painting;
calligraphy;
album(detached folio)
- Museum number
- 1930,0412,0.2
- Description
-
Reclining woman; single-page painting mounted on a detached album folio. Portrait of a beautiful woman reclining against cushions, watching her dog drink from a bowl beside. Lady dresses in loose and provocative clothing, revealing her bare stomach and printed pants. A vase of roses stands by her feet, while a bowl and plate lie in front. Faded tree and plant drawings decorate the background. Calligraphy on B side. Border filled with calligraphy. Inscribed above lady's stomach.
Ink, opaque watercolour and gold on paper.
- Production date
- 1640 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 13.70 centimetres (calligraphy border)
-
Height: 11.90 centimetres (painting)
-
Height: 22.60 centimetres (sheet)
-
Width: 23.30 centimetres (calligraphy border)
-
Width: 15.80 centimetres (painting)
-
Width: 37.30 centimetres (sheet)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- By the 1630s, Persian artists no longer portrayed "pin up girls" in the guise of literary figures. Rather, paintings of suggestively posed, scantily clad courtesans increased, a phenomenon attributed to the loose moral climate at the court of Shah Safi (r. 1629-42).
Of the artists working at the courts of Shah Safi (1629-42) and Shah Abbas II (1642-66) Mir Afzal Tuni (or Husayni) adhered most closely to the themes and style of his predecessor Riza-yi Abbasi. A painting of an amorous couple by this artist in Princes, Poets & Paladins (cat. no. 50) reveals his interest in mildly erotic subjects.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2013 - 2014 27 Sep - 12 Jan, Zurich, Museum Rietberg, 'The Fascination of Persia'
2006, London, Tate Britain, East-West: Objects between cultures
- Acquisition date
- 1930
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 1930,0412,0.2
