Sa'adi and the wise men, probably from the Bustan'e Sa'adi, with a frontispiece decoration to the reverse, illuminated miniature on polished paper [Safavid Persia, late sixteenth century]

Sa'adi and the wise men, probably from the Bustan'e Sa'adi, with a frontispiece decoration to the reverse, illuminated miniature on polished paper [Safavid Persia, late sixteenth century]

single leaf, ink and gouache on paper heightened in gilt, depicting a king seated on a throne, with courtiers in waiting, in a palace garden with blossoming trees and wildlife around them, small lake with two swans in the foreground heightened in silver (now oxidised), image with striking blue borders extending outwards into the wider margins, reverse with elaborate gilt and polychrome decoration, once acting as a frontispiece to text, all illumination and decoration without text, 245 by 160 mm.; tipped onto old card mount, in early twentieth-century frame with typescript gallery label to reverse

Provenance: from the collection of Helen and Joe Darion: with their typescript label pasted to reverse of the frame.