A PRINCE ENTHRONED IN A LANDSCAPE

OTTOMAN TURKEY, MID 16TH CENTURY

Details

A PRINCE ENTHRONED IN A LANDSCAPE
OTTOMAN TURKEY, MID 16TH CENTURY
Gouache heightened with gold on paper, a young prince sits crossed-legged on a carpet in a landscape holding a small fruit in one hand and a handkerchief in the other, around him attendants and courtiers look on, many eating fruits from platters around them, a small silver stream in the foreground, and a gold sky above, laid down between gold and polychrome rules on buff card, the reverse with three nasta'liq couplets from a poem by Khaqani written on the diagonal, the bottom signed mashq Bidayat'ullah in smaller nasta'liq, the calligraphy laid down between minor gold and polychrome rules and wider dark blue border
Painting 7 5/8 x 4¼in. (19.2 x 10.6cm.); folio 11½ x 7¼in. (29.2 x 18.9cm.)

Provenance

Anon sale, Sotheby's, 22nd October 1993, lot 222

Brought to you by

Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse

abutler-wheelhouse@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2372

Lot Essay

Whilst the rendering of the faces in this painting, with their soft eyebrows and delicate features are clearly Ottoman in inspiration, the turbans display the influence of Tabrizi portraiture. A comparable Ottoman illustration dated slightly earlier to 1520-30 is in the British Library (inv. OR.13061, Norah M. Titley, Miniatures from Turkish Manuscripts, London, 1981, Cat. 55(8), p.62).

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