Article ID: CBB992961978

On two seventeenth century Persian paintings depicting comets or fireballs (2019)

unapi

In the Theodore M. Davis Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York there are two seventeenth century Persian paintings by Muhammad Zaman and Ali Quli Jubbahdar that depict comets or fireballs. From the inscriptions on them, the paintings were dated and on that basis the comets identified as those seen in the years CE 1664/1665 and CE 1674/1675 respectively. I find these identifications in error and suggest instead the bright comet of CE 1652 and the Great Comet of CE 1668 as the probable ones or that both paintings actually depict fireballs rather than comets. Both the paintings depict celestial objects with tails, and are most likely based on astronomical observations. Such a connection between astronomical knowledge and art was not common in the Middle East and India during the Medieval and Early Modern Periods.

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Article R. C. Kapoor (2020) On two Seventeenth century Persian paintings depicting comets or fireballs: a correction. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (p. 675). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB992961978/

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Authors & Contributors
Drago, Elisabeth Berry
Michela di Macco
Sapir, Itay
Giulia Daniele
Elisa Spataro
Chapman, Perry
Concepts
Painters and painting
Science and art
Nature
Natural philosophy
Visual representation; visual communication
Landscape; landscapes
Time Periods
17th century
18th century
19th century
16th century
Renaissance
Enlightenment
Places
Netherlands
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Naples (Italy)
Spain
Germany
Persia (Iran)
Institutions
Museo del Prado
Arcadia
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