Description: Ink and gold on very thin paper, laid down on cardboard, with painted cardboard frame, behind glass inside modern frame
Ottoman Empire, 17th / 18th century or even earlier
This masterful Ottoman drawing shows the scenery of a Peri in the forest. An Infrit or Shurale is pouring liquid from a bottle into the bottle of the kneeling Peri. At the top another horned forest demon can be seen. The actual drawing is framed by a decorative border hand painted with flowers.
The peri represents the ‘idyllic tranquility of the enchanted forest’ and can be seen in the present example holding a bottle, with wings and a leafy hat, comparable to saz leaves. Shurale also live in the forest. They have horns and a woolly body. Legend says they lure victims to a thicket and can tickle them to death.
Shape: Rectangular vertical shape
Dimensions: 20,5 x 15,5 cm (painting size), 26 x 19,5 cm (including floral cardboard mounting), 28 x 21,5 cm (size of frame)
Condition: The drawing is in overall good condition with some minor creases and rubbings
Provenance: German Private Collection
Literature comparison: A number of Ottoman drawings of peris exist as part of albums, including one in the Topkapi Saray Museum, two pages of which are published in ibid, pp.102-103, nos.48a & b. The present finely-executed example shares characteristics with both these drawings, in the treatment of both the face and hat of the former, and the wings and loose ribbons of the latter (attributed to the artist Velican). Other examples can be found in the Museé Jaquemart-André, Paris and the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC (see Petsopoulos1982, pp.196-7, nos.189-190), whilst a seated peri was in the collection of Edwin Binney III (published in E. Binney III, Turkish Treasures from the Collection of Edwin Binney III, Portland, 1979, pp.76-77, no.47).
Auction result comparison: Sotheby’s, AN EYE FOR OPULENCE- ART OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 24 APRIL 2012, London, lot 263 (for an Ottoman Peri drawing, dated to the 16th century)