1940 Original Swiss Lithograph After Persian Painting "The Herdsman and King Dara" by Bihzad

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An excellent vintage First Edition full-color offset lithograph, print, after Persian painting "The Heardsman And King Dara" by Bihzad. The … Read more An excellent vintage First Edition full-color offset lithograph, print, after Persian painting "The Heardsman And King Dara" by Bihzad. The original artwork is a page from a manuscript of the BUSTAN of Sadi copied in 893 H. (1488 A.D.) by Sultan 'Ali al-Katib for Sultan Husayn Mirza, last Timurid of Herd. This manuscript contains five miniatures, four signed by Bihzad in a convincing way and all doubtless by him. They are almost the only work which is admitted by all critics to be autograph. The signature of the original miniature is on the black quiver worn by the King: 'Amal Al-'Abd Bihzad" (the work of the slave Bizad). The BUSTAN, published in A.D. 1257, is one of the classics of the Persian language. It is a long didactic poem in mathnawi form and the scene treated in the present miniature carries a moral King Dara (Darius) while out hunting comes upon a herdsman with the horses in his charge. Not recognising him as his own man the king draws his bow at the stranger. The herdsman then discloses his identity and lectures the king on the ignorance he has shown of his subjects' very existence, giving thus signs of culpable general neglect. The manuscript is in possession of Bibliotheque Egyptienne, Cairo.

This stunning vintage offset lithograph, print, comes from an art folio published in Switzerland in 1940. Signed in the print. First Limited Edition. Printed on heavy wove paper, on one side. Numbered at the lower left corner. High-end quality. Excellent condition - never framed. See less