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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileAn album page with a portrait of a Zand kneeling maiden, Iran, late 18th - early 19th century
The painting depicts a young woman with dark hair, wearing a black head covering and a long-sleeved, pale purple tunic over patterned trousers. She is posed in a kneeling position against a backdrop of a reddish curtain, holding a glass filled with a pink liquid and a single rose. On the floor in front of her sits a glass decanter of red wine, a small dish, and two yellow fruits, likely pears or quinces. The central portrait is framed by intricate, multi-layered borders decorated with Persian calligraphy in gold and floral motifs on a vibrant red background.
The imagery of a maiden with wine and a rose is a recurring motif in Persian poetry, frequently associated with the themes of spiritual longing, divine intoxication, and beauty found in the Divan of Hafez. Such depictions exemplify the refinement of the Zand period, bridging late Safavid aesthetics with the nascent styles of the Qajar era.
The borders feature nasta'liq script, comprising poetic verses that frame the central painting.
Translation
The text contains various verses praising beauty, the wine-cup, and the beloved, typical of Persian calligraphic album pages.
Hafez
The iconography of the cupbearer (saqi), wine, and rose are central tropes in Hafez's ghazals, symbolizing mystical love.
Object
watercolor
paper
Zand period
Persian
portrait
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
1393 × 2103 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 20, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.