A goat in a landscape, signed by Mu'in [Musavvir], Persia, Isfahan, Safavid, dated 11[0]8 AH/1696-97 AD

Ex-collection Hagop Kevorkian (1872-1962)

Sotheby's London, Highly Important Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures: The Property of the Kevorkian Foundation, 6 December 1967, lot 86

Mu’in Musavvir was one of the greatest artists of the seventeenth century and was one of the most prolific. He was a student of the great court painter Reza-i Abbasi, and a portrait of his master by Mu’in survives in the Princeton University Library (Garrett Coll.96G). His date of death is disputed (1698 or 1707) but he nonetheless enjoyed a long career that commenced around 1635 and gave him the opportunity to produce a large corpus of work. Although much of it was concerned with traditional manuscript illustration, including several Shahnameh manuscripts, he also took the art of single-page compositions to new heights. 

This study of a goat can be related to a drawing of a lion in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (inv. no.AKM111, Canby 1998, p.86, no.58) and a drawing of a lion and ch’i lin in a landscape (ibid, pp.88-89, no.61). The sketches all display the remarkable draughtsmanship of the artist who imbues the animals with character with just a few strokes of the pen. Much like the lion and ch’i lin study which is dated 30 November 1697, this drawing was among the final known works by the artist. For a comparable depiction of a goat by Mu’in Musavvir, see a painting of an old shepherd in a landscape sold in these rooms, 12 October 2000, lot 66.