Miniature pasted on an album leaf. ‘The Judgment of Solomon’
Iran, Isfahan; 1075 H = 1664
Miniature: 21.6 × 14.9 cm
Inventory number 162/2006
The only Persian artists in the 17th century who were able to break with the overwhelming influence of Riza-i Abbasi were those who were inspired by the greater naturalism that characterized not only European but also Indian painting.
Shaykh Abbasi was one of them, and in this signed and minutely detailed painting, he set the court of Solomon in 17th-century Iran. The wise king, who is considered to be a prophet by the Muslims, is not only surrounded by the usual supernatural divs and peris, but also by Indians in flat Mughal turbans and Europeans in cavalier hats. The landscape is naïve, but naturalistically rendered, and the figures are carefully modeled in light and shadow.
Shaykh Abbasi was one of them, and in this signed and minutely detailed painting, he set the court of Solomon in 17th-century Iran. The wise king, who is considered to be a prophet by the Muslims, is not only surrounded by the usual supernatural divs and peris, but also by Indians in flat Mughal turbans and Europeans in cavalier hats. The landscape is naïve, but naturalistically rendered, and the figures are carefully modeled in light and shadow.
Published in
Published in
Sotheby’s, London, 5/2-1935, lot 54;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 95;
Na'ama Brosh and Rachel Milstein: Biblical stories in Islamic painting, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1991, cat.no. 37;
Kjeld von Folsach, Joachim Meyer: The Human Figure in Islamic Art – Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2017, cat.no. 24;
Martin O'Kane: ”Painting King Solomon in Islamic and Orientalist tradition” in Die Bibel in der Kunst / Bible in the arts, 2017. (Online-Zeitschrift, 1), fig. 3, p. 6,
https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Bibelkunst/BiKu_2017_06_OKane_Solomom_Islamic_Tradition.pdf;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 95;
Na'ama Brosh and Rachel Milstein: Biblical stories in Islamic painting, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1991, cat.no. 37;
Kjeld von Folsach, Joachim Meyer: The Human Figure in Islamic Art – Holy Men, Princes, and Commoners, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2017, cat.no. 24;
Martin O'Kane: ”Painting King Solomon in Islamic and Orientalist tradition” in Die Bibel in der Kunst / Bible in the arts, 2017. (Online-Zeitschrift, 1), fig. 3, p. 6,
https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Bibelkunst/BiKu_2017_06_OKane_Solomom_Islamic_Tradition.pdf;
Miniature Paintings
Oil painting on canvas. ‘An Afro-Iranian Soldier’
Three miniatures from Bijan’s Tarikh-i Jahangusha-yi Khaqan Sahibqiran (A History of Shah Ismail I)
Miniature pasted on an album leaf. ‘A Scribe on a Terrace’
Miniature pasted on cardboard. ‘Karim Khan Zand with the Ottoman Ambassador Vehbi Effendi.’ Attributed to Abu’l Hasan Mustawfi