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Lot 20R

A youth reading a poem in a garden
Qajar Persia, 19th Century

23 May 2023, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

£2,000 - £3,000

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A youth reading a poem in a garden
Qajar Persia, 19th Century

pen and ink with some watercolour on paper, laid down within the illuminated borders of a large album page, one line of text written in nasta'liq, above this a rectangular panel containing flowers, wide outer borders with naturalistic floral decoration in gold on a light pink ground
drawing 155 x 106 mm.; album page 465 x 303 mm.

Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, London.

Modelled on the paintings of youths produced during the reign of Shah 'Abbas II (reg. 1642-60): for instance, a work by Muhammad Qasim, circa 1650 in the Aga Khan Collection (see S. R. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins, London 1998, pp. 78-79, no. 52).

The line of text in the upper panel is from a manuscript on how to write each letter of the alphabet in nasta'liq when joined to other letters (in this case, parts of the letter ta).

Additional information