AN INCOMPLETE POETIC ANTHOLOGY
Safavid Iran, 17th century

Persian manuscript on paper comprising a selection of poems by poets bearing the takhallos (nom de plume) of Nouri, Mirza Hadi, Nazim and several others, 114ff., each folio with 14ll. arranged in two columns of black nasta'liq script, the text panel within blue, red, and gold rules, with illuminated chapter headings, the text set within gold cloudbands, catchwords, the opening page to the section of Mirza Hadi with a full-length trony of a standing smiling dandy in a landscape, in a jauntily pointed hat and fur-trimmed and lined silk jacket worn en pelisse, the drawing painted in the style of Reza 'Abbasi and late Safavid Isfahan school, the manuscript stamped H. Kevorkian collection 700, bound in blind-tooled olive calf, the text panel 13.6cm x 9.8cm and the folio 17.5cm x 9.8cm.

This lot is accompanied by a letter with comments on the manuscript dating and content from George Anavian on behalf of the late professor Ehsan Yarshater to Dr. Marilyn Jenkins Madina, one of the curators of the Islamic Art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated 27 September 1983.

The pelisse (a short fur-trimmed jacket) was a typical outfit part of the hussar light cavalry soldiers' uniform from the 17th century onwards. It was usually worn hanging loose over the left shoulder, ostensibly to prevent sword cuts. The cut, style, and fur trim of the youth’s jacket, along with the red toggles – the only tinted element in the painting apart from the hint of gold in the hat and the fur – are indicative of a conversation and awareness between the two poles: one of a dashing man of war, and the other of a worldly fashionable Safavid Persian trendsetter out-swaggering the enemies with poise and grace.