File:Naser al-Din Shah Qajar on horseback, by Isma'il Jalayir, mid-19th century.jpg

By Isma'il Jalayir, mid-19th century

Gouache on paper, the Shah seated on a fine bay horse riding in the grounds of a palace, inscribed in white nasta'liq amal-e bandeh-ye dargah Isma'il Jalayer, restored and rebacked 22½ x 29¼in. (57 x 74.5cm.)

The signature of this painting reads simply: The work of the servant of the court, Isma'il Jalayir

Very little is known with certainty about the life of this enigmatic artist. He was born in around the year 1260/1844 and entered the College of Arts, the Dar al-Funun as a student, later becoming one of the masters. This was the academy established by Nasir al-Din Shah in Tehran. His individualistic style found favour with the Shah and he painted at least one other portrait of the Shah in 1279/1862-3. The present whereabouts of this painting is unknown. Very few of his paintings are dated, making it difficult to trace his artistic development, and he is reported to have destroyed much of his work. His father, a Khan of Kalat in Khorassan, was a follower of a Sufi Sheikh of the Dhahabiya order called Muhammad Isma'il Dhabihullah for whom Jalayer was named. The subject matter of his paintings is limited: Royal portraits and portraits of court officials, paintings of famous Sufis, religious fables, such as the sacrifice of Isma'il and calligraphic paintings. A notable exception is a remarkable painting of a group of ladies of the harem now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Diba, L. et.al.: Royal Persian Paintings, New York, 1998, no.86, p. 261). An album of portraits of seven notable Sufis dated 1286/1869-70 is in the Gulistan Palace Library (Atabey, B.: Fehrest-e moraqqa'at-e ketabkhaneh-ye saltanati, Tehran, 1353, sh., cat.no.171, p.386). He was also interested in the subjest of the Ni'matullah dervish Nur 'Alishah, whom he is said to have painted at least six times. Two examples are published in Diba, op.cit, no.85, pp.259-60. He was also interested in the story of the sacrifice of Isma'il, either in connection with his own name or with that of his family's spiritual guide. A drawing of this subject on the reverse of a calligraphy was sold in these rooms, 23 April, 1996, lot 102. His painting is characterised by a dream-like quality brought about by backgrounds filled with lush vegetation and animals. Calligraphy is often used prominently. His human subjects have a serene, almost trance-like gaze. His life is not well documented, and much information about the artist is unsubstantiated. It has been suggested that he went mad and that he was a user of opium. In any case, the spiritual quality of his work may have been simply inspired by his atttachment to mysticism. As with his life, so his work is unfortunately poorly documented. In addition to the works mentioned above, other known works are: A portrait of Mirza Ali Asghar Khan, sold at Sotheby's 18 October 2001, lot 74. Two other portraits of Nur 'Alishah, one in the Sadabad Museum of Fine Arts, Tehran, and one in the Leipzig Museum (Diba op.cit, p.267, footnote no.37) The sacrifice of Isma'il formerly in the collection of P.W. Schulz (Schulz, W.: Die persisch-islamische Miniaturmalerei, Leipzig, 1914, vol.1, pl.F) Two Calligraphic works, Treasures of Islam, Geneva, 1985, no. 177-8, pp. 190-1