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Lot Essay
Muhi al-Haravi was a pupil of Muhammad Qasim Shadishah. Mustafa 'Ali in the Menakib-i Hünerveran wrote that no finer calligrapher was to be found in Khurasan at that time (AH 995/1586-87). His dated work ranges between AH 971 and AH 986 (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khoshnevisan, Tehran, no.1330, pp.895-897).
The long slender figure of this youth with striking large bold blocks of colour contrasting with the highly detailed contours and texture of the turban and belt are typical features of the restrained elegance of the Khorassan school of the late 16th century. A similar portrait of a youth attributed by B.W. Robinson to the artist Mahdi and dated to circa 1580-90 is in the Topkapi Museum Library (B.W. Robinson, 'Muhammadi and the Khurasan Style', Iran XXX, 1992, Pl. VIIa).
The long slender figure of this youth with striking large bold blocks of colour contrasting with the highly detailed contours and texture of the turban and belt are typical features of the restrained elegance of the Khorassan school of the late 16th century. A similar portrait of a youth attributed by B.W. Robinson to the artist Mahdi and dated to circa 1580-90 is in the Topkapi Museum Library (B.W. Robinson, 'Muhammadi and the Khurasan Style', Iran XXX, 1992, Pl. VIIa).