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Lot Essay
Persian artists have produced a wide range of richly decorative papers for making manuscripts since the fifteenth century. One particularly captivating type is called kaghaz-i abri or simply abri, meaning clouded paper or marbled paper in English. This is the medium upon which our painting is executed (Navina Najat Haidar (ed.), Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy, New York, 2015, p.157). Single page drawings on marbled paper from the Safavid period are extremely rare. Contemporaneous examples produced in the Deccan and it may be that the movement of Persian artists and material between the regions would have inspired this design.
Painted on a taupe and grey marbled paper with specs of black, our elegant lady is depicted in a shy and loving gesture holding a hand over her face and offering flowers with another. Her left leg is crossed over her right, revealing colourful striped leggings, and a shoe that has apparently dropped off. She wears a gold cap with a pointed band to which a white shawl is attached with a string of pearls. A long chain with jewelled gold pendants is suspended across her chest. Some details of her pose recall works by Muhammad Yousef and Reza ‘Abbasi, but the treatment of the drapery indicate that the work is by a follower of one of these Safavid masters, working in the first or second decade of the seventeenth century. A painting sold in these Rooms, 14 October 2003, lot 132, which was attributed to Reza or his school bears very similar features to this painting. Both paintings have elongated narrow faces with long torsos and attired in comparable gowns illuminated in similar colours.
The calligraphy panel on the recto of our album page is by Mir 'Ali al-Katib (d.1544) who is often mentioned by Safavid sources as amongst the most important nasta'liq calligraphers of all time. For a detailed note on Mir ‘Ali see lot 180.
Painted on a taupe and grey marbled paper with specs of black, our elegant lady is depicted in a shy and loving gesture holding a hand over her face and offering flowers with another. Her left leg is crossed over her right, revealing colourful striped leggings, and a shoe that has apparently dropped off. She wears a gold cap with a pointed band to which a white shawl is attached with a string of pearls. A long chain with jewelled gold pendants is suspended across her chest. Some details of her pose recall works by Muhammad Yousef and Reza ‘Abbasi, but the treatment of the drapery indicate that the work is by a follower of one of these Safavid masters, working in the first or second decade of the seventeenth century. A painting sold in these Rooms, 14 October 2003, lot 132, which was attributed to Reza or his school bears very similar features to this painting. Both paintings have elongated narrow faces with long torsos and attired in comparable gowns illuminated in similar colours.
The calligraphy panel on the recto of our album page is by Mir 'Ali al-Katib (d.1544) who is often mentioned by Safavid sources as amongst the most important nasta'liq calligraphers of all time. For a detailed note on Mir ‘Ali see lot 180.