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Lot Essay
The thick textured vegetation that fills nearly all of the ground of our miniature contrasts beautifully with the almost plain gold horizon which is punctuated with a lone flowering tree. This style of vegetation is mirrored in an illustrated Khamsa of Nizami in the National Library of Russia (Saltykov-Shchedrin) in St. Petersburg which was produced in Shiraz in AH 913/1507-08 AD. The turban style in the St. Petersburg Khamsa and the red outlined oval faces are almost identical to our present painting, (inv. 340, Miniatures Illuminations of Nisami's 'Hamsa', exhibition catalogue, Tashkent, 1985, no.X, illustrations 87-101).
The composition of the scene clearly relates to a painting attributed to Shaykhzada in the Chester Beatty from a copy of the Khamsa dated to AH 931/1525-26 AD, (B.W. Robinson, Persian Miniature Painting, London, 1967, no. 33, p. 53). Both paintings depict Khusraw and Shirin in almost identical poses. For a Khamsa of Nizami which sold in these Rooms, with illustrations which are very similar to our present painting see 13 October 1998, lot 67.
The composition of the scene clearly relates to a painting attributed to Shaykhzada in the Chester Beatty from a copy of the Khamsa dated to AH 931/1525-26 AD, (B.W. Robinson, Persian Miniature Painting, London, 1967, no. 33, p. 53). Both paintings depict Khusraw and Shirin in almost identical poses. For a Khamsa of Nizami which sold in these Rooms, with illustrations which are very similar to our present painting see 13 October 1998, lot 67.