(attributed to) Francesco de’Rossi
(Il Salviati)
(Florence 1510 - 1563 Rome)

Italian



A Study
after
Michelangelo Buonarroti



Brown pen and ink with gray wash
on laid paper with chamfered corners.
Inscribed (lower right) in brown ink: “Mi.an Bonarotti”
Tipped in early collector’s mount with ink ruled lines

8.1 x 4.9 inches


Ex. collection: Lugt 1729 (mark unidentified in Lugt)
collector’s stamp in blue ink at left center
stamped in blue ink: LG with crown at lower left

ex.: Sothebys London


Francesco Salviati was greatly influenced by Michelangelo.
He was a pupil of Baccio Bandinelli and later worked with Giorgio Vasari.
In Rome he decorated the Palazzo Farnese and Palazzo Sacchetti.
This highly fluid and deft ink study has a traditional attribution to Salviati
and may have been executed during his period with Bandinelli.


for further see:

Bean, Jacob “Italian Renaissance Drawings from the Musee du Louvre,Paris”
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York 1974 cat. 65

Oberhuber, K. and Walker, D. “Sixteenth Century Italian Drawings
from the Collection of Janos Scholz”
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 1973 cat 29 pps. 36-38

Griswold W.M. and Wolk-Simon L. “Sixtenth Century Italian Drawings
in New York Collections”
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York 1994 Cat. 25 p. 30-31, 166

An Angel Saving a Worker (falling from a scaffold)

by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Venice 1727 - 1804)

Italian
ca. 1745

DeVesme 76 Rizza 100 second state wide margins Three Crescents with (the name) Imperial watermark A superb impression of this extremely scarce print.

Giandomenico created a number of etchings based upon the frescos of his father Gianbattista Tiepolo eg. those of the Sagredo Chapel, San Francisco della Vigna, Venice etc. for a further discussion see:

Wolk-Simon, Linda “Domenico Tiepolo
Drawings,Prints and Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art” New York 1997

A detail of an Eighteenth Century painting from Deccan / India.

Please contact us for a current selection of paintings.

prices upon request

A Portrait of Nadir Shah
India / Mughal
Ca. 1740's

Gouache with gold and ink on buff wasli leaf
Blue borders between white and gold ruled lines
On verso: two couplets of flowing black ink Nasta’liq script with corner spandrels in ink, lapis, red and gold containing scrolling foliate designs. Salmon-colored borders with black, white and gold ruled lines.
8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

A rare and very fine contemporary portrait of Nadir Shah (1688-1747) who ruled as Shah of Persia
from 1736-1747. He became the founder of the Afsharid Dynasty after deposing the remnants of the Safavid Dynasty under Shah Abbas III in 1736. He conquered Mughal Northern India and in 1739 occupied Delhi and carried away the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond prior to his triumphant return to Persia.

Nadir Shah is depicted here, naturalistically, in middle-age seated against a large bolster, both hands holding his campaign sword. He is dressed in Turkman style with fur stole and characteristic jeweled headgear with feathered aigrette.

Given the important position that Nadir Shah holds in the history of India and Persia it should be considered surprising that so few contemporary portraits of him remain. Sometimes referred to as the "Napoleon of Asia" and considered a military genius it may well be that he had little inclination to sit still for a portrait. There are however numerous extant later examples of his image, executed in the Nineteenth Century and usually in Delhi style, showing him in similar posture to the present painting, although generally depicting him more idealized, and somewhat younger. For one example (also in the Sackler Gallery Collection) see below S1986.439 where he is depicted seated in lavish surroundings and dressed in a gold-threaded tunic.

A highly relatable contemporary portrait, probably by the same hand, is in the Freer Gallery of Art and Sackler Gallery in the Smithsonian Institution Washington DC see: F1907.256

For a later portrait (ca. 1900 likely produced at Delhi) also in the Sackler Gallery collection see: S1986.439
Also: Sotheby's Catalogue: Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, London October 10, 1988 Lot58 (unillustrated)

Purchased by the present owner from a private New York collection 1978

Bibliography:

Fraser, James "The History of Nadir Shah formerly called Thamas Kuli Khan" London / Oxford University 1742

Fraser, James (reprinted as above) 1973

Humphreys, E. "The Royal Road" Scorpion Publishing 1991

Lockhart, L. "Nadir Shah" (A critical study based mainly upon contemporary sources)
Al-Irfan Historical Reprints 1976

Malcolm, John "The History of Persia: From the Most Early Period to the Present Time"
Harvard University 1829

Morgan, D. "Medieval Persia (1040-1797) A History of the Near East" Longman 1994

Axworthy, Michael "The Sword of Persia: Nadir Shah, From Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant"
Indiana University Press 2007 Vol 61 Number 4 pages 748-749

private collection

An Illustration to a Sub-Imperial Mughal
Shahnama of Firdausi

King Nurshirwan Receiving a Minister
Sub-Imperial Mughal (probably at Agra)
Ca. 1605-20

Gouache with gold and black ink on polished wasli leaf
10 1/16 x 6 1/8
4 5/8 x 4 1/2 (miniature)

Surmounted above and below with columns of horizontal and diagonal black ink Nasta’liq script
set within black and gold ruled lines. On the verso, twenty five lines of black and red ink Nasta’liq text set within ruled columns. On the recto, paint flaking has revealed black ink underdrawing in some areas particularly on some faces.

From a scarce illustrated copy of the Shahnama of Firdausi executed in Sub-Imperial Mughal style.
The color palette, costume details, facial types and floral sprigs (depicted as floating between foreground and background) would suggest a date in the early Seventeenth Century possibly within the reign of Akbar (1542-1605) or early in that of his successor Jahangir (r. 1605-27). This manuscript was likely produced for a Muslim patron at Agra - a center of artistic activity patronized by members of the Mughal court.

The dispersed manuscript to which this leaf originally belonged contained over five hundred text folios written in very fine Nasta’liq script on highly polished paper with 25 lines to the page in four columns. Each folio with intercolumner ruled lines in black, blue and gold with some displaying cloudbands in gold. The manuscript also contained approximately sixteen miniatures and five illuminated headpieces.

Also see:

Binney, Edwin “Indian Miniature Paintings From the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd,
The Mughal and Deccani Schools” Portland 1973 cat 37 39a and 39b pps 62-64

Sotheby’s Catalog: Fine Oriental Miniatures London part two-Indian Miniatures May 4 1977 lot 318


sold