A woman mistakes a cow for the Angel of Death, from a Lights of Canopus (Anwar-i Suhaili) of Kashifi (Iranian, d. 1504)
Unknown Artist
c. 1610
Medium
Gum tempera on paper
Dimensions
painting: 19.7 × 10.2 cm · framed: 38.1 × 26.7 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Michael Silver and Deborah Lader in memory of Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver
Accession Number
2019.81
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this gently colored, amply shaded painting, an ailing girl lies listless, eyes barely open, as an attendant fans her. A cow who got her head stuck in a pot has entered the yard in confusion. The girl’s mother, who had been weeping and praying to exchange her own life for the health of her daughter, thought the Angel of Death had come to take her. Pointing to heaven, the woman begs that her daughter be taken instead. Outside the gate, a wandering holy man dozes, indicating this scene takes pla...