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Lot Essay
This painting is attributable to Muhammad Qasim, a contemporary of Reza-i 'Abbasi, who was active during the reign of Shah 'Abbas I. Two of his paintings, one in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, the other in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, are illustrated in Robinson, 1965, pls.62 and 63, pp.90-91. Two more are illustrated in Soudavar, 1992, pls.120-21, p.293. Both Robinson and Soudavar date the paintings to around the 1650s, but more recent research by Adel Adamova has convincingly repositioned his works to the early 17th century, presented in a paper given at a conference in Edinburgh, 1998. This paints Muhammad Qasim in a completely different light - innovative rather than derivative, and as a contemporary rather than a pupil of Reza and thus much more influential to the course that Persian painting took in the 17th century.
Other examples of Muhammad Qasim’s work include paintings in the 1648 Shahnama completed for the shrine of Imam Reza at Mashhad and a painting in the British Library catalogued as circa 1650 (Robinson and Sims, 2007 and Canby, 1993, no.67, p.105). The faces of his figures, as seen here, have very round cheeks if young (such as our bride) and are slightly more square-jawed if middle-aged. Our painting also shows clearly a fashion for combining polychromy and drawing that was introduced by Muhammadi, continued by Reza, and found favour into the mid-17th century (Canby, op.cit., p.107). The characteristic sky of our painting is very closely comparable with a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby and Haidar (eds.), 2011, no.153, pp.226-27). That is one of only 12 paintings signed by the artist (Robinson and Sims, op.cit., p.205).
For a painting of the same scene in a manuscript in the Walters Art Museum commissioned for and painted by Muhammad ‘Ali, see Massumeh Farhad, “Searching for the New”, Later Safavid Painting and the Suzu Gawdaz (“Burning and Melting”) by Nau’i Khabushani", the Journal of the Walters Art Museum, 59 (2001), fig. 4.
A similarly tinted drawing, probably from the same original manuscript, signed by Muhammad Qasim, sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2009, lot 119. Another sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 63.
Other examples of Muhammad Qasim’s work include paintings in the 1648 Shahnama completed for the shrine of Imam Reza at Mashhad and a painting in the British Library catalogued as circa 1650 (Robinson and Sims, 2007 and Canby, 1993, no.67, p.105). The faces of his figures, as seen here, have very round cheeks if young (such as our bride) and are slightly more square-jawed if middle-aged. Our painting also shows clearly a fashion for combining polychromy and drawing that was introduced by Muhammadi, continued by Reza, and found favour into the mid-17th century (Canby, op.cit., p.107). The characteristic sky of our painting is very closely comparable with a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby and Haidar (eds.), 2011, no.153, pp.226-27). That is one of only 12 paintings signed by the artist (Robinson and Sims, op.cit., p.205).
For a painting of the same scene in a manuscript in the Walters Art Museum commissioned for and painted by Muhammad ‘Ali, see Massumeh Farhad, “Searching for the New”, Later Safavid Painting and the Suzu Gawdaz (“Burning and Melting”) by Nau’i Khabushani", the Journal of the Walters Art Museum, 59 (2001), fig. 4.
A similarly tinted drawing, probably from the same original manuscript, signed by Muhammad Qasim, sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2009, lot 119. Another sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 63.