An Iranian Youth in an Album from Zwolle

Jan De Hond,Leila Sauvage,Paolo D'Imporzano,Forough Sajadi,Amélie Couvrat-Desvergnes

doi:10.52476/trb.9671

Abstract

In the family scrapbook compiled by Gesina ter Borch (1633-1690), there is a remarkable drawing of an Iranian youth. Art-historical and scientific research has revealed that although the drawing has areas of later overpainting, there is an original Safavid miniature from the sixteen-fifties or sixties underneath them. It is likely that Gesina herself was responsible for these overpaints, when she mounted the badly damaged miniature in her album at some time between 1660 and 1680. Interestingly, aside from the blackened background and the colourful feather and sashes she added, she attempted to follow the original Iranian style in her restorations. The original was made in the sixteen-fifties or sixties by a painter of the Isfahan School, who probably took his inspiration from an older composition by the famous court artist, Riza Abbasi. The article goes on to show that Riza Abbasi’s work was known in the Dutch Republic before then. In 1623 the junior merchant Niclaes Hem travelled to Iran. He was a member of a Dutch East India Company delegation seeking to negotiate a trade agreement with the Shah. Hem acquired a series of drawings by or after Riza Abbasi while he was in Isfahan. He was probably helped in this acquisition by his fellow countryman, Jan van Hasselt. A number of the original miniatures that Hem took back to the Republic were published as woodcuts in Johannes de Laet’s Persia (1634).

Highlights

The question remains as to whether the miniature in Gesina’s scrapbook has anything to do with the drawings Hem brought to the Netherlands around 1624
It is safe to assume that knowledge of Riza’s compositions reached the Republic through two channels and in two different periods: around 1625 Niclaes Hem brought a set of drawings by or after Riza Abbasi to the Republic, which were published in the form of woodcuts in 1633; and between 1650 and 1670 another Iranian miniature arrived there
But could Van Hasselt have been involved in this second shipment? We know that Van Hasselt kept in touch with the Shah’s court painters after his return to the Dutch Republic – in 1642 he received a letter from the Shah’s painter – and that in the sixteen-fifties he was still involved with the trade between Iran and the Netherlands

Summary

Introduction

The question remains as to whether the miniature in Gesina’s scrapbook has anything to do with the drawings Hem brought to the Netherlands around 1624. Gesina’s drawing was made by an artist who lived a generation after Riza Abbasi. It is safe to assume that knowledge of Riza’s compositions reached the Republic through two channels and in two different periods: around 1625 Niclaes Hem brought a set of drawings by or after Riza Abbasi to the Republic, which were published in the form of woodcuts in 1633; and between 1650 and 1670 another Iranian miniature arrived there.

Results

Conclusion