Close up of Shirin in a landscape holding a wine bottle and porcelain cup, Iran, circa 1930

Shirin in a landscape holding a wine bottle and porcelain cup, Iran, circa 1930

Gouache and gold on leather, elaborate cut-work borders in leather, gilded and painted in polychrome, the borders with verses from Nizami's Khusraw va Shirin in naskhi script in white on a green ground within panels, with six further scenes of Shirin and Khusraw within cartouches and cusped medallions against a brown ground with intertwining vegetal and floral motifs, birds, hunting dogs and other animals in their natural habitat, the painted wood frame profusely decorated in the Safavid style in polychrome with hunting scenes, youths reclining in landscapes, and palace scenes, the frame with ropework edge

painting 105 x 55 cm.; with borders 149 x 95 cm.; total size with frame 184 x 131 cm.