TWO PERSIAN DRAWINGS: A COURTLY GATHERING AND A BATHING LADY
Late Safavid and Zand Iran, 18th century

Opaque pigments, pencil, ink and gold on paper, comprising a loose album folio with two columns of 10ll. of crisp black ink nasta'liq script with a philosophical discourse in rhyme on the nature of free will, the last two lines in gold on blue ground, the calligraphic composition set within orange, blue and gold rules, the verso mounted with a Safavid-revival drawing illustrating a courtly gathering with a prince resembling Shah 'Abbas the Great in his youth, seated on a high chair drinking from a hemispherical cup and listening to the accounts of two soldiers seated to his right, the folio mounted on later album page borders with gold lotus and floral scrolls on buff ground, 28cm x 20.5cm the folio; and a tinted drawing of a bathing lady, her upper body naked, her lower body covered by a black shawl, the depiction of her facial features and hair in line with late Safavid and Zand painting traditions, mounted on later polychrome-painted and gilt cardboard borders, 19cm x 12cm.