AFTER MU'IN MUSAVVIR, SAFAVID ISFAHAN, LATE 17TH CENTURY

Details

A PRINCE CONVERSES WITH A HOLY MAN
AFTER MU'IN MUSAVVIR, SAFAVID ISFAHAN, LATE 17TH CENTURY
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, inscribed at the lower middle of the painting, laid down within a buff border with gold floral decoration, a narrow inner orange border and blue outer border and with gold and black rules, blue marbled margins, the verso plain
Painting 7 ¾ x 4 5/8in. (19.2 x 11.5cm.); folio 13 ¾ x 9 ½in. (34.7 x 24.1cm)

Provenance

French private collection, 1920s
Millon, Paris, 28 November 2016, lot 216

Literature

Shawn Ghassemi, Robert J. Del Bontà, Painted Jewels: Persian and Indian Paintings from the 15th – 19th century, San Francisco, 2018, cat. 25, pp.62-3

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Mu'in Musavvir (fl. ca. 1635-93) was one of the most prolific and renowned artists in 17th century Iran. In addition to illustrated manuscripts, he created a number of single-page drawings and paintings on a wide variety of subjects taking the genre to new heights (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). Our painting of a seated prince in Indian attire listening in an attentive yet relaxed manner to his master, has been copied after a painting signed in Mu’in’s characteristically hurried hand, now in the Oriental Institute, St. Petersburg (Ms. D181, fol.9). It would certainly have been painted by a qualified and able student from Mu’in’s workshop. The European architecture in the landscape is uncharacteristic of Mu’in’s oeuvre and indicates an influence of Shaykh Abbasi (fl. ca. 1650-83 / 4).

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