.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Perhaps the most technically impressive feature of this painting is the manner in which the figure's hair has been realised. The fuzzy texture is achieved by the accumulation of small strokes done with a reed pen. A similar execution can be seen on two pen and ink drawings attributed by Sheila Canby to Reza Abbasi. One is in the Keir collection (Canby 1996, cat.23), and another in the Art and History Trust (cat.30). A similar technique is also used to draw Majnun's hair in an anonymous drawing in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (acc.no.VP-704).
Though the technical mastery of this drawing suggests that it was executed by a skilled artist, the identity of that artist has been debated. In 1978, Anthony Welch suggested an attribution to Muhammad Yusuf al-Husayni. The overall composition of our drawing closely resembles that of a signed painting in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (acc.no.VP-739). In that painting, a turbaned youth sits in a landscape with a dramatic rocky outcrop behind him. The rendering of textiles, particularly the creases to the figure’s sleeves and cuffs and the manner in which he has fastened his belt, does bear a close resemblance to our figure, and may indicate the same artist.
Sheila Canby, however, suggests that this painting should instead be associated with Muhammad Ali Musavvir, an artist whose style had much in common with Muhammad Yusuf al-Husayni. In particular, she suggests that the rich vegetation in our painting is more suggestive of Muhammad Ali’s style, as demonstrated by a signed painting of his in the British Museum London (acc.no.1948,1009,0.63), which also features whirling Chinese-style clouds. Still more similar to ours is a fragmentary drawing in the Brooklyn Museum (acc.no.86.227.168). The folds on the crinkled turban of that figure closely resemble those on the shawl draped around our figure’s shoulders. Moreover, the dessicated trees which appear in the background of our drawing resemble one which appears in the foreground of the Brooklyn Museum’s drawing.
Though the technical mastery of this drawing suggests that it was executed by a skilled artist, the identity of that artist has been debated. In 1978, Anthony Welch suggested an attribution to Muhammad Yusuf al-Husayni. The overall composition of our drawing closely resembles that of a signed painting in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (acc.no.VP-739). In that painting, a turbaned youth sits in a landscape with a dramatic rocky outcrop behind him. The rendering of textiles, particularly the creases to the figure’s sleeves and cuffs and the manner in which he has fastened his belt, does bear a close resemblance to our figure, and may indicate the same artist.
Sheila Canby, however, suggests that this painting should instead be associated with Muhammad Ali Musavvir, an artist whose style had much in common with Muhammad Yusuf al-Husayni. In particular, she suggests that the rich vegetation in our painting is more suggestive of Muhammad Ali’s style, as demonstrated by a signed painting of his in the British Museum London (acc.no.1948,1009,0.63), which also features whirling Chinese-style clouds. Still more similar to ours is a fragmentary drawing in the Brooklyn Museum (acc.no.86.227.168). The folds on the crinkled turban of that figure closely resemble those on the shawl draped around our figure’s shoulders. Moreover, the dessicated trees which appear in the background of our drawing resemble one which appears in the foreground of the Brooklyn Museum’s drawing.