| The Bahari Lacquer Bookcover
Tabriz circa 1540(?) Shiraz circa
1575
This
magnificent cover is in the Bahari collection and is Plate 1 in Sheila
Canby's book Persian Painting.
I choose to include this in my study because I
fail to see the justification for the attrabution to Tabriz and 1540
strikes me as a little early.
The Hunter with rifle is
interesting. Firearms were introduced to Persia in in the late 15th
century. Shreve Simpson citing Ta'rikh-i Amini came up with a date of
1471 when the Signory of Venice agreed to supply Uzun Hassan with
Firearms. However she notes that Folio 64 B of the Haft Awrang of Jami
is one of the earliest known representation of a rifle in a Persian
miniature. 2. Since this one is not much later than that circa1575
seems about right. As for a city of origin the piece seems clearly in
the style of the Shiraz school.
That presents us with a
problematic attribution of a similar piece. The Bahari Lacquer
bookcover is stylistically very similar. Attributed to Tabriz circa
1540 2 it presents a few problems for me. The rifleman would then be 15
to 25 years earlier that the one in the Haft Awrang and perhaps the
earliest one known. The hats and turbans seem to correspond to the
second half of the 16th century. Additionally some of the flowers grow
downwards from under rocks which is a style I relate to Shiraz rather
than Tabriz. I will have to take a closer look at some point since I do
not understand the justification for an attribution of the Bahari cover
to Tabriz circa 1540 when Shiraz later in the sixteenth century seems
so much in order.
Attribution of Plate 73:
Hunting Scene - Shiraz Circa 1575
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