Skip to main content
Lot 102

A Qajar enamelled gold Plaque signed 'Husayn'
Persia, 19th Century

8 October 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £1,875 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Islamic and Indian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A Qajar enamelled gold Plaque signed 'Husayn'
Persia, 19th Century

of octagonal form, decorated in polychrome enamels depicting a young man in a pink coat and plumed hat drinking wine
5.5 cm. diam. max.

Footnotes

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.

Additional information