File:Nader Shah and his entourage hunting ducks, Afsharid Iran, second quarter 18th century.jpg

English: NADIR SHAH AFSHAR AND HIS ENTOURAGE HUNTING DUCKS

AFSHARID IRAN, SECOND QUARTER 18TH CENTURY Watercolour heightened with gold on paper, finely painted in speckled marks, the regal figure of Nadir Shah in red coat stands in a landscape, surrounded by courtiers both standing and mounted, some with falcons and some with ducks they have caught, mounted on an album page with blue margins and gold floral decoration, the miniature with very slight losses to the lower corners Miniature 8 x 10 5/8in. (20 x 27cm.)

Remarkably few images survive of Nadir Shah Afshar, conqueror of Delhi and ruler of Iran from AH1148-1160/1736-47 AD. This is perhaps unsurprising, given his preoccupation with the art of war rather than with the fine arts.

Other depictions of Nadir Shah, wearing his characteristic three pointed cap, include an image on a lacquer mirror case sold in these rooms, 12 October 1999, lot 228, and also in his famous portrait in the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated in Layla Diba and Maryam Ekhtiar eds., Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, New York, 1998, fig.19, p.139.

The pointillist effect of this miniature appears regularly during Qajar times. However, this technique was used as far back as the early 17th century, as demonstrated by the many paintings by Muhammad Qasem in the Windsor Castle Shahnama. See also lot 136, a painting by Shaykh 'Abassi.