Self-portrait of the Painter Husayn

Artists

Description

A polylobed medallion in the center of this tile holds a bust-length portrait of a painter named Husayn, also known as Ustad Husayn Kashi Saz, a known master tilemaker at the end of the Qajar era in Tehran. Split-leaf scrolls fill the corners, and a fruiting grape vine runs along the cavetto of the cornice. Following the fashion of the late Qajar period, the artist wears a black astrakhan cap and a close-fitting frock coat with upstanding collar. He is at work on a painting whose composition closely echoes the tile itself. The tile is molded, with the split-leaf scrolls and medallion border raised in relief. The predominant color is purplish-brown, with touches of pale orange.

Dimensions

49.2 x 31.8 x 3.8 cm (19 3/8 x 12 1/2 x 1 1/2 in.) boxed: 9.2 x 60.3 x 40 cm (3 5/8 x 23 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Edwin Binney, 3rd, California (by 1986), bequest; to Harvard Art Museums, 2017. NOTE: Stored at the San Diego Museum of Art from some time before 1986 until 1991, then at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1991-2011.