Youthful Falconers in a Landscape

Youthful Falconer in a Landscape

A landscape of rocky hills, bushes, small blossoming trees, a stately plane tree, and a stream of water trickling downhill plays backdrop to a scene of repose. Two young men rest by the stream during a hawking expedition, one seated upright, the other leaning on a cushion with his legs crossed.[1] Both display their falcons on their wrists. By virtue of the more elaborate costume and headgear, the more relaxed pose and larger size, the youth on the right must be of a higher social rank. Even though these men, drawn large and very finely, occupy a prominent position in the foreground, the real interest of the drawing lies in the intricacies of the landscape. Finely drawn with brush and picked out in some details with colors, the masses of rocks and branches of the trees are enlivened with two gazelles, quails, cranes, and other birds. Close and careful viewing of this drawing is required to discover all the hidden treasures of the natural setting. And it comes as a delightful surprise to find the head of a bearded man peeking from behind the plane tree just above the edge of the rock in the center. His gaze is directed out and to the left, looking beyond the peaceful, enchanting spring world of the drawing.

The signature, Vali Jan, appears on the lower left-hand side. Vali Jan was a gifted artist from Tabriz, a pupil of Siyavush the Georgian, who went to the Ottoman court during the reign of Murad III (1574–95). A brief reference given by 'Ali Effendi seems to be the basis for all published information on this artist.[2] While surprisingly little seems to be known about him, the Museum's drawing is close in style, which entails a detailed descriptive observation of nature, to a drawing, Visit to a Hermit, in a Topkapi album.[3] The other Museum drawing inscribed Vali Jan, The Prince and the Petitioner (45.174.23, cat. no. 14 in this volume), comes close in spirit to the other two drawings in the parts that have been fully described, such as the saddlecloth. But before firm attributions can be made, the works of Vali Jan need further study.

In its pantheistic mood, this drawing resembles the Timurid decorative drawing (MMA 41.46, cat. no. 1 in this volume), Majnun in the Wilderness (MMA 1974.21, cat. no. 10 in this volume), and the two drawings Landscape with Animals in the Freer Gallery of Art.[4]

The subject of leisurely rest in the outdoors with a tree and a body of water is known from numerous other drawings. A tinted drawing, Dervish and His Disciple, in the Freer Gallery of Art (no. 47.23, fig. 23 in this volume) shows the extended popularity of the general theme in the seventeenth century.

[Swietochowski and Babaie 1989]

Footnotes:

1. For a discussion of the subject of hunting and hawking in Persian art and literature, see MMA 1975.192.17, cat. no. 6 in this volume.

2. See Huart, Cl. Les Calligraphes et les Miniaturistes de l' Orient Musulman. Paris, 1908, p. 337.

3. Çağman, Filiz. and Zeren Tanindi. Topkapi Palace Museum: Islamic Miniature Painting. Istanbul, 1979, fig. 40.

4. AtiI, Esin. The Brush of the Masters: Drawings from Iran and India. Exhibition catalogue. The Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, figs. 57, 58.

Signature: On lower left: Vali Jan

George D. Pratt, New York (by 1933–d. 1935); Vera Amherst Hale Pratt, New York (life interest 1935–45)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Persian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 13–December 31, 1989, no. 25.

Swietochowski, Marie, and Sussan Babaie. Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 25, pp. 60–61, ill. pl. 25 (b/w).