Textile Fragment Depicting a Youth Drinking

The calligraphic rendering of a drinking youth—with his languid posture and oval face with small features—echoes a style developed by the painter Riza Abbasi (1560–1635), who worked at the Safavid court in the sixteenth century. It seems likely that the cartoon or design for this textile is the work of an artist from the same workshop, or one trained in Abbasi’s influential style. Silks with elegant figural designs, like this one, made in centers such as Yazd in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were the most prized works produced in both imperial workshops and private ateliers. They served as diplomatic gifts, were traded as luxuries, and were used for furnishings and clothing.