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Lot Essay
This painting is titled above majlis-i maskharaha’i or a ‘Gathering of Buffooneries’. While dervishes are usually depicted as serious and devoted figures, here they are almost grotesque. Their features have been slightly distorted with eyes unevenly drawn and mouths oversized. There are similarities between our drawing and the two preparatory sketches of The Fools which were sold in these Rooms, 20 March 2012, Lot 222 & 223. There is the same manipulation of facial features and the overdrawing of individual teeth producing an uncanny effect.
The figure in the centre who kneels behind the central dervish retains well-proportioned features, as do the two musicians - thus suggesting that they are outsiders. The two musicians, one playing a daf and the other a ney, in the foreground allude to the dervishes’ delight in musical entertainment. This scene seems to suggest musical indulgence which is compounded by the fact that a ghazal by Anwar is written in nasta’liq to the reverse. For another example of the same subject, see a drawing of dervishes in revelry in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM104). Although this is undoubtedly earlier, it shows the beginnings of a popular theme.
The figure in the centre who kneels behind the central dervish retains well-proportioned features, as do the two musicians - thus suggesting that they are outsiders. The two musicians, one playing a daf and the other a ney, in the foreground allude to the dervishes’ delight in musical entertainment. This scene seems to suggest musical indulgence which is compounded by the fact that a ghazal by Anwar is written in nasta’liq to the reverse. For another example of the same subject, see a drawing of dervishes in revelry in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM104). Although this is undoubtedly earlier, it shows the beginnings of a popular theme.