Couple enlacé

A Qajar painting depiciting an embracing couple; Iran, Qajar Art, circa 1840 Oil on canvas Condition: faded, repainted and restored. 120 x 80 cm It was in Isfahan during the Safavid era that the taste for large figurative paintings, applied directly to prepared walls or painted on canvas with oil pigments, developed. Mansions belonging to high-ranking court ministers and wealthy Armenian merchants competed for the services of palace artists to create paintings that were not necessarily of specific individuals, but depictions of male and female types, which proved particularly fashionable at the court of Mohammad Shah Qajar (1832-1848). Sitting on a carpet, their faces idealized and resembling each other, the lovers are devoid of emotion and turned not towards each other, but towards the viewer. The young beauty serves her suitor a glass of wine, which he doesn't seem to notice. Their detached gazes don't match their actions. The background is undecorated to emphasize the opulence of the characters' motley costumes and accessories, the carpet and the rose-covered cushion. This work may belong to the same cycle or workshop as the "Loving Couple" in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. The composition is particularly complex for this type of subject, with curves and counter-curves in a space treated in the same way. The palette is the same, as are the carpets and cushions. The costumes worn by the figures in the two paintings are also very similar, notably the vests and skirt trims with their very specific, similar waist pleats. Entering the Hermitage collections in 1961, this work, like ours, has suffered over time. Measuring 131.5 x 77 cm, its format is similar to that of the present work, since the St. Petersburg canvas was enlarged after being removed and cut from its original location, whereas the present "embracing couple" seems to have retained its original arched form, intended for a niche in an architectural setting, probably a palace or pavilion, where it would have been displayed as part of a larger decorative program with other portraits. Provenance : Public sale, Maître Boisgirard April 28, 1997, n°174. References Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, inv. n°VР-1156.