Drawing on paper, tinted and coloured with watercolour paints. Depicts two customers standing at a stall manned by a standing male tradesman. One of the customers appears to be eating from a bowl. Two birds in cages hang behind; on the counter are bowls of various sizes, some on stands. Mounted in a pair in a cardboard frame.
This painting is one of a series of watercolours which depict scenes that are well known in nineteenth century Persian painting and commercial photography. Judging by the fashions worn by the painting’s subjects they were probably painted between 1850 and 1875, quite possibly for sale to tourists. This example shows a food stall holder and two customers, at least one of whom is eating. Comparable bazaar scenes are illustrated in Henry Ballantine’s ‘Midnight Marches Through Persia’ (1879). The most applicable plate is ‘A Persian Bazar, Ispahan [sic]’ (p162).
