( fl c. 1750-1800). Persian painter. The foremost painter at the court of Karim Khan (reg 1750-79), the Zand ruler in Shiraz, he worked in a variety of media, from large oil paintings to miniatures, and painted and varnished ('lacquered') objects (see ISLAMIC ART, fig. 242). His name has become synonymous with the Zand style. His reputation was so great that many works by different hands have been attributed to him. Works signed with his name range in date from the 1730s to the 1790s, an improbably long time, and it is likely that some are by other artists. Muhammad Sadiq was apparently a pupil of `ALI ASHRAF, for one of his earliest works, a circular box depicting a young woman in early 18th-century dress on the interior (Tehran, Nigaristan Mus.), is painted on the exterior with birds and flowers in the style of his master and has a punning signature that invokes his master's name. Other early work includes several of the splendid marginal designs in a sumptuous album (1758-9; St Petersburg, Hermitage). Muhammad Sadiq produced several oil paintings, including two signed works (ex-Amery priv. col.; Tehran, Nigaristan Mus.) depicting lovers drinking at a window and a prince on horseback attacked by a dragon. Several of the murals from Karim Khan's mausoleum (Shiraz, Pars Mus.) are signed by him. He also worked in miniature, for a mirror-case (1775-6; London, V&A, 763-1888) has a punning signature that invokes his namesake Ja`far al-Sadiq (d 765), the sixth Shi`ite imam. The front covers are decorated with a hunting scene, and the inside and back covers show amorous couples on a terrace.

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The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.