"Portrait of a Persian Lady", Folio from the Davis Album

Unknown

dated A.H. 1149/ 1736–37 CE · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art

This folio depicts a lady seated on a balcony before an expansive landscape. The artist has used European techniques of modeling and shading in rendering the face, neck, and hands. The landscape in the background incorporates the use of perspective, a technique adopted by Iranian court painters in the mid-seventeenth century. A small date in white ink in the sky appears to read A.H. 1149/A.D. 1736–7, which places this work in the period of the Afsharid rulers of Iran.

Artist

Unknown

Date

dated A.H. 1149/ 1736–37 CE

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915