English: PORTRAIT OF A RULER, PROBABLY SHAH SULAYMAN I

FOLLOWER OF 'ALI QULI JABBADAR, SAFAVID IRAN, CIRCA 1670-80

Gouache with gold on paper, the figure with ornate gold turban and black plume, a fragment from a larger miniature, very slight flaking, mounted, framed and glazed Miniature 3½ x 2¾in. (8.9 x 6.1cm.)

This painting can be compared to those in the celebrated St Petersburg Album (Muraqqa), which contains a number of magnificent miniatures of seated royalty painted in Isfahan in the second half of the 17th century by artists including Muhammad Sultani, Shaykh Abbasi, Muhammad Zaman and 'Ali Quli Jabbadar. Influenced by greater contact with European ideas, the style heralded a new direction in Iranian painting, with a greater emphasis on carefully observed detail, modelling and three-dimensional forms.

The subject of this painting, a young ruler with short beard and magnificent plumed turban, is very similar in style and detail to a miniature in the Album, thought to be of the young Shah Sulayman I by 'Ali Quli Jabbadar (Muraqqa plate 191/f.99r.). The turban is also comparable, though as the subject faces the other way, more is concealed in the present miniature.

A miniature of a ruler with very similar turban, frock coat and beard, possibly a copy of the present piece, was sold at Sotheby's, 23 October, 1992, lot 515.