"Fireworks on the Night of Shab-i Barat Feast", Folio from the Davis Album

Unknown

mid-18th century · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art

This festival of Shab-i Barat is celebrated as a night of ‘fortune and forgiveness’ to mark the Prophet Muhammad’s entry to Mecca. Here we see women playing with sparklers as fireworks go off in the distant background and plumes of smoke rise into the night sky.

Artist

Unknown

Date

mid-18th century

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915