TEXT COPIED BY 'ARAB AL-KATIB AL-SHIRAZI, PROBABLY ISFAHAN, IRAN, DATED AH 1033/1623 AD

Details

AN ILLUMINATED BIFOLIO
TEXT COPIED BY 'ARAB AL-KATIB AL-SHIRAZI, PROBABLY ISFAHAN, IRAN, DATED AH 1033/1623 AD
From the frontispiece of a manuscript of the Shahnama of Firdawsi, gouache heightened with gold on paper, one miniature depicting an enthronement scene in which the ruler in yellow robes sits on a lavish throne surrounded by courtiers playing music, eating and offering a falcon, visiting Europeans stand in the lower left hand corner, the other miniature depicting an active hunting scene with men on horseback hunting lion and wild boar, each with borders richly decorated with arabesques and floral motifs in gold and polcyhrome, creasing, mounted, framed and glazed
Miniatures 9¼ x 5 1/8in. (23.2 x 13cm.) (2)

Provenance

Formerly the property of an American lady, acquired ca. 1940-50,
Sold Sotheby's, 12 October 2000, lot 68

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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Lot Essay

These miniatures bear resemblance to the right hand page of an illuminated bifolio in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore which is attributed to Isfahan, circa 1620-25 (Sheila R. Canby, Shah 'Abbas, The Remaking of Iran, exhibition catalogue, London, 2009, no. 51, p. 133). That miniature depicted a number of known personages of the Safavid ruler's court and it is therefore likely that the missing left hand folio depicted a prince, perhaps Shah 'Abbas. A related bifolio was also sold at Bonham's, 8 October 2009, lot 29.

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