SAFAVID ISFAHAN, LAST QUARTER 16TH CENTURY

The new style of portrait painting pioneered by the Safavid artist Reza ‘Abbasi became the dominant fashion of Isfahan from the second half of the 16th century. This painting is very much painted in Reza’s style, and was probably produced by one of his students or followers. Compare for example the cusped flowing contours of the robe and kamarband and the position and the style of the knife worn by our figure with a portrait of a youth with an Indian turban dated to circa 1590 by Sheila Canby (Sheila Canby, The Rebellious Reformer, London, 1999, cat.13, p.46). The strong contours of the face which contrast with the soft locks of hair of this figure are more closely related to a portrait of a musician which is attributed to ‘Ali Asghar and dated to circa 1575 (Sheila Canby, op.cit., London, 1999, fig.11, p.224). The inclusion of the illuminated spandrels above the figure is similar to a portrait of a seated youth in the Freer Gallery which is also dated to the last quarter of the 16th century (Sheila Canby, op.cit., London, 1999, fig.25, p.232).