| Sotheby's Catalogue Description 1: A
FINE MID-SIXTEENTH CENTURY PERSIAN
DRAWING
Lot 214 Sotheby's London UK.
10/22/1993
An unarmed horseman attacked by a Dragon,
defending himself with his bare fists as
the beast entwines itself about him and
the horse, Tabriz or Qazvin, c.1540-50
Ink drawing on paper, seal impression
at lower left corner with the name
MansurAbd MuzaffarAli (?), mounted on an
18th/19th century Indian album page with
undecorated borders and descriptive
legend in nagari at top (from the same
album as lot 238), 165 by 109mm, page 351
by 240 mm.
This is one of the few drawings
attributable to the master artists of
Shah Tahmasp's atelier at Tabriz.
On grounds of style it may be assigned
to Aqa Mirak, the third painter to take
charge of the production of Shah
Tahmasp's great Shahnama manuscript after
Sultan Muhammad and Mir Musavir. A full
account of Aqa Mirak is given by
M.B.Dickson and S.C.Welch, The Houghton
Shahnameh, Cambridge, 1981, I, 95-117. He
came from an Isfahan family of Sayyid
descent, and according to Sam Mirza,
writing circa 1550, was in close
attendance upon the Shah and served as
the guiding spirit for the other artists.
He is thought to have moved with the
court to Qazvin in 1548 and to have
worked for Prince Ibrahim at Mashhad
after 1556. Although no signed works of
his are known, attributions have been
made by Welch on the basis of his
ascribed miniatures in Shah Tahmasp's
Khamsa now in the British Library.
The subject of the lone horseman
encountering a dragon was popular with
Persian draughtsmen. A slightly later
rendering attributed to Sadiqi is in the
Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection (A. Welch
and S.C.Welch, Arts of the Islamic Book,
New York, 1982, no.31; F.R.Martin,
Miniature Painting, II, P1.93), and
another, attributable to Siyawush, is in
the Art and History Trust Collection, (A.
Soudavar, Art of the Persian Courts, New
York, 1992, no.102).
£10,000-15,000
|
