Lot 1009. Portrait of Nazar 'Ali Beg, son of Alqas Mirza, by Mu'in Musavvir, Isfahan, Iran, dated AH 1084/1674-5 AD. Painting: 3 ¾ x 7 ¾ in. (9.5 x 19.7 cm.) Folio: 6 3/8 x 10 5/8 in. (16 x 26.9 cm.) Estimate USD 70,000 - USD 100,000. Price realised USD 212,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018. 

Gouache heightened with gold on paper, inscribed and dated on the left side of the page, ruled margin, laid down on plain leaf, later laid down again, the reverse with pencil confirmation of the inscriptions, mounted, framed and glazed.

Provenance: Lucy Truman Aldrich, Providence, Rhode Island.
Acquired from the estate of the above September 1955.

Literature: R. Ellsworth et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection: Arts of Asia and Neighboring Cultures, New York, 1993, vol III, p. 284-285, no. 214.

Mu’in Musavvir was one of the most prolific artists working in Iran from the 1630s to the 1690s. In addition to his illustrated manuscripts such as Shahnamas, he created a large number of single-page drawings and paintings of a wide variety of subjects. Our painting represents Mu‘in’s unique style, which shows little of the European and Indian influences so popular at the Safavid court from the 1640s onward. This portrait presents the artist’s skilful painterly brushwork and his affection for shades of pinks, purples and oranges, evident here in some of the youth’s attire. The artist worked for non-royal patrons, such as our example, who were presumably more conservative in their taste than Shahs Safi (r. 1629–42) and ‘Abbas II (r. 1642–66), and at certain times lived outside the capital, Isfahan.  

Although this work is not signed, the hand in which the date is recorded and the overall style of the work is typical of Mu'in’s style making this a confident attribution to him.