Sisters

This delightful oil on canvas portrait of two Qajar beauties, possibly sisters, is distinguished by the elaborate jewel-studded and pearl-encrusted garments and headgear and the Western imported cut crystal goblet and decanter they hold. Although these are not actual portraits, their jeweled garments and accouterments suggest that they are court ladies rather than harem ladies and entertainers so frequently represented in paintings of women in this period. Paintings of women were rarely signed and dated, but the treatment of the facial features, the almond-shaped eyes, joined eyebrows, puckered lips, birthmarks, and rendition of the details of the garments place this work in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.