ATTRIBUTED TO MU'IN MUSAVVIR, SAFAVID ISFAHAN, IRAN, DATED RABI I AH 1054 / MAY-JUNE 1644 AD

This fine portrait is attributable to the Safavid artist Mu'in Musavvir. Mu'in was the most celebrated and talented student of the artist Reza 'Abbasi, and was taken on as a pupil by the latter at an early age. He was one of the greatest and most prolific artists working in Iran from the 1630s to the 1690s. In addition to illustrated manuscripts, such as Shahnamas, he created a number of single-page drawings and paintings on a wide variety of subjects taking the genre to new heights. This painting is typical of Mu'in’s unique style, which shows little of the European or Indian influences that were so popular at the Safavid court from the 1640s onwards. Like a painting of Nazar 'Ali Beg by Mu'in formerly in the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller and sold Christie’s New York, 10 May 2018, lot 1009, our painting is not signed by Mu'in. However both on stylistic grounds, and on the basis of the hand in which the date is recorded, it is possible to confidently attribute our work to the artist.

Another painting by Mu'in, of the artist Reza 'Abbasi also sold as part of the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, Christie’s New York, 10 May 2018, lot 1001. That painting was signed, and shared much in common both with our portrait and that of Nazar ‘Ali Beg mentioned above - as well as with other single figure studies by the artist. All three show the central figure, painted in the bright hues favoured the artist against a ground that is plain but for gold clouds and foliage all done in a very painterly, almost sketchy manner. Another painting with a very similar background is the artist’s portrait of Nashmi Kamandar, in the Harvard Art Museum (obj.no.1960.197).

Another related work is a painting of Sultan al-Ulema Khalifa Sultan 'Itimad al-Dawla, painted around 1650 (sold in these Rooms, 23 April 1981, lot 120 and now in the Art and History Trust Collection, published in Abolala Soudavar, Art of the Persian Courts, New York, 1992, pp.288-89, no.114). Attributed to Mu'in, it shares many of the same features as our painting – the sitter is rendered more naturalistic by timid modelling of the face and wears a closely related turban and a coat of the same strong purple colour. The folio is also outlined in a similar single gold line, in a manner very similar to our painting, suggesting that they may even at some stage have been from the same original album.

Alexis Hubert Rouart (d. 1911) whose monogram appears at the bottom of this folio, was – along with his brother Henri - a renowned collector and patron of the arts in Paris at in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Although his principle collecting areas were Western art and Japanese prints, he is also known to have developed an interest in works of art from India and Iran.