SAFAVID SHIRAZ, IRAN, MID-16TH CENTURY

The Haft Paykar (Seven beauties) of Nizami tells the story of the Sasanian King Bahram Gur and his quest to find a wife, visiting seven princesses over seven days and listening to a story told by each. On Monday, Bahram Gur visits the Moorish Princess, the daughter of the King of the Third Clime, in the Green pavilion.
This painting is a real feast of colour. Bahram and the princess are dressed head to toe in green, matching their surroundings, the only colour that is different being gold. The King appears fully at leisure, reclining against a pillow fully engaged in the words of his companion. We find all the expected auxiliary characters of servants, musicians and the chamberlain, hajib, standing guard at the door. Yet, more so than similar scenes such as the following two lots, this miniature embraces the genre element of the scene with the child dancers while the elegantly dressed woman, perhaps the mother, with tattooed hands attempts to peel the child clinging to its nurse.
This fine illustration displays several hallmarks of Shirazi painting such as the roof-top scene of groups gossiping and watching the scene unfold below. Also, the woman entering the pavilion from the left is a figure typically found in the story of Tahmina visiting Rustam at night from the Shahnama of Firdawsi, with such borrowings typical of Shirazi workshops.