About the Artwork
Youth in European Clothing
1634
Reza 'Abbasi
ca. 1565 - 1635
Iranian
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Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper
Overall: 5 3/4 × 7 1/2 inches (14.6 × 19.1 cm)
Paintings
Islamic Art
Gift of Robert H. Tannahill in memory of Dr. William R. Valentiner
58.334
Public Domain
Markings
Signed and dated, lower right, part of inscription: [translated: Tuesday, 22 Ramadan 1043 | Reza-i 'Abbasi]
Inscribed, mid-lower right: [translated: Completed on Tuesday, 22 Ramadan 1043 for [...]. Love makes me run, bare-headed, bare-footed / In that street like European youths (gholāmān-e farangī). Work of the humble Reza-i 'Abbasi.] [date: March 22 1634] [translation of couplet by Michael Chagnon]
Provenance
Dr. William R. Valentiner.Robert H. Tannahill [1893-1969];
1958-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Bulletin of the DIA 22, no. 1 (1942): p. 3, (ill.) p. 5.
Woven Treasures of Persian Art. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum. California, April-May 1959, no. 153.
DIA Handbook. 1971, p. 66.
"Family Art Game," Detroit Free Press (May 18, 1986): p. 7 (ill.). [DIA Advertising Supplement].
Sakisian, Armenag Bey. La Miniature Persane du XIIe au XVIIe siècle. Paris, Brussels, 1929, p. 138, pl. XCIX, (fig. 178).
Ettinghausen, Richard. "Riza." In Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildende Kunstler, Thieme-Becker, ed., Leipzig, 1934, p. 406, no. 24.
Hall, Helen B. "Exhibition of Islamic Art, San Francisco," Ars Islamica, vol. IV (1937): p. 493.
Denike, B. Zhivopis Irana. Moscow, 1938, (fig. 47).
Kühnel, Ernst. "History of Miniature Painting and Drawing." In Survey of Persian Art, vol. III, Arthur Upham Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, eds. London, New York, 1939, p. 1887.
Weibel, Adele. "A Riza-i Abbasi Silk," Bulletin of the DIA 22 (October 1942): (fig. 2), [reads the date as 19 March.]
Stchoukine, Ivan. Les Peintures des Manuscrits de Shah 'Abbas Ier à la Fin des Safavis. Paris, 1964, pp. 109-10, p. 115, [interprets the date as 21 April.]
Canby, Sheila R. The Rebellious Reformer: The Drawings and Paintings of Riza-yi Abbasi of Isfahan. London, 1996, cat. no. 128, p. 175 (ill.), pp. 174-176, p. 174 [author identifies this painting as Riza's last dated work], p. 176 [points to the blue-and-white jug and the decorated pillows as possibly combining to form a pun whose meaning is not obvious. The inscription "provides a rare insight into the personal life of the patron, or even of Riza himself". Perhaps the sentiment is Riza's, to someone dear to him or, if the patron was the European and unable to read the poem, it may have been written to make fun of him for his "high opinion of himself". The author continues that if the painting is in the spirit of caricature, the European caught in a silly action, despite the amourous poem, it combines "both humour and multiple levels of meaning" with techniques developed over a career of twenty years. "This painting marks a fitting close to Riza's long, productive career"], p. 176.
Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 128 (ill.).
Grabar, Oleg and Cynthia Robinson, eds. Islamic Art and Literature. Princeton, New Jersey, 2001, [used as cover of book but reversed and very dark].
Chagnon, Micheal. "Reżā ‘Abbāsī and the Embedded Image." Bulletin of the DIA 98, no. 1 (2024): p. 25 (fig. 2)
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Reza 'Abbasi, Youth in European Clothing, 1634, opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Robert H. Tannahill in memory of Dr. William R. Valentiner, 58.334.
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