Fabled Lands: Indian and Persian Paintings Art Passages are specialists in Indian and Persian paintings. Connoisseurship, research, and integrity form the foundation of our operation. Artworks from Art Passages are now in significant private collections, as well as in major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the LA County Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.
scene from the Dastan-i Amir Hamza (Hamzanama)
India, Rajasthan, Bikaner c. 1680
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio 9 3/4 x 6 3/8 in (24.9 x 16 cm)
Painting 9 x 5 1/2 in (22.9 x 13.9 cm)
In his important study of the early Hamzanama John Seyller refers to the large sea monster that attacks Hamza’s ship as a Leviathan and I am using that title for the creature here. He points out that the text there describing the scene is lost since the texts were written on the backs of the preceding painting so that it could be read while looking at the painting it described. He ascertains the story based on the text on its back which describes what happens later.
Our painting of the same scene is far scarier than that of the early work on cloth. Where the monster is large in the earlier version, the number of men and sheer size of the two ships and the score of men all attacking the monster makes the outcome clear. In our painting the fate of Hamza and his small group of men is quite unclear. The monster clearly has most of the boat already in its mouth and five men have either dived into the water or are doing so. As in the earlier version, the figure at the top of the boat is the famous bowman Amir Hamza and he shoots an arrow at the eye of the creature. One of his men spears the monster’s snout and another bravely attacks with a sword at the very opening of the gaping mouth. All are depicted with emphatic gestures. The island seen in the distance must be Shatar that was ruled by Ahras whom Hamza was going to meet.
As was the case in the famous Hamzanama the monster here is based on the Indian ghariyal, a species of crocodile native to the sub-continent. The brightly colored figures are contrasted with the ominous dark swirling water and a thick fog descends obscuring the horizon adding to the gloomy scene.
For a discussion of the story see: John Seyller, The Adventures of Hamza, Washington, D.C: Smithsonian: Freer Galley of Art Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2002, no. 27, pp. 98-99.
from a Barahmasa series
India, Rajasthan, Kota, ca. 1740-50
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio 12 ½ x 8 ½ in (31.6 x 21.4 cm)
Painting 9 5/8 x 6 in (24.5 x 15.1 cm)
This painting of Sawan masa (July-August) is one of a group of the twelve months, the Barahmasa (barah = 12 and masa = month) and coincides with the coming of the rains. It is a joyful time when the weather cools and people run out into nature. It is also the time for the festival of Teej celebrated by women with singing and dancing and even swinging. It is dedicated to Parvati, the wife of Shiva, and in the painting one of the women in the foreground carries a small statue of the Goddess on her head. The statue holds chharis (sticks covered with blossoms) associated with the god of love, Kama. A fair number of similar paintings from these series are scattered in museums and private collections.
The general composition is consistent and was especially popular in the Bundi-Kota-Uniara region with small variations. A couple sit in a storied pavilion to the left with women below. The swing is often included and placed against a lush forest. The Victoria and Albert painting, cited below, has two ladies facing each other on the swing and many of the ladies there also hold chharis. In that painting a Raja and his consort sit in the pavilion. In our painting it is Krishna and Radha who gesture to the women. Krishna and Radha are also seen embracing in the forest above the girl on the swing. A drawing in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art also has a Raja and consort in the pavilion and two girls on the swing and a pair of lovers in a bower above. A painting in Lotosmund und Löwenritt has Radha and Krishna looking at each other in the pavilion and some of the women look up at the godly pair from below. The finished paintings are all topped by a night sky peppered with lightning signifying the Monsoon.
For comparisons see: the Victoria and Albert Mueum IS.552-1952; Joachim Bautz, Lotosmond und Löwenritt, Stuttgart: Linden-Museum, 1991, no. 60, pp. 153 and 155; Los see: Angeles County Museum of Art M.77.154.1; and W.G. Archer, Indian Painting in Bundi and Kotah, no. 10, fig. 20, p. 12.
India, Rajasthan, Bikaner, ca. 1720-30
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio 14 1/8 x 9 in (35.9 x 22.9 cm)
Painting 11 ¾ x 7 1/8 in (29.8 x 18.2 cm)
This beautiful painting can be interpreted in several ways. It is reminiscent of Bhairavi ragini, a musical mode and part of a series of paintings, usually thirty-six called a Ragamala, a garland of ragas. It consistently depicts a woman worshipping at a linga shrine. Here the linga, a phallic representation of the god Shiva, is seen in the arched opening of the shrine with its white marble spire at the top of the mountain form. A bell hangs above it, and it is wrapped in flowers. Shiva’s mount, the bull Nandi, is seen behind the shrine. On another level, the mountain setting suggests Shiva’s abode on Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas. The figures climbed up the mountain to worship him. The group of figures are richly dressed and bring rich offerings, the ladies below the main figure carry jewel encrusted gold offerings on a golden tray while the kneeling figure offers a coconut, a common offering to be cracked over the linga in the act of lustration.
Still another important illusion is added to the painting. From the bull’s head below the linga itself a stream of water emerges filling a lotus strewn pond at the bottom of the painting. This references the Descent of the Ganges. A legend has it that a powerful sage had drained the world of water and it took Shiva to allow the waters of the Ganges in the heavens flow through his tresses down to the earth so that the sheer weight of the water would not fracture the earth.
The whole is very carefully painted and appears to combine several styles, there are many Deccani elements from south of Rajasthan including the golden sky and the stylized trees, especially the tall pin-wheel palms.
PROVENANCE
Published Waddington Galleries, Indian Painting, exhibition catalogue, London, 5-22 December 1978, no. 14; and R.E. Lewis Inc, San Rafael, California.
by Gajadhar (the head artist) Ibrahim, son of Isa
India, Rajasthan, Bikaner, probably V.S 1810 / 1753 CE
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio 8 7/8 x 6 in (22.5 x 15.2 cm)
Painting 7 ¾ x 5 in (19.7 x 12.7 cm)
Inscribed on the back:
Nījara dasarāvai rī kāma gajadhara
vīrāma isai ro samvat 181[0] mitī
Āsoja sudi 10
The eight-armed figure of the goddess Durga has severed the buffalo head of Mahishasura releasing the actual demon who emerges from the neck of the buffalo holding a club and shield. Durga attacks him with a variety of weapons. Her vahana, the lion mount with its fan-like mane, has gotten into the act and takes a bite out of the body of the buffalo. Clearly the asura holding only a club is no match to this goddess. She holds a variety of attributes: a kapala or skull-cup (ready to collect the blood of the demon), a katar or punch-dagger, a khadga or sword, lance, cakra or discus, a sarpa or snake, and a padma or lotus. Mahishasuramardini is associated with the festival of Dussehra, which celibates good over evil. The other common godly association for the festival is that of Rama killing the evil Ravana.
An inscription on the reverse identifies the painter as Usta Gajdhar Virama (Ibrahim) and gives the information that the painting was given as a nazar to a ruler on the 10th day of the festival of Dussehra. Details of the painting suggest that this artist came from the line of the famous artists of Bikaner, Ruknudddin and his son, the first Ibrahim in the line. Names in the family repeat quite often over the generations. A very similar painting in a previous catalogue from Art Passages Painted Jewels was executed by the same artist but ten years later.
For a discussion of Ruknuddin, his family, and followers see: Naval Krishna, “Bikaneri Miniature Painting Workshop of Ruknuddin, Ibrahim and Nathu,” Lalit Kala 21 (1990), 23-37.
For comparisons see: San Diego Museum of Art one by Savaddin, son of Mohammad, dtd. 1844 (1990.807); and Shawn Ghassemi and Robert J. Del Bontà, Art Passages: Painted Jewels, 2018, no. 37.
India, West Bengal, Murshidabad, ca. 1760
Ink with light washes of color
Folio 10 1/2 x 15 3/4 in (26.7 x 40 cm)
Painting 8 x 12 3/8 in (20.3 x 31.5 cm)
A pleasant elephant ride has gone awry. Clearly at least one elephant has decided he has had enough of the mahout on his back, the man is hanging perilously from his ankusha or elephant goad hooked onto the elephant’s ear. Clearly the elephant doesn’t like it and has curled his trunk around the poor fellow’s ankle. The second elephant appears to be taking a lesson from the first and is getting frisky. His Mahout lifts his ankusha ready to hook into the elephant’s forehead. Three retainers try to help, one with a lance, another with bow and arrow and a third with a stick with a tube tied on at right angles from which charges can blast to control the animal. Two miniscule riders are seen fleeing the scene at the right. The terrain is simply laid out with sparse foliage keeping the viewer firmly centered on the elephants and the action.
The whole is thinly painted but with precise details. It all bears affinities with another painting of two unruly elephants from Eastern India by the artist Mihr Chand and was part of a muraqqa‘ or album typical of the period and was sold at Bonhams in 2010 where the whole is very densely painted. Another album page from the Polier album was sold at Christie’s in 2008 where the elephant is handled similarly with light washes.
For comparisons see: Mihr Chand, “An Elephant Fight on a Hillside,” Bonhams, New York, April 2010, Lot 339; and “Fight of an Elephant with a Lion” from the Polier Album, Christie’s, New York, 15 September 2008, Lot 473.
India, Rajasthan, Alwar, ca. 1860s
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
ainting 10 x 7 in (25.5 x 18 cm)
The nobleman sits on a European style chair in strict profile, a classical pose with an akshamala or rosary in his right hand and his left uplifted holding a flower. He wears a long white jama which is typical of the few portraits known from Alwar. Many portraits from Alwar have men dressed in white jamas and an impressive example of a Darbar of Raja Bakhtawar Singh of Alwar in the San Diego Museum of Art (1990.918) has over 120 men all are dressed in white. The nobleman wears a good deal of jewelry, but it is not as ostentatious as one sees in many Rajput portraits. He wears a simple pagri or turban adorned with jewels and a few flowers. He sports long hair comparable to a portrait of the contemporary equestrian portrait of Maharao Sheodan Singh of Alwar in the Louvre Abu Dhabi (acq. no. LAD 2011.080). Both men have horizontal lines across his forehead signifying their Shaiva affiliation.
The entire surface is exquisitely painted. In the foreground the terrace is covered with an intricate floral carpet in pastel colors. To the right sits a blue-and-white planter masterfully painted with a depiction of a man on horseback spearing an animal next to a cityscape. Beyond the pierced railing there is a wide variety of colorful flowering plants. There is liberal use of gold in the delicate decoration on the chair, the man’s turban, and streaking across the sky. The whole is framed with a number of tasteful borders harmonizing with the painting itself.
For the Darbar scene see: B. N. Goswamy and Caron Smith. Domains of Wonder: San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, California, 2005, 276-77, fig. 116.
Folio from a manuscript of Shahnameh (Book of Kings) of Ferdowsi.
Aq Quyunlu Turkman, Shiraz, Iran, circa 1470-1490.
Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
Folio 11 ¼ x 7 ½ in (28.5 x 19 cm)
Painting 4 7/8 x 5 1/8 in (12.4 x 13 cm)
After his conquest of Egypt, Alexander ventures towards Andalus (fictionalized). Queen Qeydafeh of Andalus dispatches a spy to approach the king and make a sketch of his likeness. Alexander in turn decides to spy on the Andalusian Queen by posing as his own ambassador. He is shown here seated at Qaydafeh’s camp showing an image of Alexander. Having outwitted him, the Queen recognizes the ambassador as Alexander himself and forces his hand. Alexander confesses and reveals his true identity.
In conversations he realizes that the Queen is far cleverer than he is and pledges that he will never set foot in Andalus again.
In the scene here, at the center, the disguised Alexander sits on a golden stool and presents an image of himself to the queen who sits confidently on a golden throne.
The Queen’s maidens fill the space, each sporting a long robe of different colors and appear to be whispering and gesturing to one another as if they are privy to the Queen’s knowledge of Alexander. The rolling hill in the background is dotted with flowering plants and bifurcated by a single blossoming tree. The high horizon is set against a lapis blue sky with a lone albeit elaborate golden Chinese-style cloud.
Folio from a manuscript of Haft-Paykar of the Khamseh or Panj Ganj (quintet or Five Treasures) of Nezami Ganjavi
Safavid, Shiraz, Iran, circa 1560.
Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
Folio 15 1/2 x 9 7/8 in (39.3 x 25 cm)
Painting 10 1/2 x 6 3/4 in (26.6 x 17.2 cm)
While staying at the fabled palace Kwarnaq of his caretaker, the Arab king Nu’maan, Bahram, a Sasanian prince, discovered a locked room. Out of curiosity he managed to open the room and to his astonishment he saw that the interior was decorated with images of seven beautiful princesses hailing from seven different climes. This discovery left such an impression that once Bahram became a king; he set out to find the seven princesses.
Having been successful in his quest, he brought the seven princesses home and ordered his architect to construct a domed-pavilion for each princess to reside in. On the suggestion of his architect, each building was colored based on the princess’s clime and color of her planetary sign corresponding to the day of the week. Bahram then began to spend each successive night of the week with a different princess at her pavilion, wearing clothing that matches the color of her clime and planet. Each princess would entertain the king and tell him a moral story of love and wisdom.
In the image here, Bahram spends Yekshanbeh or Sunday at the Yellow pavilion with the Roman Emperor’s daughter while both are dressed in yellow. The artist here has decided to embellish the yellow pavilion and its dome with gold as shining as the Sun, her planetary sign.
Folio from a manuscript of Shahnameh (Book of Kings) of Ferdowsi.
Safavid, Shiraz, Iran, circa 1570-1580.
Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
Folio 17 ¼ x 10 7/8 in (43.8 x 27.6 cm)
Painting 14 7/8 x 8 7/8 in (37.8 x 22.5 cm)
Jamshid was the fourth king of the ancient Persians. He is credited with creating civilization and establishing the Spring equinox marking the new year, as Nowruz. Ahuramazada, the supreme deity, chose him amongst men and bestowed him with Farr, the divine grace, or divine kingship. Consequently, he reigned for seven hundred years and created hygiene, medicine, arts and crafts, metallurgy, ship building, and music. He then created social order and organized society according to people’s professions. He eradicated disease and death. Humankind thrived in wealth and the population grew under his rule. Having accomplished more than any other king or being, he became arrogant and thought of himself as the creator of the world defying Ahuramazada. Soon after Ahuramzada took away Jamshid’s Farr, consequently chaos and dissension followed.
The Painting comes from a large and luxurious manuscript of the Shahnameh produced in Shiraz towards the end of the 16th century.
Here, Jamshid and his army face off Zahhak. Zahhak was an evil king, also known as the snake king, who was chosen by Ahriman, the supreme evil being and Ahuramazada’s antagonist. Jamshid rides out to confront Zahhak who manages to swing his sword and cut through Jamshid’s left arm. The scene is quite dramatic with body parts strewn across the field and warriors clad in armor and colorful attire fill the space. Chinese-style clouds fill the blue sky and a flock of large cranes with black claws transverse across the sky as a dark omen of the ill that will fall upon the land in the battle’s aftermath.
Injured, Jamshid went into hiding, however he is pursued and eventually killed by Zahhak.
Another folio from his Shahnameh is in the David Collection, Copenhagen, no. 48/1973 titled ‘The Slaying of Siyawush’. Dramatic cranes across the sky are seen in both these paintings.
Folio from a manuscript of Haft-Paykar of the Khamseh or Panj Ganj (quintet or Five Treasures) of Nezami Ganjavi
Safavid, Shiraz, Iran, circa 1580.
Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
Folio 12 ¾ x 8 3/8 in (32.4 x 21.3 cm)
Painting 10 1/8 x 7 1/8 in (25.7 x 18 cm)
As discussed in catalogue 21 above, having built domed pavilions of different colors for the seven princesses from different lands in accordance to their climes and planetary signs, Baharm-e Gur proceeds to spend each day of the week with the princess associated with that day.
In the painting here as in no. 21, Baharm-e Gur again is seen seated with a princess in a domed pavilion. This time, he is with the Chinese princess Yaghmanaz as the day is Panjshanbe, or Thursday, day of Jupiter, the planetary sign of the princess. The pavilion is colored in Sandalwood, a brownish red color, so Baharm-e Gur is dressed in a garment of gold and sandalwood to match that of the princess and her mood.
The scene is one of celebration with dancers and musicians entertaining the couple with numerous decanters of wine and food around. Adding whimsy to the scene a couple of young children are seen running on the roof top being chased by a caretaker.
Folio from Tarikh-i alam-aray-i Shah Isma’il (World-adorning History of Shah Ismaʿil) of Bijan
Attributed to court artist Mu’in Musavvir
Safavid, Isfahan, Iran, circa 1680-1685.
Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
Folio 14 x 9 ¼ in (35.5 x 23.5 cm)
Painting 4 7/8 x 6 in (12.4 x 15.3 cm)
This folio comes from a manuscript, alternatively titled Tarikh-i Jahangusha-yi Khaqan Sahibqiran, dedicated to the history of Shah Isma’il (d. 1524), the first ruler of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1722). In the scene here, sultan Hussein Barani, a Turkic ruler from Zanjan appears before Shah Isma’il presenting him with a letter asking for his protection.
The young Shah Isma’il sits confidently on a gold-bordered rug against a lavender backdrop just inside a tent. His courtiers stand behind him as he receives the petitioner and his envoy.
The style of painting characterized by assured line, rounded forms and Persianized features created by Reza Abbasi was further propagated by his pupil Mu’in Musavvir as evidenced in this painting.
Other detached folios from this manuscript are in the Harvard Art Museums (2005.201); the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art (F2000.3); and the David Collection (28/1986, 84/1980 & 27/1986).
Qajar Period, Iran, c. 1810-1820
Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
Folio 13 1/2 x 9 1/8 in (34.3 x 23.2 cm)
Painting 6 3/8 x 6 3/4 in (16.2 x 17.2 cm)
The scene here is a jubilant party taking place indoors with musicians, dancers, and acrobats entertaining a pair of lovers seated at the center. Women are all depicted as idealized beauties with doe-eyes, arched eyebrows and small full lips. Each wears a short jacket and long skirt of different color, except for the lady of interest who wears a short jacket with wide trousers. Most of the entertainers play a musical instrument while the others dance and perform acrobatics. The lovers gaze into each other eyes however seem detached from the performers in the room. Two colorful carpets divide the space where action takes place.
As is typical of the Qajar genre painting, a western perspective for the interior is adopted.
As one moves from the front to the back, the figures are positioned so that the space between them narrows implying recession of space. Carefully applied shadows and shading around figures and objects gives a sense of three dimensionality.
The movement towards realism in painting which started in the 2nd half of the Safavid period continues in this painting.
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