The Two Young Lovers and a Coiffeuse

In “The Two Young Lovers and a Coiffeuse,” an analytical approach is introduced for examining the selected illustrations of Sani‘ ol-Molk’s The Thousand and One Nights. To give practical application to this approach, his intricate painting, “The Two Young Lovers and a Coiffeuse” is analyzed. The analysis highlights that by emphasizing the gender norms of the artist’s cultural context, the painting can be (re)interpreted as male same-sex desire—an insight into the sexual norms of Qajar society. This sample analysis aims to illustrate Sani‘ ol-Molk’s use of details to complicate the relationship between presented elements within an image, their connection to the viewer, and the context in which the image was produced.