THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM NIZAMI'S KHOSROW O SHIRIN
Iran, 18th and late 19th century

Opaque pigments, pencil, ink, and gold on paper, comprising a vertical album page illustrating Khosrow spying on Shirin bathing in a river, a black attendant holding a floral cloth to hide the Armenian princess from unrequited gazes, a hillocky landscape with a Westernised architectural pavilion in the background, the pictorial style of both the characters and the landscape reminiscent of the late Safavid artist Muhammad Zaman's creations on paper and lacquer, the scene set within concentric polychrome rules and borders, some with illuminations, laid on a greyish green album page with gold speckles, mounted, framed and glazed, the page 39.7cm x 30.5cm; and a smaller illuminated Qajar folio with scenes in the front and reverse depicting Shirin on horseback meeting the love-struck rock-carver Farhad and checking his work at Mount Bisotun, set within a floral border in polychromes and gold, mounted, framed and glazed, the folio 13cm x 8.5cm, 27.5cm x 20cm including the frame.