Lady with a Mirror By Riza yi Abbasi
Today let's travel to 17th-century Persia. The work we present today was created by Riza?yi 'Abbasi, who revolutionized Persian painting and drawing with his inventive use of calligraphic line and unusual palette. He was the leading miniaturist of the Isfahan School during the later Safavid period, spending most of his career working for Shah Abbas I, one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavid dynasty. Riza?yi 'Abbasi is considered to be the last great master of the Persian miniature, best known for his single miniatures for muraqqa (album in book form containing Islamic miniature paintings and specimens of Islamic calligraphy), especially single figures of beautiful youths. These were made for private collectors, typically showing one or two figures with a lightly drawn garden background, sometimes in gold, in the style formerly used for border paintings, with individual plants dotted about on a plain background. His, or his buyers', favorite subjects were idealized figures of stylishly dressed and beautiful young menbut today we present a beautiful woman with a mirror.
