / Seek it in the tavern, where the cup is."ProvenanceBy 1912, Victor Goloubew (b. 1879 - d. 1945), Paris [see note 1]; 1914, sold by Goloubew through M. Meyer-Riefstahl to the MFA for $76,999.81 (total price for 14.532-700). (Accession Date: June 4, 1914)

NOTES:
[1] Victor Goloubew was born in Russia but lived in Paris by the time of this acquisition. He formed this collection of Persian and Indian miniature paintings and exhibited it at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris from 1912 to 1914 (Paull, Florence Virginia. "The Goloubew Collection of Persian and Indian Paintings." Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin. Vol. XIII. No. 74. (February 1915) 1-16).