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Sotheby's catalogue
description: Arts of the Islamic World
including 20th Century Middle Eastern Paintings
lot 59
Sale L01281 Lot 59
A kneeling youth playing a flute, signed by Mu'in
Musavvir, Persia, Isfahan, dated 23rd Rabi'
al-Awwal A.H.1087/6th June A.D.1676
London, Bond Street 12,000—18,000 GBP
Session 1, 18 Oct 01 10:30 AM
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium:
55,700 GBP
DESCRIPTION
A kneeling youth playing a flute, signed by Mu'in
Musavvir, Persia, Isfahan, dated 23rd Rabi'
al-Awwal A.H.1087/6th June A.D.1676
gouache with gold on paper, the uncoloured
background painted with rocks, flowers and clouds
in gold, signed and dated in gold at lower left,
laid down on an album page with
green inner borders and plain cream outer borders
miniature 18.3 by 9.4 cm.
Provenance:
Formerly in the collection of Walter Cabot,
thence by descent
This portrait of a well-dressed youth playing a
flute is an important example of the
single-figure portraits painted by Mu'in Musavvir
(1617-1708), who was was one of the greatest and
most prolific artists of the 17th century. He was
a student of the great court painter Reza-i
Abbasi and a portrait of his master by Mu'in
survives in the Princeton University Library
(Garrett Coll.96G). His long career (c.1635-1707)
gave him the opportunity to produce a large
corpus of work, and although much of it was
concerned with traditional manuscript
illustration, including several Shahnama
manuscripts, he also took the art of single-page
compositions to new heights (see Farhad, 1990).
Mu'in painted two other miniatures closely
related to the present piece within the first
three months of the year A.H. 1087. A youth on
horseback was painted on 5th Muharram 1087 (21st
March 1676) and a youthful shepherd playing the
pipes was painted just two days before the
present piece, on 21st Rabi' al-Awwal 1087 (4th
June 1676). Both these works were sold in these
rooms: 23rd November 1976, lot 253 and 23rd April
1979, lot 77.
Three other related works are a portrait of the
royal physician Hakim Shafa'i painted in 1674
(sold in these rooms, 7th April 1975, lot 53, and
now in the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection,
see Canby 1998, no.60), a
portrait of the Sultan al-Ulema Khalifa Sultan
'Itimad al-Daula, painted around 1650 (sold at
Christie's, London, 23rd April 1981, lot 120, now
in the Art and History Trust Collection, see
Soudavar 1992, p.289) and a portrait of a
youth in an orange robe, sold in these rooms 2nd
May 1977, lot 56, and again, 15th October 1998,
lot 65.
For further reading and illustrations of Mu'in's
work see:
Farhad 1990
Canby 1996
Canby 1998, nos.55-61.
Picture and Information from www.Sothebys.com
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