AN ILLUMINATED FOLIO WITH AN ENTHRONED PRINCE IN CONVERSATION
Bukhara, Central Asia, early 17th century

Opaque pigments, ink, white wash, and gold on paper, the vertical composition illustrating a prince clad in a cobalt blue robe, wearing a golden turban with a black aigrette, kneeling on a throne under a burgundy tent, depicted in conversation with another nobleman clad in a golden robe whilst being observed by an attendant and two elder men with sticks, the composition laid down on album page with concentric illuminated inner borders and gold-sprinkled green paper, the number 1 written in pencil on the lower left corner indicative of an album (muraqqa') range, the reverse with a central gold and blue roundel reminiscent of shamsa medallion illuminations typical of 16th and 17th-century Persian Qur'ans, mounted on a white cardboard frame, the folio 24.5cm x 13cm, the album page 39.6cm x 26cm.

Provenance:

Sotheby's London, Hagop Kevorkian Collection, 12 April 1976, lot 26
Sotheby's London, 14 October 1999, lot 50

Sotheby's London recorded the sale of two further illustrated leaves from the same manuscript in their Rooms, 9 December 1970, lot 235 and 236. The attribution to Bukhara, Central Asia, is corroborated by both the style of the illuminated borders, reminiscent of 16th-century Bukhara manuscript colophons, and other compositional elements like the choice of attires and the tent in the background, harking back to the nomadic lifestyle embraced in Central Asian territories.