IRAN, PROBABLY MID-17TH CENTURY

The artist Muhammad Shafi' 'Abbasi became famous during the 1640s and 1650s for his particularly detailed and individualised studies of flowers and birds. A binding cover to a 1571 Qazvin copy of Jami's Mathnavi shows an identical theme of studies of plants with the addition of butterflies and bees (Hunt for Paradise, exhibition catalogue, Milano, 2003, cat.6.18, p.179). Although a few 16th century studies are known, paintings of anatomically correct of plants of identifyable species represent a new genre in Persian painting through the mid-17th century. Strong European influence is seen in many works of the period, particularly in an album in the British Museum with paintings attributed to Shafi' 'Abbasi (Sheila Canby, Persian Painting, 1993, cat.72, p.108-109). A study of violets attributed to Shafi' 'Abbasi is particularly reminiscent of the present piece although worked in a more naturalistic manner (Sheila Canby, op.cit., cat.74, p.110).