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Lot Essay
The repeated pheasants on this silk panel are very close to those painted on a lacquer binding of a copy of Arifi's Guy wa Chowgan, written by Shah Tahmasp himself and dated 1524-25 (in the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, Jon Thomson and Sheila R. Canby (ed.), Hunt for Paradise, New York, 2003, p.198, cat.7.13). The binding depicts pheasants in a similar position, with their heads turning backward, and repeated in alternated directions. This motif is seen earlier on a lacquer cover of a Diwan of Husayni dated 1492 (Thomson and Canby, op.cit., cat.7.2). With its repeated motifs, the composition of the binding was appropriate to be copied onto textile. In his discussion of these pieces, Thompson indicates that motifs evolved from animal themes of chinoiserie type towards figural themes and that both gradually developed together in the second quarter of the 16th century.
Other pheasants in similar positions appear on a number of silk Kashan carpets from the period of Shah Tahmasp (r.1525-76) and the motif seems to have become particularly popular around the mid-16th century. A carpet fragment in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, datable to 1525-50 and a complete carpet in the Gulbenkian Foundation are decorated with these pheasants (Thompson and Canby, op.cit., cat.12.16, 12.17).
The bouquets of carnations appearing between the pheasants would suggest a slightly later date however, possibly the second half of the 16th century. Although slightly different, the bouquets of carnations appearing on two textile fragments preserved in the Musée des Textiles in Lyons can be paralleled to the present panel. They are datable to the early 17th century (Jean-Michel Tuchscherer, Étoffes Merveilleuses du Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyon, 1976, cat.57 and 158).
Other pheasants in similar positions appear on a number of silk Kashan carpets from the period of Shah Tahmasp (r.1525-76) and the motif seems to have become particularly popular around the mid-16th century. A carpet fragment in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, datable to 1525-50 and a complete carpet in the Gulbenkian Foundation are decorated with these pheasants (Thompson and Canby, op.cit., cat.12.16, 12.17).
The bouquets of carnations appearing between the pheasants would suggest a slightly later date however, possibly the second half of the 16th century. Although slightly different, the bouquets of carnations appearing on two textile fragments preserved in the Musée des Textiles in Lyons can be paralleled to the present panel. They are datable to the early 17th century (Jean-Michel Tuchscherer, Étoffes Merveilleuses du Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyon, 1976, cat.57 and 158).