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Persian Miniature Painting: Pruning Scars as a Tool in Attribution

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Persian Miniature Painting: Pruning Scars as a Tool in Attribution
"A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden" from the Haft Awrang of Jami1.		 Persian Miniature Painting: Pruning Scars as a Tool in Attribution
Signed by Abdollah-e Mozahheb from the Sifat al-ashqin2.
The picture of the prince in "A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden" from the Haft Awrang of Jami seems to match the Prince in the Sifat al-ashqin but it raises as many questions as it answers.

Please note the branch cut mark to the right of the princes cup. Here we see the hallmark of the meticulously pruned tree. The cut has been made as close as possible to the stem in the branch axil, but outside the branch bark ridge. The tree in the Sifat al-ashqin is flush cut and lacks the distinctive star pattern of the tree in the "A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden".

Obviously the question then becomes is the star ring significant as an attribution clue?

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Persian Miniature Painting: Pruning Scars as a Tool in Attribution
"A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden" from the Haft Awrang of Jam		 Persian Miniature Painting: Pruning Scars as a Tool in Attribution
Detail "The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them"3.

Please compare the star ring cut mark in the "A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden" and in "Aziz and Zulaykha".

I must note that I can not recall a Chinar tree the color brown we see in "The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them". Then again I do not know that much about Chinar trees.

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Detail "The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them"


Detail - "Ustad Abdollah"4. a signed miniature by Abdollah-e Mozahheb
When I was scanning the star ring cut marks in the "Aziz and Zulaykha" miniature I was surprised to feel as though I recognized the young fellow in the tree. He bears an uncanny resemblance to the subject of Ustad Abdollah. Abdullah seems to like this sort of fur trimmed felt crowned hat. (See Hats and Stringed Instruments)
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Detail "AA City Dweller Desecrates a Garden" from the Haft Awrang of Jami		 ek9991.jpg (29274 bytes)
Detail "The flight of the Tortoise"5.
Here we see a comparison of trees in miniatures from the Haft Awrang of Jami that are both attributable to Painter D if one follows S. C. Welch 6. Both show the distinctive star ring cut marks.
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Detail "A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden" from the Haft Awrang of Jami		 ek9991.jpg (29274 bytes)
Detail "The flight of the Tortoise" from the Haft Awrang of Jami

Here we can compare the trees and also please note the birds.
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detail "A Prince entertained". Soudavar, Abolala. Art of the Persian Court. New York: Rizzoli, 1992, page 187 plate 71c

Attributed to Abdol-Aziz. Please see Painter D as Abdol-Aziz?
  1. Simpson, Marianna Shreve, and Farhad, Massumeh. Sultan Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang, A Princely Manuscript from Sixteenth-Century Iran. Page 165.Folio 179b
  2. Welch, Stuart Cary. Persian Painting Five Royal Manuscripts of the Sixteenth Century. New York: George Braziller. 1976. Plate 43, folio 179 verso.
  3. Simpson, Marianna Shreve, and Farhad, Massumeh. Sultan Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang, A Princely Manuscript from Sixteenth-Century Iran.  Page 119 Folio 100b
  4. Kuhnel, Ernst. La Miniature En Orient, Paris: Les Editions G. Cres & Cie, 1925. Plate 70a.Plate 70a.
  5. Simpson, Marianna Shreve, and Farhad, Massumeh. Sultan Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang, A Princely Manuscript from Sixteenth-Century Iran.  Page 185 Folio 215a