SAFAVID ISFAHAN, IRAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PORTRAIT OF A SUFI MENDICANT
SAFAVID ISFAHAN, IRAN, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the Sufi wears an animal pelt shawl and a short grey tunic, gold outlined rocky landscape background with swirling stylised clouds above, the border with later applied nasta'liq verses on a gold floral ground, the reverse with a nasta'liq quatrain in clouds reserved against gold ground, later gold and polychrome illumination in triangular cartouches along the edges, laid down on margins with large gold palmettes issuing from scrolling vine flanked by saz leaves
Painting 6¾ x 3 7/8in. (17 x 9.7cm.); folio 14 3/8 x 9 3/8in. (36.3 x 23.8cm.)

Engraved

In the border around the painting, verses from the Sharafnameh from the Khamsa of Nizami
On the back, four hemistichs from a Ghazal of Amir Khusraw
Below the calligraphic panel, darvish

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The hair shirt and the short tunic identify the figure as a member of an austere Sufi order. The strong red outlines combined with the expressive facial features, notably the slightly aged and wrinkled face bear resemblance to the work of Mu’in Musavir who was active in Isfahan in the second half of the 17th Century. A slightly earlier depiction of a Sufi mendicant attributed by Sheila Canby to either Isfahan or Qazvin is in the collection of the British Museum, (inv.ME 1930,0607,0.15; Sheila R. Canby, Shah 'Abbas. The Remaking of Iran, exhibition catalogue, London, 2009, p.134, no.52).

The word darvish beneath the calligraphic panel might be part of a calligrapher's name. There was, for example, a calligrapher of the 16th century called Hassan Darvish who is recorded by Bayani. A qita' of his is in the Hazine-yi Evkaf Library in Istanbul (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Tehran, 1346 sh., p.141, no.225).

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