A Portrait of Majnun and Layla, by Muhammad Zaman III, Persia, Zand, circa 1770

Oil on canvas, signed 'kamtarin muhammad zaman' in white at the middle left, framed

In good overall condition, the painting may have been mounted within an architectural feature such as an arch, as was the tradition, and marks are faintly visible in the top left and right hand corners, a few nicks and abrasions to the frame, as viewed.
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inscriptions

The painting is identified as:  'Assembly of Layla and Majnun'

Signed as:  'Muhammad Zaman'

Primarily a lacquer painter, 'the third' Muhammad Zaman (who also used the signatures Aqa Zaman and Ya Sahib al-Zaman) was a talented portraitist as well as a painter of poetic romances, birds and flowers. He appears to have been present at the court of Lutf 'Ali Khan Zand (r.1789-94) although due to the lack of exact dates for his lifetime it is unclear which early Qajar leader he served.

A further oil painting by Muhammad Zaman, of Bahram Gur on horseback, was sold in these rooms 23 April 1997, lot 161, whilst another example, of Yusuf and Zuleykha, sold in these rooms 16 October 1996, lot 75. A third painting by the artist depicts Khosrow and Shirin and was sold at Drouot, Paris, 12 December 1975. A final portrait of a 'Nobleman Wearing a Zand Turban' by Zaman III is illustrated in Diba & Ekhtiar 1998, p.191, pl.44. A close inspection of all these paintings reveals strong similarities, including the treatment of the facial features, details of costume and the textile patterns.