A Princely Hawking Party in the Mountains, ca. 1575; Safavid
Attributed to Mirza cAli
Iran (Qazvin)
Colors and gold on paper; H. 18 5/8 in. (47.3 cm), W. 12 3/4 in. (32.4 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1912 (12.223.1)
Attributed to Mirza cAli
Iran (Qazvin)
Colors and gold on paper; H. 18 5/8 in. (47.3 cm), W. 12 3/4 in. (32.4 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1912 (12.223.1)
This mannered miniature was the left half of a large, double-page composition now shared with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The figures, part of a hawking party, gaze to the right at the seated prince who is central to the Boston painting. The two pages, probably painted as the frontispiece to a great manuscript, can be attributed to Mirza cAli, one of the leading younger artists of the Tahmasp Shahnama. The painting is in the court style associated with the new capital, Qazvin. In the idealized landscape, slim, elegant aristocrats take their ease in graceful, languid poses. Figures with long necks and small round heads are typical of the Qazvin school.














