TWO MANUSCRIPT ILLUSTRATIONS OF BANQUETING SCENES
Provincial late Safavid School, Iran, 18th century

Opaque pigments, ink and gold on paper, the two small-sized vertical manuscript illustrations depicting typical Safavid banqueting scenes, the first in a palatial setting, the latter in a lush fully blossomed garden by a stream, each scene livened with musicians and attendants carrying food or drinks, the palatial scene featuring several female characters including the dancer in the centre and the harp musician on the lower right, all wearing colourful headscarves, the counterpart to the prince a female courtly lady of title wearing a typical Safavid female headdress with curved sides, both manuscript illustrations mounted onto later album page cardboard borders with concentric frames decorated with gilt floral and vegetal scrolls and gold-speckled blue edges, each approx. 21.6cm x 14.6cm including the borders.