QAJAR OR ZAND IRAN, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

Pen and ink drawings of wildlife and floral patterns produced in the Persian court date back to the Timurid period. Two of the most highly celebrated Safavid artists who worked in this technique include Mir Sayyid Muhammad al-Naqqash and Shah Quli (d. 1555/56). Originally based in Tabriz, Shah Quli migrated to the Ottoman court and worked in Istanbul for Selim I and Suleman the Magnificent. Our painting is a Zand or Qajar creation which is very similar in style to a work in the British Museum, a study of a pheasant attributed to Shah Quli (inv. no. 1930,1112,0.4).