A young nobleman and a singer - 1650

A well-dressed noble youth sits at ease on a rock by a small brook under a tree listening to a kneeling man who is singing from a book. The youth is dressed in a vibrant plain orange jama with golden lappets decorated in a crimson running pattern under his right arm. He wears a short golden patka with bands of red and green decoration with black interlaced patterning at the ends. He is bare footed with golden paijama decorated with a pattern of red flowers. His dark hair is swept up into a red turban with black and gold bands. He is wearing pearl earrings, a pearl necklace and a large pendant red gem with a pearl. He holds a small golden book in his left be-ringed hand.

The singer is dressed in simple clothes with a white tunic, black cummerband over baggy brown trousers. He has a beard and a drooping moustache. He wears a loosely-wound red turban. In his left hand he holds an open red-covered book.
Two yellow birds with red pointed beaks sit in the feathery-leafed tree which grows out of the rock, the form of which is painted in pink and brown washes with delicate green brushwork to indicate undergrowth. The tree is shown against a sandy-brown background which rises up and merges into a blue sky with no clear horizon.

The painting is framed in pale brown paper decorated with a running stylised foliate design in gold between white, black and outer dark blue outlines.

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