Page 34 - 2021 April 1, ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs, Christie's London

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REST ON THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT
BY OR IN THE MODE OF MUHAMMAD ZAMAN, SAFAVID IRAN,
DATED AH 1076/1665-66 AD
Opaque pigments on vellum, landscape with two kneeling angels adoring the
Christ Child sleeping in the Virgin's arms under a tree, signed and dated above
in white nasta'liq, set inside a thin gold and polychrome margin with scrolling floral
and vegetal bands and an outer border decorated with gilt decoration of leaping
animals, owner's seal impression on the right hand border, backed on cream card
Painting 5√ x 8in. (14.9 x 20.4cm.); folio 14Ω x 20ºin. (36.7 x 51.2cm.)
£100,000-150,000 US$150,000-210,000
€120,000-170,000

PROVENANCE:
John Augustine Westberg (1931-2001), New York, acquired in the 1960s-70s ,
By descent to the present owner
INSCRIPTIONS:
Signed ya sahib al-zaman, sana 1076
Above the signature: hasb al-amr al-‘ali, ‘by the order of the supreme’
Seal impression: Qur’an XI, sura al-hud, parts of v. 88; kanda bar khatam in mihr-i
Francois de Poilly (d. 1693), ‘Rest on the flight into Egypt’ (inv. no. U,1.62)
Muhammad Ahmad, ‘engraved on the seal is this love of Muhammad, Ahmad’
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Muraqqa' (The St. Petersburg Muraqqa', Milan, 1996). A further work of his in
The painting is inscribed ya sahib al-zaman– a phrase typically used as a
this genre, a different variant on the same subject, is in the Fogg Art Museum
signature of Muhammad Zaman. It is a pun on his name but was also likely
(inv. 1966.6), dated AH 1100/1689 AD (Anthony Welch, Shah Abbas & the Arts
to have been a reference to his particular style, and used by others working
of Isfahan, New York, 1973, pl. 72, p. 108). The origin of that miniature has been
with or in the style of this celebrated artist. In her essay on the artist in the
traced to a mid-seventeenth century engraving by the Flemish artist, Lucas
catalogue for the Pearls on a String exhibition, Amy Landau writes that like
Vosterman. The print itself is based upon an original painting by Peter Paul
Kamal al-Din Bihzad (d. ca.1525) and Riza ‘Abbasi (d.1635), Muhammad
Rubens, (Welch, op. cit. p. 117).
Zaman came to embody artistic developments and a court style, taking on the
mantle of a ‘heroic artist’. She goes on to say that his name in the form found Other works attributed to Muhammad Zaman include paintings added and
here was inscribed on paintings as an indicator of quality and mode (Amy S. restored in Shah Tahmasp I's copy of the Khamsa of Nizami (British Library inv.
Landau, ‘Man, Mode and Myth: Muhammad Zaman ibn Haji Yusuf’, Pearls on a Or.2265). A particularly fine example of Muhammad Zaman's 'Europeanised'
String, 2015, p.169). style, depicting a quintessentially Persian scene of the 'The Simurgh assisting
at the birth of Rustam' was added to the Shahnama created during the reign
Our painting bears some of the most iconic features of Muhammad Zaman’s
of Shah Abbas I, dated AH 1087/1677-78 in the Chester Beatty Library (inv.
work at its best. These include the inclusion of a broken tree trunk which
ms.277.f. 3b.; A.J. Arberry (ed.), The Chester Beatty Library- A Catalogue
is a favoured feature on outdoor scenes, especially with the crocodile-skin
of the Persian Manuscripts and Miniatures, Dublin, 1962, pl.38). It has been
treatment of the bark. Also typical are the small row of flying birds in a
suggested that Zaman was appointed to add two modern paintings to this
harmonious line against cumulus clouds, the carefully arranged flowering
older manuscript from the royal library because he was so renowned for his
plants around the sitters, and the soft and Europeanised facial features with
exquisite work in the European mode. Following court etiquette, beginning
gentle and thoughtful expressions.
around the year 1672 he started routinely to refer to himself as a banda (or,
Muhammad Zaman (d. circa 1700) was one of the first Safavid court painters sometimes, ghulam) of the royal household, both of which mean “slave” or
to imitate European painting styles and perspective and to develop his own “servant.” The painter therefore highlighted that he was part of the service
version of farangi-sazi, the European mode. Some scholars have suggested elite, a collective bound to the shah that viewed service as a virtue and who,
that Zaman travelled to Italy to study European painting before returning along with nobles and courtiers, enjoyed social privileges (Landau, op. cit. 171).
to Iran; today however this is generally rejected. His work actually shows These associations suggest that Muhammad Zaman was at some point linked
more Flemish and Dutch influence than Italian, and it is well established to the royal atelier or kitabkhaneh of the Safavids (A. Ivanov, Persian Miniatures,
that Flemish and Dutch prints circulated widely in seventeenth century Iran in E. Kostioukovitch (ed.), The St. Petersburg Muraqqa', Milan, 1996, p.35).
(Landau, op.cit., 2015, pp.176-8).
In addition, Muhammad Zaman frequently painted individual leaves for various
While a considerable proportion of Zaman’s work clearly derives from these royal and noble Safavid patrons; the royal commission statement above the
European prints, only a handful of the original engravings he worked from signature on this painting further supports a possible link with a royal patron.
have so far been identified. The present painting is one of a small number of The wealthy Armenian merchants based in New Julfa who treasured originality
exceptions. The composition depicts the “Rest on the flight into Egypt' and is with an element of foreignness were also amongst his faithful clients. They are
based on a print by Francois de Poilly (d. 1693), a French engraver who was thought to have commissioned paintings in the European mode to demonstrate
known mainly for his religious subjects after masters such as Raphael, Guido their refinement and worldly sophistication (Landau, op. cit., pp.179-80).
Reni and Annibale Carracci. This print is composed after a painting by
Our painting is particularly unusual because it has been executed on vellum
Annibale Carracci (d. 1609), the Italian master who was active in Bologna and
rather than paper, a medium which was only very rarely used for painting in the
later in Rome. A copy of De Poilly’s print is now in the British Museum (inv. no.
Safavid court. One of the attributes of artists particularly celebrated in Safavid
U,1.62) and Carracci’s painting is in the Hermitage Museum (inv. no. ГЭ-138).
Iran was their ability to work in different media. The same artist often worked
Many of Muhammad Zaman’s paintings based on European scenes can be on paper, lacquer, oil and occasionally on more unusual media such as fabric,
regarded as a commentary on seventeenth-century attitudes towards feminine copper or vellum. A Safavid painting of similar period in the Freer Gallery of Art
beauty and foreignness. Painters working in the European mode were highly is unusually painted on fabric (acc.no.F1999.18). A painting of Madonna and
sought after by the Safavid elite and handsomely rewarded (Landau, op. Child by Muhammad Zaman sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lot 261. More
cit.p.178). A small number of other known illustrations by Muhammad Zaman recently a work by the same artist depicting Shaykh San’an and the Christian
are based on biblical scenes, the majority of which are in the St. Petersburg maiden sold at Sotheby’s, London, 20 April 2016, lot 45.
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