English: A Youthful Musician, Persia, Safavid, Isfahan or Khurasan, late 16th century

Watercolour and gouache on paper

Gouache heightened with gold on paper, depicting a youth playing a stringed instrument facing right, a blue tunic over his short grey trousers, laid down on an album page flecked with gold, margins ruled in blue, white and gold, old collection labels to reverse

The present delicately drawn painting, depicting a relaxed youth with legs crossed strumming a stringed instrument, bears comparison to the work of the artist Habibullah, who flourished towards the end of the sixteenth century. Habibullah was originally from Saveh, west of Qom, but also travelled to Herat, Mashhadi and Isfahan, where he worked at the library of Shah 'Abbas.

A drawing by Habibullah is in the Art and History Trust Collection (see Soudavar 1992, pp.226-7, no.89), and shares a number of comparable features to the present drawing, including the similar loose-fitting garmets with a deep open neck, and round face with thin eyes and accented arched eyebrows.