Seated man in his coat, by Muḥsin

Muhsin

Seated man in his coat, by Muḥsin. Wrapped in his fur-trimmed coat, a man crouches against the cold. His shaved head and large moustache make a strong contrast with the younger men in typical Safavid portraits. Nonetheless this was court fashion too. In 1618, the Italian traveller Pietro della Vale (died 1652) met Shah `Abbas I and travelled with him on military campaign in northern Iran: he later described the king’s shaven head and distinctive drooping moustache. Folio, ink, colours and gold on greenish paper, mounted on black-stencilled cream card, (recto:) tinted drawing of a seated man wrapped in his fur-trimmed coat, signed Muḥsin (lower left), with gold-flecked paper panels mounted above and below, mounted together in ruled frame, on album page, (verso:) backed with blank paper, Isfahan, Iran, dated 1025H, 1615.