A ruler in a landscape, school of Reza 'Abbasi, probably Qazvin, Safavid Iran, last quarter 16th century, Reza Abbasi

A ruler in a landscape school of reza 'abbasi, probably qazvin, safavid iran, last quarter 16th century gouache heightened with gold on paper, a turbanned royal figure sits beneath a tented canopy being served refreshments as musicians and revelers entertain in the foreground, with attribution raqm-i kamtarin reza-i 'abbasi in the right margin, laid down within later gold and polychrome illuminated floral border on wide gold margins with later owner's signature and seal, mounted on card, minor areas of rubbing painting 9 x 5½in. (23 x 14cm. ); folio 14½ x 10¼in. (37 x 26. 2cm. ) the figures depicted in our painting with their large turbans and the many flowering plants on the green ground are similar to illustrations produced by an unknown artist who worked on shah abbas' 1587-97 shahnama manuscript produced at qazvin. Our painting is most similar to one of the unattributed paintings in that manuscript. Reza 'abbasi and his contemporary sadiqi beg are recorded as working on the 1587-97 shahnama together with a number of unrecorded artists, (anthony welch, artists for the shah: late sixteenth-century painting at the imperial court of iran, london, 1976, fig. 41). Date: last quarter 16th century.