Persian Miniature Painting: Hats and Stringed Instruments
Hats and Stringed Instruments
We see a variety of stinged instruments in Persian Art. My thought is that styles and types of instruments can give us clues that we can use in attribution. I have been compareing a wide range of sources for names of types of instuments. I will atempt to name the various ones we see and then as this project goes forward I will refine it.
Here we see what appears to be a Cura. These are the smallest of the Saz type of Lute. These are a three is a three stringed instument with a small sound box.
Detail: Youth and Old Age Tabriz circa 1530
Here we see what appears to be a Baglama which is the medium size of Saz.
Detail “A party at the Court of Sultan Mirza. 2.
Deep-bodied waisted lute with a long neck, most popular classical instrument of Iran
Kemane Spike Fiddle
Spike Fiddle from Central Asia.
In the Haft Awrang of Jami folio 100b 1 “The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them” is in Stuart Cary Welch’s Painter A Group2. While I am still not ready to attribute the miniature I am intrigued by the similarities to the style of Abdollah-e Mozahheb.
Detail “The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them”
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.
Here we have a Painter A group on the left and a signed Abdollah-e Mozahheb on the right.
Detail “The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them”
Detail “The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them”
Here we see a child in “The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them” and “Solomon and Bilqis Sit Together and Converse Frankly” side by side. Soudavar attributed “Solomon and Bilqis” to Abdollah-e Mozahheb in Art of the Persian Court.
Detail “Diwan of Ibrahim Mirza” folio 23B6 attributed to Abdollah-e Mozahheb7
Detail “A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden”
Here we see a fairly rare type of hat with arabesque leaves on the crown and fur trim.
Detail “Diwan of Ibrahim Mirza” folio 23B6 attributed to Abdollah-e Mozahheb
Detail “The Aziz and Zulaykha enter the Capital of Egypt and the Egyptians come out to greet them” attributed to Painter D.
Signed by Abdollah-e Mozahheb from the Sifat al-ashqin
Detail “A City Dweller Desecrates a Garden” attributed to Painter D10.
Detail: Youth and Old Age Tabriz circa 1530
In two of Abdollah-e Mozahheb signed works he includes a rather distinctive with a small sound box.. It is three stringed with a long thin neck and a small box.
Here in a detail from Youth and Old Age Tabriz circa 1530 we can see a sitar with the larger sound box and appears to habe four strings. This larger box sitar is far more typical
Detail: A Peri with a Lute” attributed to the Mawlana Wali Allah 11
In the sitars of Abdollah-e Mozahheb I see a similarity to the ones drawn by the Mawlana Wali Allah. Wali was active from roughly 1447 to 1480 and is considered to have had influence on Bihzad 12 and of course the artist that followed them.