A large painting depicting the Battle of Karbala, by the artist Mehdi Shams al-Kitabi

Qajar Persia, probably Isfahan, early 20th Century

Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, Canada.


The inscriptions read:
The shahadah and a Persian verse.
The phrase shafi'-e ruz-e qiyamat muhammad ast o 'ali, 'Muhammad and 'Ali are the intercessors on the Day of Judgement'.
The signature: 'The work of Mehdi Shams al-Kitabi'.

The artist is unrecorded.

For two very similar examples depicting the Battle of Karbala, see L. Diba (ed.), Royal Persian Paintings: the Qajar Epoch 1785-1925, New York 1999, pp. 276-278, nos. 94 and 95. The first is by Abbas al-Musavi, dated to the late 19th/early 20th Century, and measures 182 x 299 cm. The second is by 'Abdallah Musavvar (d. 1931) and measures 171.5 x 289 cm. Both are ascribed to Isfahan, the first since the city is mentioned in the signature, the second because the artist is known to have worked there (Diba, p. 278).

The subject of the Battle of Karbala and the moment of the martyrdom of Imam Husain by the Sunni caliph Yazid in Muharram 61/October AD 680, 'lies at the heart of Shi'ite belief'. Such paintings form a vital part of the event's re-enactment and theatrical performances commemorating it. 'The pardehdar (reciter) would nail the painting on a wall of a given building, whether a caravanserai, a takieh (a structure built for tazieh performances), or a local coffeehouse, and point to each relevant event as he told the story of Husain's martyrdom'. (See Diba, p. 277, fig. xxxiv for a photograph of an early 20th Century pardehdar performing in front of such a painting). As Diba comments, while such paintings differed in some details, and in their manner, they were all 'distinctive for [their] narrative immediacy and raging emotions [...] as well as the exaggerated vulgarity of the enemy and his men'; they were'designed to elicit an emotional response from the audience'.

The composition of our painting, and of the two illustrated by Diba, is dominated by the figure of 'Abbas (the half-brother of Husain) killing one of the members of the Sunni army. To the left of this is the wounded Qasim, son of Husain's elder brother, resting in Husain's arms. At the lower right all three have varying representations of Hell. Diba no. 95 and our painting both depict, at lower centre, supplicants giving tribute to a recognisably Qajar ruler or official in uniform.

For another similar painting, see Christie's, Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs and Carpets, 26th & 28th April 1994, lot 111 (dated to the 19th Century, 170 x 273.5 cm.).

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