.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The elegant figure in the painting is typical of Muhammad Qasim’s work. Among his earlier works, defined by Ada Adamova as those from the period from 1590 to 1605, are three signed or ascribed depictions of standing turbaned figures (Adamova 2003, p.200). Of these, she identifies the earliest as the painting in the Al-Sabah collection (acc.no. LNS 280 MS). However, it is the two slightly later figures on folios in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C. (S.1986.305) and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc.no.MSL/1980⁄6964) that are most similar to this painting. They have bulbous but unadorned turbans, knotted sashes around their waists, and subtly S-shaped silhouettes, as well as a plain background stencilled with gold flowers. Both also tip their heads forward in a manner reminiscent of our figure. The features of our figure, however, also closely resemble the page in the intimate painting of Shah Abbas in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (acc.no.MAO494) which according to Adamova ushered in a more mature phase in Muhammad Qasim’s career between 1627 and 1648 (Adamova 2003, p.208). The more unconventional nature of this subject, showing the figure in a state of undress, may show the slightly greater confidence of an artist embarking on his later works. For further information on Muhammad Qasim see lots 81 and 82 in this sale.
The painting and the borders are likely to have been paired with one another at a later date. These distinctive borders are associated with manuscripts produced in Herat or Bukhara. In the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, are eight folios from two separate books in the Haft Awrang similarly decorated with calligraphy and seated figures (Arbery, Robinson, Blochet and Wilkinson 1962, cat.209 and 210). Four similar folios were published as part of the Vever collection, the text of these apparently from the Makhzan al-Asrar of Nizami’s Khamsa. Of the Vever folios, two bore the name ‘slave of the king, Duraq Ustajlu’, probably the patron (Lowry and Beach 1990, nos.261-264, p.232). A further folio sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 30, clarified when they had been made, since the margins were dated to AH 929 / 1522-3 AD, and were signed by a certain Muhammad Amin. Subsequent folios sold in these Rooms 28 October 2021, lot 27 and 27 October 2022, lot 43 added the names Muhammad al-Katib (possibly the same person as Muhammad Amin) and Hasan Ali al-Katib to the group of artists known to have worked on these folios. Of these folios, the squarer frames of the paintings in the corner are most similar to those on the Subhat al-Ahrar folios in Dublin (Arbery, Robinson, Blochet and Wilkinson 1962). It may be from this dispersed manuscript that these elegant margins originally came.
The painting and the borders are likely to have been paired with one another at a later date. These distinctive borders are associated with manuscripts produced in Herat or Bukhara. In the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, are eight folios from two separate books in the Haft Awrang similarly decorated with calligraphy and seated figures (Arbery, Robinson, Blochet and Wilkinson 1962, cat.209 and 210). Four similar folios were published as part of the Vever collection, the text of these apparently from the Makhzan al-Asrar of Nizami’s Khamsa. Of the Vever folios, two bore the name ‘slave of the king, Duraq Ustajlu’, probably the patron (Lowry and Beach 1990, nos.261-264, p.232). A further folio sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 30, clarified when they had been made, since the margins were dated to AH 929 / 1522-3 AD, and were signed by a certain Muhammad Amin. Subsequent folios sold in these Rooms 28 October 2021, lot 27 and 27 October 2022, lot 43 added the names Muhammad al-Katib (possibly the same person as Muhammad Amin) and Hasan Ali al-Katib to the group of artists known to have worked on these folios. Of these folios, the squarer frames of the paintings in the corner are most similar to those on the Subhat al-Ahrar folios in Dublin (Arbery, Robinson, Blochet and Wilkinson 1962). It may be from this dispersed manuscript that these elegant margins originally came.