Partly colored drawing pasted on an album leaf. ‘Young Prince with Brands on his Arm’
Iran, Isfahan; c. 1630
Drawing: 15.2 × 5.7 cm
Inventory number 139/2006
This drawing was signed by Riza-i Abbasi, the most influential Persian artist during the reign of Shah Abbas and throughout the 17th century.
The young man with the round chin – identified as Prince Kamran Shah Hindi – is a good example of the ideals of a new era. Album leaves with charming but slightly decadent courtiers seem to have dominated the artistic scene, supplemented by portraits of Sufis, wrestlers, and other personages.
Branding oneself was actually a Sufi practice, which was intended to demonstrate spiritual strength, but on a secular level it was a sign of devotion to one’s beloved.
The young man with the round chin – identified as Prince Kamran Shah Hindi – is a good example of the ideals of a new era. Album leaves with charming but slightly decadent courtiers seem to have dominated the artistic scene, supplemented by portraits of Sufis, wrestlers, and other personages.
Branding oneself was actually a Sufi practice, which was intended to demonstrate spiritual strength, but on a secular level it was a sign of devotion to one’s beloved.
Published in
Published in
Laurence Binyon, J. V. S. Wilkinson and Basil Gray: Persian Miniature Painting. Including a Critical and Descriptive Catalogue of the Miniatures Exhibited at Burlington House, January-March,1931, London 1933, cat. 326;
Sotheby’s, London 6/12 1967, lot 72;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few. Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk 2007, cat. 82;
Noor Bhangu and Kristian Wikborg Wiese (eds.): Skeive ornamenter = Deviant Ornaments, The National Museum, Oslo 2026, pp. 64-65;
Miniature Paintings
A copy of Mansur ibn Ilyas’s Tashrih-i mansuri (25 hand-written + 10 printed leaves). First shown leaf: Fol. 11r, Man seen from behind
‘The Constellation Gemini’. Miniature in an illustrated copy of al-Sufi’s Kitab suwar al-kawakib (The Book of Fixed Stars)
Colored drawing pasted on an album leaf. ‘An Old and a Young Man and a Woman Having a Picnic.’ Attributed to Muhammad Ali
Partly colored drawing pasted on an album leaf. ‘A Prince with Courtiers in a Landscape’. Attributed to Muhammad Qasim