Folio of a Kneeling Youth

This painting depicts a young man kneeling as he stretches his arms to present an oblong-format piece of paper he is holding in his hands. His posture and upward gaze suggest this be a figure formally presenting himself in front of a ruler while he hands over a document. In manuscript illustrations from the Ilkhanid period onwards, court attendants and servants have often been depicted kneeled in front of royal figures, reflecting real-life elements of court etiquette that were established by the Mongols. The youthful figure wears a simple yet elegant attire with a white turbant, a green long robe, a belt with large golden fittings, to which a small ceremonial knife is attached. His child-like, even feminine, facial features embody an ideal of beauty particularly popular during the Safavid period. The painting has been attributed to the Safavid painter Mirza 'Ali, son of the renown royal artist Sultan Muhammad. After the dismissal of Shah Tahmasp's artistic atelier, Mirza 'Ali migrated the Mughal court in India until he returned to Iran to work for the Safavid prince Sultan Ibrahim Mirza, nephew of Shah Tahmasp and a great patron of the arts.
Considering the standardised depiction of this youth, this painting might well be a product of the working practices of the kitabkhana (artistic atelier often attached to a royal court) and might have been used as a model or visual reference for this type of figural representation to be replicated on a number of artworks in a variety of artistic media.