
Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Sold for £1,875 inc. premium
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Inscriptions:
ya imam husayn
'O Imam Husayn!', in which the painter plays on his name and that of the Imam. There are other examples of painters who do this: Najaf 'Ali, who signed as ya shah-e najaf (i.e. Imam 'Ali) and Muhammad Baqir as ya baqir al-'ulum (Imam Muhammad Baqir).
The only painter who is recorded with a signature as such is Muhammad Husayn Shirazi, son of the painter Muhammad 'Ali. His recorded works (twelve in all) include lacquered pen-boxes and water colour paintings dated between AH 1270/AD 1853-54) and AH 1289/AD 1872-73. See Muhammad Ali Karimzadeh Tabrizi, The Lives & Art of Old Painters of Iran and a selection of masters from Ottoman & Indian regions, vol. 2, London 1990, pp. 704-6. If this portrait is by the same painter, it is his only recorded work on enamel.