SAFAVID, CIRCA 1620

Details

A DRAGON HUNT
SAFAVID, CIRCA 1620
Tinted drawing on buff paper, a dragon climbs across a rocky landscape surrounded above and below by huntsmen, two mounted and all bearing weapons, within a border of blue reciprocal palmettes and laid down between gold margins with blue rule on a ground of irregular gold outlined panels, some filled with gold wash, the others with delicate floral illumination, miniature with slight staining, outer border with area of restoration not affecting the miniature
Miniature 8½ x 5in. (21.6 x 12.7cm.); folio 12¼ x 8¼in. (31.1 x 21cm.)

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Lot Essay

Although dragons are a frequent theme in miniatures, it is rarer to find them depicted in a landscape along with other figures. The vigorous theme of the dragon hunt as well as the animation and dynamic lines of the present piece are found in a similar drawing exhibited in the Louvre (L'Etrange et le Merveilleux en terres d'Islam, exhibition catalogue, Paris 2001, no.136, pp.196-99). The central character may depict a hero from the Shahnama such as Sam, Gushtasp, Isfandyar or Bahram Gur.

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