AN EROTIC TINTED DRAWING
Qajar Iran, 19th century

Opaque pigments, black ink and pencil on laid paper, the horizontal miniature composition depicting two lovers caught in an intimate moment, both reclining on oval cushions and dressed in typical Qajar attire with long robes open to the front and colourful baggy trousers, the composition set within golden rules and two concentric borders, pink and dark blue with golden vegetal sprays, pasted onto a later loose page once part of an erotic album, the border and recto with black ink nasta'liq poetic inscriptions, a later note in pencil marked to the right of the miniature with a date 1179 AH and a comment reading "the things that can't but be observed", mounted, glazed and framed, 20cm x 29.5cm excluding the frame.