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Lot Essay
The style of this painting can immediately be associated with that of Muhammadi, the much sought-after artist who was the subject of a monograph (B.W. Robinson, 'Muhammadi and the Khurasan Style', Iran XXX, 1992, pp.17-29). Although apparently not affiliated with the royal Safavid library, Abolala Soudavar calls him "undoubtedly the most talented painter of the last quarter of the sixteenth century" (Abolala Soudavar, Art of the Persian Courts, New York, 1992, p.237). Later Safavid written sources make little mention of Muhammadi, most probably because when the Uzbek 'Abdullah Khan captured Herat in 1588, Muhammadi remained there and worked under the patronage of Amir Qol-Baba Kukaltash, the newly appointed governor. However, later artists such as Reza 'Abbasi note their debt to this painter, whose style informed the school of Khorassan for the last quarter of the 16th century (Sheila R. Canby, The Rebellious Reformer: The Drawings and Paintings of Riza-yi 'Abbasi of Isfahan, London, 1996, no.113, p.151).
Muhammadi seems to have had a genuine affection for pastoral life, and most of his known tinted drawings (nim qalam) depict such scenes. Makariou writes that these rural compositions are more evocative of Iranian poetry than any pastoral reality, and that they are highly subtle poetic mediations on the lives of men (Sophie Makariou (ed.), Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2012, p.449).
Signed works by Muhammadi are rare. However a small group of tinted drawings of pastoral scenes - a style for which he is now best known - all bear the name of the famous artist. One, 'Sultan by a Stream', is in the Art and History Trust Collection (Soudavar, op.cit., no.94, p.241). That painting is signed, 'drawn by [harrarahu] Muhammadi the painter'. Soudavar writes that the word harrahu indicates drawing done with a reed pen - a particularly demanding technique (Soudavar, op.cit., p.241). Another signed drawing, a 'Hunting Party' is in a Private Collection, (published Soudavar, op.cit., fig.37, p.241). A 'Scene of Rural Life' is in the Louvre (OA 7111, Makariou , op.cit., Paris, 2012, cat.270, pp.446-47). That drawing is of particular note, because it is one of only two in Muhammadi's oeuvre which bears a date, AH 979/1578 AD (the other is a portrait dated 1584). A final drawing, which in subject is the closest to ours, almost a mirrored version, is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Suppl. Persan 1572, F.R. Martin, The Miniature Paintings and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey, London, 1968 reprint, pl.103a).
The present work demonstrates many features characteristic of Muhammadi: the distinctive colour palette with delicately toned people and the background with highlights in gold, silver and polychrome, the elaborate scenes, the pleasant almost smiling faces, the turbans which have a noted spikiness in their trails, and the landscape with an upper slanting line of mountains and accents of a silver stream running through it. In individual details we are also presented with very close parallels with the all of the published paintings mentioned above. All have Chinese clouds in the sky above, and hilly landscapes that run diagonally across the folios, with silver streams appearing behind them. The elegant magpies and the plane trees of our drawing feature too in the Art and History Trust painting and that in the Louvre. The magpie features widely in Muhammadi's work, and could be a motif borrowed directly from the work of the master Bihzad (Ebadollah Bahari, Bihzad. Master of Persian Painting, London, 1997, fig.121, pp.216-17). Another favourite of Muhammadi's is the fluting shepherd, who appears here and on a number of his other paintings (including a more fully worked painting in the Art and History Trust Foundation, Soudavar, op.cit., no.93, p.239). A painting attributed to Muhammadi or a close follower recently sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2012, lot 164.
Muhammadi seems to have had a genuine affection for pastoral life, and most of his known tinted drawings (nim qalam) depict such scenes. Makariou writes that these rural compositions are more evocative of Iranian poetry than any pastoral reality, and that they are highly subtle poetic mediations on the lives of men (Sophie Makariou (ed.), Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2012, p.449).
Signed works by Muhammadi are rare. However a small group of tinted drawings of pastoral scenes - a style for which he is now best known - all bear the name of the famous artist. One, 'Sultan by a Stream', is in the Art and History Trust Collection (Soudavar, op.cit., no.94, p.241). That painting is signed, 'drawn by [harrarahu] Muhammadi the painter'. Soudavar writes that the word harrahu indicates drawing done with a reed pen - a particularly demanding technique (Soudavar, op.cit., p.241). Another signed drawing, a 'Hunting Party' is in a Private Collection, (published Soudavar, op.cit., fig.37, p.241). A 'Scene of Rural Life' is in the Louvre (OA 7111, Makariou , op.cit., Paris, 2012, cat.270, pp.446-47). That drawing is of particular note, because it is one of only two in Muhammadi's oeuvre which bears a date, AH 979/1578 AD (the other is a portrait dated 1584). A final drawing, which in subject is the closest to ours, almost a mirrored version, is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Suppl. Persan 1572, F.R. Martin, The Miniature Paintings and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey, London, 1968 reprint, pl.103a).
The present work demonstrates many features characteristic of Muhammadi: the distinctive colour palette with delicately toned people and the background with highlights in gold, silver and polychrome, the elaborate scenes, the pleasant almost smiling faces, the turbans which have a noted spikiness in their trails, and the landscape with an upper slanting line of mountains and accents of a silver stream running through it. In individual details we are also presented with very close parallels with the all of the published paintings mentioned above. All have Chinese clouds in the sky above, and hilly landscapes that run diagonally across the folios, with silver streams appearing behind them. The elegant magpies and the plane trees of our drawing feature too in the Art and History Trust painting and that in the Louvre. The magpie features widely in Muhammadi's work, and could be a motif borrowed directly from the work of the master Bihzad (Ebadollah Bahari, Bihzad. Master of Persian Painting, London, 1997, fig.121, pp.216-17). Another favourite of Muhammadi's is the fluting shepherd, who appears here and on a number of his other paintings (including a more fully worked painting in the Art and History Trust Foundation, Soudavar, op.cit., no.93, p.239). A painting attributed to Muhammadi or a close follower recently sold in these Rooms, 4 October 2012, lot 164.