AN EMBRACING COUPLE, SIGNED 'SAHIB MUHAMMAD', PERSIA, LATE SAFAVID, DATED 1123 AH/1711 AD

Ex-private collection, Germany. 

Acquired from Galerie Boisserée, Cologne, circa 1960s/70s (label on reverse of frame).

This painting of a couple embracing in a landscape exemplifies the continuation into the first half of the eighteenth century of the style that developed in the second half of the seventeenth century under artists such as Sheikh Abbasi, Ali Quli Jabbadar and Muhammad Zaman. This has been discussed by Layla Diba in a 1989 article, who states that "The innovative style introduced by the late Safavid court artists in Isfahan.... continued to be the predominant style in the eighteenth century." (Diba 1989, p.148). The date on the present work is 1711, a time when the generation of artists who followed the pioneering artists of the late seventeenth century, such as Muhammad Zaman's son Muhammad Ali were still fully active. The artist of the present work has signed his name 'Sahib Muhammad'. There were a number of artists named Muhammad who were active in the early eighteenth century, including the aforesaid Muhammad Ali ibn Muhammad Zaman, Muhammad Ali ibn Abd al-Beg ibn Ali Quli Jabbadar, Muhammad Rashid Kham, Muhammad Sultani (see Diba 1989, p.148), and Muhammad Mahdi (Adamova 2015, cat.86). The use of the term 'sahib' in the artist's name is interesting, as it echoes the punning signature 'Ya Sahib al-Zaman' used by Muhammad Zaman in the late seventeenth century.