ROSES AND A NIGHTINGALE OR GUL-O-BULBUL
QAJAR PERISIA, CIRCA 1760
Estimate: £1,500 - £2,000
Auction: 11 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
watercolour on paper, orange and blue-lined border, depicting an elegant nightingale bird standing in a rose bush with a butterfly above it, mounted, framed and glazed
Dimensions
Sight size 21.5cm x 14.5cm
Footnote
The gul-o-bul-bul, or rose and nightingale, motif is employed in both Persian literature and painting. In poetry, the two represent the beloved and the loved, entwined in either an earthly or divine union. In art, the motif appears on all types of objects, and during the Qajar period proliferated to the extent that it became synonymous with the country itself. It became especially popular among European collectors, who demanded goods and albums decorated with this motif.