Moʿin Moṣavver | Individual Drawings and Paintings
Painting 1673.2
Portrait of Reżā ʿAbbāsi
Location: Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Manuscripts Division, Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 96G;
formerly in the B. Quaritch Collection.
Painting: 18.7 x 10.3 cm. Image+illuminated frame: 32.4 x 21.3 cm. Mount: 51.4 x 41.3 cm.
Signature: Signed and dated 1084/1673.
Inscription
Written on a diagonal in the upper left: šebh-e ʿofrān va reżvan ārāmqāhi marḥumi maḡfuri ostādam reżā-ye moṣavver ʿabbāsi mašhur-e reżā-ye ʿabbāsi ašʿar betāriḵ-e šahr-e šavvāl ba eqbāl sana 1044 ābrang karda bud ka dar šahr-e ẕu'l-qaʿda al-ḥarām šahr-e maẕkur az dar-e fanā beʿālam-e baqā rajʿat namud va en šebh bad az 40 sāl dar 4 dahhom šahr-e ramażān al-mobārak sana 1084 ḥasb-e farmuda farzandi moḥammad naṣirā ba etmām rasid. moʿin-e moṣavver. ḡafarʿan.
Translation: “Portrait of my master, who has parted to his eternal repose, who God holds in His mercy, Reżā the painter ʿAbbāsi, known as Reżā-ye ʿAbbāsi Ašʿar [Ašḡar]. It was painted in the month of Šavvāl 1044/20 March-17 April 1635. In the month of Ẕu'l-qaʿda of the same year/18 April-17 May 1635, he passed from this life to the life eternal. This portrait was completed 40 years later, on the fourteenth of the month of Ramażān in the year 1084/23 December 1673, on the order of my son (or the son of) Moḥammad Naṣirā. Moʿin Moṣavver. That his sins may be pardoned.”
Description:
Reżā ʿAbbāsi is portrayed as a man well in his sixties, perhaps seventy years of age, with a wrinkled brow, light moustache and beard, thin lips, small eyes, and a prominent nose on which spectacles are perched. He is seated on the ground facing the left, his right leg crossed over his left in order to support a painting on which he works, with a pen in one hand and a dish of color in the other. The subject of the painting is a European youth holding a large jug - the same as the subject of 1673.1 painted only three months earlier. Reżā wears a multi-colored turban and a long plain robe tied at the waist with a variegated sash. He is barefoot, and a coat is crumpled on the floor behind him. On the ground before him, in the extreme left, is an ink well and pen box, three paintings, and a small table on which several small cups have been placed. The background is not painted.
Bibliography:
Martin,MMP_1912, I, pp.72 and 125, fig.32.
Schulz_1914, I, pp.186-87.
Arnold, Journal_1916, p.69.
Sakisian, MP_1929, p.143 and pl.C.
BWG_1933, p.178.
Arnold & Grohmann, IslamicBook_1939, pl.75.
Kühnel, Survey_1939, pp.1892-93.
Moghadan & Armajani_1939, Garrett, no.200.
Kühnel, Pantheon_1942, fig. 2.
Grube, MMP_1962, pp.135-36, no.118 (ill.).
Stchoukine, SA_1964, pp.67, 88-89.
Welch, SA_1973, no.76 (ill.).
Bakhtiyår, RA_1971, pl.opposite p.8.
Commentary:
This painting is valuable not only for its obvious aesthetic qualities, but for its documentary value as well. The lengthy inscription is an excellent example of Moʿin’s predilection toward providing the viewer with detailed information about the circumstances surrounding a miniature. It is in Moʿin’s own handwriting, is signed, and provides not only the date of Reżā’s death, but also confirms the supposition that Reżā was Moʿin’s teacher. The painting is also an excellent example of the artist’s ability to portray the individual likeness of a subject, which although somewhat idealized, is among the closest examples of portraiture in Persian painting at that time. From it one can actually gauge the age of the subject when he died. The painting style is well in keeping with Moʿin’s other work, and its authenticity is further attested to by another Moʿin miniature dated only three months earlier (1673.1), that portrays a European youth holding a large Chinese style jar, a composition that is virtually identical to the picture held by Reżā in the Princeton portrait. For other “portraits” painted by Moʿin, see Ḵalifa Solṭān, c.1650 (1650.4); Ḥakim Šafāʿi, d.1085/1674-75 (1674.1); Mirzā M. Bāqir, d.1085/1674 (1674.2); and Timur Khan Turkman, d.1095/1683-84 (1683.2). For a copy of the Princeton portrait dated 1087/1676 and “signed” by Moʿin, but most likely the work of a follower, see BWG, pl.CXIIa.
Photo courtesy of Princeton Uniersity Library
Robert Eng
Last Updated: March 30, 2018 | Originally published: March 30, 2018
Painting 1673.2
Portrait of Reżā ʿAbbāsi
Location: Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Manuscripts Division, Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 96G;
formerly in the B. Quaritch Collection.
Painting: 18.7 x 10.3 cm. Image+illuminated frame: 32.4 x 21.3 cm. Mount: 51.4 x 41.3 cm.
Signature: Signed and dated 1084/1673.
Inscription
Written on a diagonal in the upper left: šebh-e ʿofrān va reżvan ārāmqāhi marḥumi maḡfuri ostādam reżā-ye moṣavver ʿabbāsi mašhur-e reżā-ye ʿabbāsi ašʿar betāriḵ-e šahr-e šavvāl ba eqbāl sana 1044 ābrang karda bud ka dar šahr-e ẕu'l-qaʿda al-ḥarām šahr-e maẕkur az dar-e fanā beʿālam-e baqā rajʿat namud va en šebh bad az 40 sāl dar 4 dahhom šahr-e ramażān al-mobārak sana 1084 ḥasb-e farmuda farzandi moḥammad naṣirā ba etmām rasid. moʿin-e moṣavver. ḡafarʿan.
Translation: “Portrait of my master, who has parted to his eternal repose, who God holds in His mercy, Reżā the painter ʿAbbāsi, known as Reżā-ye ʿAbbāsi Ašʿar [Ašḡar]. It was painted in the month of Šavvāl 1044/20 March-17 April 1635. In the month of Ẕu'l-qaʿda of the same year/18 April-17 May 1635, he passed from this life to the life eternal. This portrait was completed 40 years later, on the fourteenth of the month of Ramażān in the year 1084/23 December 1673, on the order of my son (or the son of) Moḥammad Naṣirā. Moʿin Moṣavver. That his sins may be pardoned.”
Description:
Reżā ʿAbbāsi is portrayed as a man well in his sixties, perhaps seventy years of age, with a wrinkled brow, light moustache and beard, thin lips, small eyes, and a prominent nose on which spectacles are perched. He is seated on the ground facing the left, his right leg crossed over his left in order to support a painting on which he works, with a pen in one hand and a dish of color in the other. The subject of the painting is a European youth holding a large jug - the same as the subject of 1673.1 painted only three months earlier. Reżā wears a multi-colored turban and a long plain robe tied at the waist with a variegated sash. He is barefoot, and a coat is crumpled on the floor behind him. On the ground before him, in the extreme left, is an ink well and pen box, three paintings, and a small table on which several small cups have been placed. The background is not painted.
Bibliography:
Martin,MMP_1912, I, pp.72 and 125, fig.32.
Schulz_1914, I, pp.186-87.
Arnold, Journal_1916, p.69.
Sakisian, MP_1929, p.143 and pl.C.
BWG_1933, p.178.
Arnold & Grohmann, IslamicBook_1939, pl.75.
Kühnel, Survey_1939, pp.1892-93.
Moghadan & Armajani_1939, Garrett, no.200.
Kühnel, Pantheon_1942, fig. 2.
Grube, MMP_1962, pp.135-36, no.118 (ill.).
Stchoukine, SA_1964, pp.67, 88-89.
Welch, SA_1973, no.76 (ill.).
Bakhtiyår, RA_1971, pl.opposite p.8.
Commentary:
This painting is valuable not only for its obvious aesthetic qualities, but for its documentary value as well. The lengthy inscription is an excellent example of Moʿin’s predilection toward providing the viewer with detailed information about the circumstances surrounding a miniature. It is in Moʿin’s own handwriting, is signed, and provides not only the date of Reżā’s death, but also confirms the supposition that Reżā was Moʿin’s teacher. The painting is also an excellent example of the artist’s ability to portray the individual likeness of a subject, which although somewhat idealized, is among the closest examples of portraiture in Persian painting at that time. From it one can actually gauge the age of the subject when he died. The painting style is well in keeping with Moʿin’s other work, and its authenticity is further attested to by another Moʿin miniature dated only three months earlier (1673.1), that portrays a European youth holding a large Chinese style jar, a composition that is virtually identical to the picture held by Reżā in the Princeton portrait. For other “portraits” painted by Moʿin, see Ḵalifa Solṭān, c.1650 (1650.4); Ḥakim Šafāʿi, d.1085/1674-75 (1674.1); Mirzā M. Bāqir, d.1085/1674 (1674.2); and Timur Khan Turkman, d.1095/1683-84 (1683.2). For a copy of the Princeton portrait dated 1087/1676 and “signed” by Moʿin, but most likely the work of a follower, see BWG, pl.CXIIa.
Photo courtesy of Princeton Uniersity Library
Robert Eng
Last Updated: March 30, 2018 | Originally published: March 30, 2018
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