File:A youth holding a wine cup, Safavid Isfahan, 16th century.jpg

SAFAVID ISFAHAN, 16TH CENTURY

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the youth holding a gold cup in his right hand, wearing a gold robe elaborately decorated with birds amidst stylised cloud scrolls tied with a blue sash, laid down within a narrow border comprising single orange flowers, the later margins with birds and scrolling floral design reserved against dark blue ground, the reverse with a later ownership seal impression Painting 6 7/8 x 3 ½in. (17.3 x 9cm.); folio 13 x 8 ¾in. (33 x 22.3cm.)

Full-length portraits of young men, women and couples became a popular subject in Safavid miniature painting across the late 16th and 17th centuries. The theme was popularized by Reza ‘Abbasi and his contemporaries, foremost among them was Muhammad Qasim. Reza ‘Abbasi’s diversified it into multiple subjects during his late career, from dervishes to eccentric figures and European youths (Canby, 1996, p. 165).

The facial features of this Safavid youth is closely comparable to that of the central character in Muhammad Qasim’s Chastisment of a Pupil dated AH 1014/1605–6 AD (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no.11.84.14). Both characters bear a generous full face and a finely penciled Safavid turban, along with the robe covered in birds and wind-shaped clouds in the style of Reza ‘Abbasi. Two closely comparable portraits of Safavid youths bearing a sword are in the Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. no. 44.275 (Canby, 1996, p. 153, cat. 112) and the Freer Sackler Gallery, inv. no. S1986.305.