Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 173†,Y
A miniature portrait of the leader of the Bahai faith, Baha'u 'llah, signed P. Coccia, dated 1914
Amended
8 October 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£10,000 - £15,000
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A miniature portrait of the leader of the Bahai faith, Baha'u 'llah, signed P. Coccia, dated 1914
gouache on ivory, signed P. Coccia, Roma, backed with paper, inscribed with artist's name and address in Rome, second layer of paper on reverse inscribed Bahalullah Acca 1914, in gold mount, glazed
30 mm. diam.
30 mm. diam.
Footnotes
The Bahá'í Faith was founded by Bahá'u'lláh in mid-19th-century Persia. Shortly thereafter he was expelled from Tehran to Baghdad, in the Ottoman Empire and then to Constantinople and then to Adrianople (now Edirne). In 1863, at the time of his banishment from Baghdad to Constantinople, Bahá'u'lláh declared his claim to a divine mission to his family and followers. Beginning in 1866, he began declaring his mission as a Messenger of God in letters to the world's religious and secular rulers, including Pope Pius IX, Napoleon III, and Queen Victoria.
In 1868 Bahá'u'lláh was banished by Sultan Abdülâziz a final time to the Ottoman penal colony of 'Akká, (Acre) in present-day Israel, and which the inscription "Acca" on our miniature undoubtedly refers. Towards the end of his life he was allowed to live in a home near 'Akká, while still officially a prisoner of that city. He died there in 1892.
Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-Aqdas and The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá written by his son, the subsequent leader, are foundational documents of the Bahá'í administrative order.
Italian painter Pompeo Coccia (d.1960), primarily a painter of religious scenes, must have executed this portrait while still a young man and possibly from a photograph as it is dated 22 years after Bahá'u'lláh's death. Coccia is best known for having painted the murals on the walls of the Breakfast and Powder rooms at Chinqua Penn Plantation in North Carolina, the stately home of millionaire eccentrics Jeff and Betsy Penn. Coccia came at the Penn's request from Rome, and spent several months completing work at the Plantation in Reidsville sometime during the two years it took the couple to build their home in the 1920s.
Saleroom notices
Please note that it has been drawn to our attention that the portrait is likely of Bahadullah's eldest son 'Abdu'l-Baha, despite the inscription to reverse.