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Lot Essay
Similar wooden panels in the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris have remained in their original pair of doors (Rémi Labrusse (dir.), Purs Décors?, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2007, p.175, cat.205). In each of the two doors, the long panel is flanked at top and bottom by a smaller one. The panels count for a third of the door's width and the borders are decorated with small medallions with portraits. The doors in the Musée des Arts décoratifs are decorated with similar scenes of pastoral pleasures and are dated 17th century.
The present panels are finely painted with elegant scenes typical of the mid-17th century which can be found in the contemporary works of Mu'in Musavvir, Mir Muhammad or Muhammad Qasim. The lady painted circa 1640 by Mir Afzal Tuni in 'A lady watching her dog drinking wine from a bowl' is voluptuously leaning back on a bolster, her long plaits falling in front of her breast, in a position which is similar to that of some the reclining figures painted on our panels. A Young Dandy painted by Muhammad Yusuf (Mir Yusuf), circa 1640-45 wears a conical hat to which is fixed a long feather in an identical fashion to that of the male figures the panels (Sheila R. Canby, Persian Painting, London, 1993, cat.68 and 69, p. 105). Although probably slightly later than our panels, the miniature depicting a loving couple with a servant signed by Mu'in and dated 1670 depicts the same aesthetic of pleasure and light scenes (Sheila R. Canby (ed.), Persian Masters, five centuries of paintings, Washington, 1990, p.122-3, cat.7).
A lacquer book-stand in the Hermitage museum offers a good comparable to our panels. The stand is decorated with girls in a garden, a couple, dervishes and hunters which are set in a landscape. Although undated, it can be dated circa 1630-40 on the basis of the clothes and headwear, slightly more diverse than on our example (Adel T. Adamova, Persian Painting, in Beyond the Palace Walls, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, 2006, pp.120-35, cat.126).
Close comparables to our painted panels are the wall paintings of the Hall of the Chihil Sutun in Isfahan and a further wall panel in the Courtly Room of the palace, painted after 1647. Although on a much larger scale, they show youth couples seated in a landscape before a tree, wearing a mix of European and Persian accoutrements and engaged in leisurely pursuits. The painting in the Hall is flanked by two panels with reclining beauties, each with a bottle or a jar which is similar to the four small panels of this group (lot 218) (Eleanor Sims et al., Peerless Images, Persian Paintings and Its Sources, Hong Kong, 2002, p.75, cat.81 and p.245-6, cat.161).
The present painted panels respond to the exact same taste as the wall paintings of the Chihil Sutun palace, an aesthetic of courtly pleasures and leisure which was to infuse most figural representations of the mid-17th century. Painted on wood to be set in a pair of doors, these panels would have brought the royal fashion to the house of a wealthy courtier.
The present panels are finely painted with elegant scenes typical of the mid-17th century which can be found in the contemporary works of Mu'in Musavvir, Mir Muhammad or Muhammad Qasim. The lady painted circa 1640 by Mir Afzal Tuni in 'A lady watching her dog drinking wine from a bowl' is voluptuously leaning back on a bolster, her long plaits falling in front of her breast, in a position which is similar to that of some the reclining figures painted on our panels. A Young Dandy painted by Muhammad Yusuf (Mir Yusuf), circa 1640-45 wears a conical hat to which is fixed a long feather in an identical fashion to that of the male figures the panels (Sheila R. Canby, Persian Painting, London, 1993, cat.68 and 69, p. 105). Although probably slightly later than our panels, the miniature depicting a loving couple with a servant signed by Mu'in and dated 1670 depicts the same aesthetic of pleasure and light scenes (Sheila R. Canby (ed.), Persian Masters, five centuries of paintings, Washington, 1990, p.122-3, cat.7).
A lacquer book-stand in the Hermitage museum offers a good comparable to our panels. The stand is decorated with girls in a garden, a couple, dervishes and hunters which are set in a landscape. Although undated, it can be dated circa 1630-40 on the basis of the clothes and headwear, slightly more diverse than on our example (Adel T. Adamova, Persian Painting, in Beyond the Palace Walls, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, 2006, pp.120-35, cat.126).
Close comparables to our painted panels are the wall paintings of the Hall of the Chihil Sutun in Isfahan and a further wall panel in the Courtly Room of the palace, painted after 1647. Although on a much larger scale, they show youth couples seated in a landscape before a tree, wearing a mix of European and Persian accoutrements and engaged in leisurely pursuits. The painting in the Hall is flanked by two panels with reclining beauties, each with a bottle or a jar which is similar to the four small panels of this group (lot 218) (Eleanor Sims et al., Peerless Images, Persian Paintings and Its Sources, Hong Kong, 2002, p.75, cat.81 and p.245-6, cat.161).
The present painted panels respond to the exact same taste as the wall paintings of the Chihil Sutun palace, an aesthetic of courtly pleasures and leisure which was to infuse most figural representations of the mid-17th century. Painted on wood to be set in a pair of doors, these panels would have brought the royal fashion to the house of a wealthy courtier.