Persian school: Haji Bektash Veli with a deer and a lion, oil on canvas, 20th C.

Dim.: 79 x 49,5 cm

Condition:
- In need of a stretcher. Folded in four and with very small losses to the crease lines.

The present painting is a copy after a 15th C. original in the Hajibektash complex in Turkey. (link)

Haji Bektash Veli was a Muslim mystic, saint, Sayyid and philosopher from Khorasan who lived and taught in Anatolia. He is revered among Alevis for an Islamic understanding that is esoteric (spiritual), rational, progressive, and humanistic. Alevi and Bektashi Muslims believe the path of Haji Bektash is the path of ʿAli ibn Abu Talib', since Ali was the source of Bektash's teachings. His original name was 'Sayyid Muhammad ibn Sayyid Ibrāhim Ātā'. He was one of the figures who flourished in the Sultanate of Rum and had an important influence on the Turkish nomads of Asia Minor. He is also referred to as the Sultan of Hearts and the Derwish of the Derwishes. Haji Bektash Veli was a descendant of Musa Kazim, the Seventh Imam of the Athnā‘ashariyyah Shi'a Muslim sect.