Drawing of a woman standing in a dress in an outdoor landscape, trees and buildings can be seen in the background. Multiple illuminated boarders surround the image, set in the centre of a rectangular folio page.
AKM150, Woman in a Landscape

© The Aga Khan Museum

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Woman in a Landscape
  • Accession Number:AKM150
  • Creator:signed by Bahram Sofrakesh
  • Place:Iran, Isfahan
  • Dimensions:34.9 x 22.4 cm
  • Date:1640–41
  • Materials and Technique:ink, opaque watercolour, and gold on paper
  • In this single-page painting, it is clear that the Reza-e ‘Abbasi style of drawing that had developed in Isfahan throughout the 17th century received fresh new ideas from India. The Indian dress of the standing woman is immediately identifiable. The village or townscape on the horizon and the mango trees are also Indian subjects. The buildings with pitched roofs and odd structures resembling haystacks further suggest that the artist studied Mughal paintings of the late 16th or early 17th centuries.[1]

Further Reading

 

Mughal Indian visual culture intrigued Iranian artists, and like the artist of this folio, Bahram Sofrakesh, who is named in the inscription, the artists ‘Ali Quli Jabbadar, Sheykh ‘Abbasi (see AKM197), and his sons shared the Indian fascination. Naturalistic flower and bird compositions were also added to the repertoire of Iranian artists, who started to execute artworks in the Mughal mode, modelling the figures and showing full perspective.

 

Sheila Canby points out that there is no doubt of the Iranian origin of this drawing and of its execution in Iran.[2] Both Indian models and imitations of the Indian style were accessible in 17th-century Isfahan.[3] There are two known signed and dated works by Bahram Sofrakesh depicting an Indian woman,[4] and this painting is one of them. They show the artist’s pioneering work in this field and highlight the adaptation of Indian elements to Safavid painting.

 

— Filiz Çakır Phillip


Notes
[1.] Sheila Canby, The Golden Age of Persian Art: 1501–1722 (London: British Museum Press, 1999), 136.
[2] Ibid., Princes, Poets & Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1998), 81–82.
[3] Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum: Arts of the Book & Calligraphy (Istanbul: Aga Khan Trust for Culture/Sakıp Sabancı University and Museum, 2010), 335.
[4] Abolala Soudavar, “Le Chant du Monde: A Disenchanting Echo of Safavid Art History,” Iran 46 (2008): 366, fig. 145.


References
Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum: Arts of the Book & Calligraphy. Istanbul: Aga Khan Trust for Culture/Sakıp Sabancı University and Museum, 2010. ISBN: 9786054348084
Canby, Sheila. The Golden Age of Persian Art: 1501–1722. London: British Museum Press, 1999. ISBN: 978-0810941441
---. Princes, Poets & Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1998. ISBN: 9780714114835
Phillip, Filiz Çakır. Enchanted lines: drawings from the Aga Khan Museum collection. 2014. ISBN: 9780991992874 
Soudavar, Abolala. Art of the Persian Courts: Selections from the Art and History Trust Collection. New York: Rizzoli, 1992. ISBN: 978084781660

Note: This online resource is reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis. We are committed to improving this information and will revise and update knowledge about this object as it becomes available.

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