Miniature pasted on an album leaf. ‘A Bird on a Hazel Branch.’ Signed Shafi Abbasi
Iran, Isfahan; November/December 1651
Leaf: 30 × 22.2 cm
Inventory number 7/2004
“This was written and drawn for the most successful, the noblest, the holiest, the most exalted, the highest Nawwab by the humble Shafi Abbasi in the month of Dhu’l-hijja al-Haram, 1061.”
This very finely painted bird, like the butterfly, is a product of Shafi Abbasi’s imagination, while the hazel branch with both nuts and leaves was beautifully drawn from nature.
Studies of birds and flowers became common in the second half of the 17th century, and were among Shafi Abbasi’s specialties. He was the son of the period’s most important painter, Riza-i Abbasi, who was given his surname by Abbas I, whereas Shafi was given his by Abbas II, who might be the Nawwab referred to in the inscription.
This very finely painted bird, like the butterfly, is a product of Shafi Abbasi’s imagination, while the hazel branch with both nuts and leaves was beautifully drawn from nature.
Studies of birds and flowers became common in the second half of the 17th century, and were among Shafi Abbasi’s specialties. He was the son of the period’s most important painter, Riza-i Abbasi, who was given his surname by Abbas I, whereas Shafi was given his by Abbas II, who might be the Nawwab referred to in the inscription.
Published in
Published in
Christie's, London, 12/10-1999, lot 69;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 92;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat.no. 92;
Miniature Paintings
A copy of Firdawsi’s Shahnama. This miniature (fol. 44r): ‘Rustam Slaying the Dragon.’ Signed Muin Musawwir
Miniature pasted on an album leaf. ‘The Judgment of Solomon’
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)