ATTRIBUTED TO MU'IN MUSAVVIR, SAFAVID ISFAHAN, IRAN, CIRCA 1660

The celebrated artist Mu'in Musavvir is known to have illustrated at least six copies of the Shahnama, including the one from which this painting comes. Although none of these manuscripts bears a patron's name or a place of production, the quality of the work historically led some scholars to argue that at least some of them were copied for Shah 'Abbas II (r. AH 1052-77 / 1642-66 AD). In the mid-17th century however non-royal connoisseurs also commissioned some of the most sumptuous illustrated manuscripts (Massumeh Farhad, 'The Art of Mu'in Musavvir: A Mirror of his Times' in Sheila Canby (ed.), Persian Masters: Five Centuries of Painting, Marg, 1990, p.115). A complete Shahnama with twenty-seven illustrations by Mu'in was sold at Christie's, New York, 27-28 June 2006, lot 62.