A portrait of an artist, style of Reza-i ‘Abbasi, Persia, Safavid, 17th century

The present work is an example of the Isfahan school of painting during the later Safavid period, executed in the manner of Reza-i ‘Abbasi (circa 1560-1635). When Abbas the Great (r.1588-1629) moved the capital to Isfahan in 1589, Reza was his most influential court painter. Here, Reza created a style that relied on a calligraphic line and an original sense of colour. Reza’s most recurring subject was single-figure portraits depicted with opulent accoutrements evocative of Isfahan’s status as the new capital in the seventeenth century. Although his subjects were commonly youths and lovers, Reza nonetheless drew on a variety of subjects including dervishes, shaykhs, poets and scribes, especially in the 1620s (Canby 1996, pp.137-164). The date in the attribution to this work suggests it is from Reza’s later body of work that our artist has found his inspiration.