Woman kneeling alone

Unknown

Woman kneeling alone. Wearing only purple trousers and a yellow sash, this woman kneels with her hands raised, as if in prayer. Her eyes gaze up towards the sun. Relatively rare, female nudity became more frequent in later Safavid painting, usually in reference to exotic foreigners. This drew from imported artworks of female allegories and fashionable portraiture, from Europe. Album folio, ink, colours and gold on blue paper, mounted on card, painting of kneeling woman in yellow scarf and purple trousers with gold bird detail, her palms raised in prayer, in a light green rocky landscape with the sun in upper left corner, framed with lines of Persian poetry in nasta`liq script, within ruled borders on gold-painted blue card album page, blank verso, unsigned, Isfahan, Iran, c. 1625-1650.