.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This is an outstanding painting by Reza Abbasi (ca.1565–1635), regarded as the most innovative and influential later Safavid artist and the most gifted painter at the court of Shah Abbas I. Along with the following lot, it is among the finest single-page portraits by the artist to appear at auction for many decades.
It is highly significant not only as an exceptional example of Reza’s work, but also because of a fascinating historical link to the Dutch embassy that visited the court of Shah Abbas I from 1623 to 1630, for the figure depicted here appears to have been used as a compositional model for a woodcut that appeared in the Johannes de Laet’s Persia seu Regni Persici Status, published in Leiden in 1633 (illustrated here; also de Hond 2020A, pp.48-51).
Although the use of European images as sources for Persian art in the 17th century is widely acknowledged and has been extensively studied (see, e.g., Langer 2013, pp.170-237), the use of Persian paintings as sources in European art was extremely rare, and the link of the present painting to the Dutch embassy of 1623 and de Laet’s 1633 publication is significant (for an interesting equivalent involving Mughal paintings used as sources for works by Rembrandt in the 1650s, see Schrader 2018).
The subject of the present work is an elegant standing youth in fashionable garments, gazing into the distance and seemingly lost in thought. He wears a jacket of rich maroon with a gold collar, a green waistcoat over a blue-patterned shirt with gold trim, and richly-patterned mustard-yellow trousers. Around his waist is a rich blue patterned sash with gold stripes and a dagger thrust through the knot, and on his head is a fur-trimmed hat. He holds a gold bottle in his right hand just above his waistband, and his left hand hangs by his side holding a cup. One of the most striking features is the rich design of the trousers, consisting of a miniature landscape scene with birds perched on rocks and fluttering in the air (see also lot 78). The sheer quality and attention to detail is revealed in the delicate pricking of the gold, which appears not only on the collar of the waistcoat, a relatively broad expanse of gold, but also on the gold neck-trim of the shirt, on the mouth of the gold bottle, and even, almost invisibly, on the slender gold stripes of the waistband and the very narrow gold leading edges of the birds’ wings within the textiles on the trousers. It is a highly refined image and a superlative example of Reza’s fully mature style.
In the early 1620s, following encouraging overtures from the court of Shah Abbas, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) sent an Embassy to Persia. It was led by Huybert Visnich and arrived in Iran in 1623. At the time, a Flemish painter called Jan Lucasz van Hasselt was residing in Isfahan, where he had been in the employ of Shah Abbas since 1617. He was greatly favoured by the shah and became a confidant, and was given the title “ustad naqqash” (master painter). Van Hasselt arranged for his visiting countrymen in the embassy to be given certain privileges and to be housed in a grand residence that was the envy of other European delegations, where Visnich stayed until December 1630. For detailed discussions of this historical context see de Hond 2020A; de Hond 2020B; Schwartz 2013; Croymans 2018.
During his decade residing in Isfahan, Van Hasselt would very likely have been acquainted with Reza Abbasi, who also worked for the Shah Abbas, and it is probable that members of the Dutch embassy might also have come into contact with Reza through Van Hasselt’s courtly artistic circles. One of the members of the Dutch embassy was Niclaes Hem (Nicolaus Hemmius), a merchant and negotiator. De Laet states that the figures in the woodcuts in his 1633 Persia seu Regni Persici Status were based on Persian drawings brought from Iran by Niclaes Hem on his return to the Netherlands (de Hond 2020A, p.50; Schwartz in Brinkmann et al 2020, p.272). The dating of the present picture in relation to the embassy is relevant. It was completed in December 1624, eighteen months after the Dutch embassy’s arrival and therefore during the period in which they were in Isfahan and in frequent contact with Van Hasselt, and through him with the courtly artistic milieu of the city.
Although the figure in de Laet’s woodcut has been rendered according to Western conventions, with greater three-dimensionality, shadowing and a Europeanised face (de Hond 2020A, p.48), generally it is extremely similar to the present figure, and a number of details are identical. The figure in the woodcut wears the same jacket, which splays at the waist in a distinctively similar way, an identical waistcoat, which protrudes below the knotted waistband, as well as a dagger thrust through the knot in the waistband. Visible at the neck is an identical undershirt with a narrow trim, and the trousers are also of a similar form. He holds a bottle in his right hand in exactly the same position and of the same shape as in the present Reza painting, and his left arm hangs at his side is a similar pose. The only differences are that in his left hand he holds two flowers instead of a wine cup and the top part of his hat is slightly different.
It seems very likely that Niclaes Hem saw this painting while in Isfahan, so close are the similarities to the figure in de Laet’s woodcut, and de Hond suggests that such pictures were brought to the Netherlands by Hem in the late 1620s, providing the models for the woodcuts in Persia seu Regni Persici Status (de Hond 202A, p.48). A very similar work by Reza Abbasi, undated but attributed to c. 1625-30 (Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (Per.260.2, see Canby 1996, cat.115,p.157) may also have influenced the woodcut in de Laet’s book. It is very close to the present work in pose and garments, and the hat in the woodcut is a combination of the hat of the present figure and that of the Dublin version. However, although the youth in both the Reza works is holding a round bottle, in the Dublin version he is clasping the bottle against his belly with both hands, whereas here and in the de Laet woodcut he is holding the bottle with one hand while the other hand hangs by his side. In the Dublin version there is also a wine cup tucked into the lapel of his waistcoat, which does not feature in the woodcut or the present work. The present work is thus a closer model.
Anthony Welch suggested that the present painting was made for Shah Abbas (Welch and Welch 1982, p.109), and it has been suggested that Reza Abbasi was painting for a variety courtly patrons and wealthy merchants in Isfahan at this stage of his career (de Hond 202A, p.48). It is appealing to imagine the cultured scene in Isfahan in the 1620s in which members of the Dutch embassy, through their friend Van Hasselt, might have interacted with Reza Abbasi and been eye-witnesses to this key period in Persian painting, possibly even commissioning works themselves from Reza.
It is highly significant not only as an exceptional example of Reza’s work, but also because of a fascinating historical link to the Dutch embassy that visited the court of Shah Abbas I from 1623 to 1630, for the figure depicted here appears to have been used as a compositional model for a woodcut that appeared in the Johannes de Laet’s Persia seu Regni Persici Status, published in Leiden in 1633 (illustrated here; also de Hond 2020A, pp.48-51).
Although the use of European images as sources for Persian art in the 17th century is widely acknowledged and has been extensively studied (see, e.g., Langer 2013, pp.170-237), the use of Persian paintings as sources in European art was extremely rare, and the link of the present painting to the Dutch embassy of 1623 and de Laet’s 1633 publication is significant (for an interesting equivalent involving Mughal paintings used as sources for works by Rembrandt in the 1650s, see Schrader 2018).
The subject of the present work is an elegant standing youth in fashionable garments, gazing into the distance and seemingly lost in thought. He wears a jacket of rich maroon with a gold collar, a green waistcoat over a blue-patterned shirt with gold trim, and richly-patterned mustard-yellow trousers. Around his waist is a rich blue patterned sash with gold stripes and a dagger thrust through the knot, and on his head is a fur-trimmed hat. He holds a gold bottle in his right hand just above his waistband, and his left hand hangs by his side holding a cup. One of the most striking features is the rich design of the trousers, consisting of a miniature landscape scene with birds perched on rocks and fluttering in the air (see also lot 78). The sheer quality and attention to detail is revealed in the delicate pricking of the gold, which appears not only on the collar of the waistcoat, a relatively broad expanse of gold, but also on the gold neck-trim of the shirt, on the mouth of the gold bottle, and even, almost invisibly, on the slender gold stripes of the waistband and the very narrow gold leading edges of the birds’ wings within the textiles on the trousers. It is a highly refined image and a superlative example of Reza’s fully mature style.
In the early 1620s, following encouraging overtures from the court of Shah Abbas, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) sent an Embassy to Persia. It was led by Huybert Visnich and arrived in Iran in 1623. At the time, a Flemish painter called Jan Lucasz van Hasselt was residing in Isfahan, where he had been in the employ of Shah Abbas since 1617. He was greatly favoured by the shah and became a confidant, and was given the title “ustad naqqash” (master painter). Van Hasselt arranged for his visiting countrymen in the embassy to be given certain privileges and to be housed in a grand residence that was the envy of other European delegations, where Visnich stayed until December 1630. For detailed discussions of this historical context see de Hond 2020A; de Hond 2020B; Schwartz 2013; Croymans 2018.
During his decade residing in Isfahan, Van Hasselt would very likely have been acquainted with Reza Abbasi, who also worked for the Shah Abbas, and it is probable that members of the Dutch embassy might also have come into contact with Reza through Van Hasselt’s courtly artistic circles. One of the members of the Dutch embassy was Niclaes Hem (Nicolaus Hemmius), a merchant and negotiator. De Laet states that the figures in the woodcuts in his 1633 Persia seu Regni Persici Status were based on Persian drawings brought from Iran by Niclaes Hem on his return to the Netherlands (de Hond 2020A, p.50; Schwartz in Brinkmann et al 2020, p.272). The dating of the present picture in relation to the embassy is relevant. It was completed in December 1624, eighteen months after the Dutch embassy’s arrival and therefore during the period in which they were in Isfahan and in frequent contact with Van Hasselt, and through him with the courtly artistic milieu of the city.
Although the figure in de Laet’s woodcut has been rendered according to Western conventions, with greater three-dimensionality, shadowing and a Europeanised face (de Hond 2020A, p.48), generally it is extremely similar to the present figure, and a number of details are identical. The figure in the woodcut wears the same jacket, which splays at the waist in a distinctively similar way, an identical waistcoat, which protrudes below the knotted waistband, as well as a dagger thrust through the knot in the waistband. Visible at the neck is an identical undershirt with a narrow trim, and the trousers are also of a similar form. He holds a bottle in his right hand in exactly the same position and of the same shape as in the present Reza painting, and his left arm hangs at his side is a similar pose. The only differences are that in his left hand he holds two flowers instead of a wine cup and the top part of his hat is slightly different.
It seems very likely that Niclaes Hem saw this painting while in Isfahan, so close are the similarities to the figure in de Laet’s woodcut, and de Hond suggests that such pictures were brought to the Netherlands by Hem in the late 1620s, providing the models for the woodcuts in Persia seu Regni Persici Status (de Hond 202A, p.48). A very similar work by Reza Abbasi, undated but attributed to c. 1625-30 (Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (Per.260.2, see Canby 1996, cat.115,p.157) may also have influenced the woodcut in de Laet’s book. It is very close to the present work in pose and garments, and the hat in the woodcut is a combination of the hat of the present figure and that of the Dublin version. However, although the youth in both the Reza works is holding a round bottle, in the Dublin version he is clasping the bottle against his belly with both hands, whereas here and in the de Laet woodcut he is holding the bottle with one hand while the other hand hangs by his side. In the Dublin version there is also a wine cup tucked into the lapel of his waistcoat, which does not feature in the woodcut or the present work. The present work is thus a closer model.
Anthony Welch suggested that the present painting was made for Shah Abbas (Welch and Welch 1982, p.109), and it has been suggested that Reza Abbasi was painting for a variety courtly patrons and wealthy merchants in Isfahan at this stage of his career (de Hond 202A, p.48). It is appealing to imagine the cultured scene in Isfahan in the 1620s in which members of the Dutch embassy, through their friend Van Hasselt, might have interacted with Reza Abbasi and been eye-witnesses to this key period in Persian painting, possibly even commissioning works themselves from Reza.