Rosebushes, Bees, and a Dragonfly

This and the following drawing show the progression of the bird-and-flower genre, which appeared in single-page compositions from the Safavid period to the Qajar era. Shafi’ ^cAbbasi, the son of Riza ^cAbbasi (whose work is shown nearby), followed in his talented father’s footsteps as a gifted artist at the Safavid court in Isfahan; his style, however, developed independently, as seen in his drawings of flowers, which reveal an awareness of shading and modeling that probably came from his exposure to European herbal manuscripts.