Arcadópolis
Study of a Bird
Reza Abbasi, 1634
What you see
A bird in profile, facing left, fills the center of this horizontal page. It stands on a small pink rock ringed with green stones and grass. Behind it on the right grows a little tree with brown branches and green, yellow, red and bluish leaves; on the left, a shrub with fine leaves. Golden grasses bend along the right edge.
The bird has a gray back, a white belly, a white face with a dark stripe through the eye, a black bib and a long dark tail. Its black eye is ringed with white. Keep an eye out for the red buds beside the rock, the golden clouds at the top and the inscription in two blocks on the left.
About Reza Abbasi
Reza Abbasi (c. 1565–1635), also called Aqa Riza, was the leading artist at the court of Shah Abbas I, who gave him the honorary title “Abbasi” in 1603. Although he also illustrated manuscripts, his specialty was single pages for albums, with one or two elegant figures drawn in a flowing, calligraphic line. He signed and dated many of his works, and his style influenced many later Persian painters, such as his pupil Mu'in Musavvir and his own son, Shafi Abbasi.
More by Reza Abbasi
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