A POLYCHROME-PAINTED ENAMELLED COPPER OVAL DISH WITH YUSUF AN ZULEYKHA
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Qajar Iran, first half 19th century

Of oval shape, resting on a flat oval base, with everted rim, gilt and painted in polychrome enamels, the centre depicting a dear topos in Persian literature extracted from Jami's Haft Awrang tale of Yusuf o Zuleykha, the golden haloed Yusuf entering the room with a basin and water ewer to allow Zuleykha and the maidens to wash their hands after cutting the oranges, the whole female crowd mesmerised by Yusuf's beauty, all female gazes directed to the standing Yusuf (Joseph) here depicted as a member of the Qajar court wearing a pink tunic with encrusted gold bazubands and a light green turban, only one lady reclined in the foreground looking away from the scene's focus and straight at us, engaging the beholder's attention and focus, the scene set in a typical Qajar courtly interior, providing a powerful fresco of the interior design and female fashion in 19th-century Iran, the back with a tranquil Western-inspired riverside view livened by architectural clusters, the group of buildings on the left reminiscent of Italian Renaissance views with basilicas, the group on the right with minarets, around the edges on both sides cusped cartouches filled with lush pink roses and foliage against a gilt dotted cobalt blue-enamelled ground, 16cm x 12cm x 1.5cm.

For a similar composition on a different media (lacquer) once part of the same collection, please see these Rooms, 22 April 2020, lot 144.