Court Painting from India
March 16-24, 2023
Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm
Saturday-Sunday, 11am-5pm
(otherwise by appointment)
Opening reception: Thursday, March 16, 5-8pm
Victoria Munroe
67 East 80 Street, Suite 2
For their thirteenth annual Asia Week exhibition, Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch LTD are offering 44 paintings reflecting the court traditions, both Hindu and Muslim, of India.
Babur hunting rhinoceros near Bigram
Ascribed to the artists L’al and Sarwan
Mughal India, circa 1589
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, eight and a half lines of nasta’liq on recto, fourteen on the verso; artists’ names inscribed in red on lower margin, gold border ruled in blue and green
9 2/5 by 5 2/5 in.; 24 by 13.7 cm. painting
10 ½ by 6 4/5 in.; 26.3 by 17.3 cm. folio
THE MANUSCRIPT
The Baburnama is one of the most all-encompassing and engaging pre-modern autobiographies. Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire (r.1526-30), records all the adventures and turmoil in the life of an itinerant prince. He also writes about his reaction on arriving in India, with details of the people, flora and fauna, which are some of the most revealing parts of the text.
It was not until the reign of Emperor Akbar (r.1556-1605) that the Baburnama was translated, court artists produced the first illustrated copy soon after the Persian translation was completed in 1589. Our folio belongs to this copy that was broken up in 1913 and dispersed. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘South Kensington’ Baburnama as twenty folios are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Stronge, pp.86-91 and Smart, 1977).
Three other royal copies survive: one dating to the early 1590s, now in the British Library, with 143 illustrations and 40 or so missing (Suleiman; Losty & Roy, pp.39-45). A further copy is divided between the Moscow State Museum of Eastern Cultures and the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The only one in a near-complete state is now in the National Museum in New Delhi (Randhawa, 1983) and all four manuscripts were studied by Ellen Smart in 1977 (Smart, 1977).
SUBJECT
This scene shows Babur hunting rhinoceros near Bigram. Babur tells us that he went hunting in Kargkhana (rhino home), where the forest was dense, and it was challenging to drive the animals out, so some of the forest was set alight. Babur describes a calf being killed as it lay scorched by the fire, and everyone taking a share of the spoils.
There are two other paintings of Babur hunting rhinoceros at Swatī, from additional copies of the Baburnama, that share a similar composition to one another but differ from this earlier version: one in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (W.596.21B) and another in the British Library, London (f.305b), both full-page paintings with text.
THE ARTISTS
This painting is emblematic of the refined Mughal style that developed in Akbar's studio in the late 1580s and 90s. As the first of the four primary court copies of the Baburnama, the illustrations have lively and fresh compositions with a lighter, more softly painted style.
La’l was one of the premier artists in Akbar's atelier and was responsible for this folio's overall design or composition ('tarh'). He also designed no fewer than nineteen paintings in another major manuscript from Akbar's studio, the earliest copy of the Akbarnama in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, painted at a similar time, circa 1590-5 (Stronge, p.45).
Sarwan painted and completed the execution of La’l’s composition for our folio. He also worked on the earliest copy of the Akbarnama. In all five paintings in this volume, he collaborated with the great artist Miskin. Little is known about these artists. However, as an apprentice working exclusively with such prestigious artists as Miskin and La’l, Sarwan was most likely regarded as a junior master who had already reached a high level of competence.
INSCRIPTIONS
In the lower margin:
tarh-i la’l ‘amal-i sarwan “Designed by La’l, painted by Sarwan”
PROVENANCE
Manuscript dispersed 1913
Probably Luzac & Co., London
H. Kahn Monif (1888-1964), New York
Private collection, London, circa 1950s-60s
Thence by decent to a private collection, London until 2022
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
Attributable to Bishandas or Nanha
Mughal India, circa 1615-20
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, ruled in colour and gold, laid down in a saffron album page painted in gold with birds in flight amidst clouds and foliage
5 2/3 by 3 in.; 14.5 by 7.5 cm. painting
11 2/5 by 7 ½ in.; 29 by 19 cm. folio
This painting was attributed to either Bishandas or his uncle Nanha when it was sold as part of the Gahlin Collection in 2015 and its subject tentatively identified as either Asaf Khan or Sayf Khan Barha. The catalogue described Bishandas's style as being marked by the use of shadowy, dark faces and hands and a certain intensity. However, this portrait is also close to two by Nanha, in the Kevorkian Album, one depicting Sayf Khan Barha, the other Raja Bhim Singh, where the same dark features and use of shadow are employed. The facial profile here is also close to the two Nanha works, despite their being different sitters (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see Welch et al., pp.123, 151, nos.21, 33).
If this portrait is of Asaf Khan, it is an early work likely to have been painted at the time of Jahangir’s marriage to his sister Nur Jahan in 1611, when Asaf Khan was forty-two. However, the face here bears only a passing resemblance to Asaf Khan, who, even when young had a fuller, more thick-set face and noticeably paler skin.
It is also possible that the portrait depicts Sayf Khan Barha, whose portrait was painted by Nanha around 1610-15, and whose features and skin tone are close to those of the present portrait (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 55.121.10.4v; see Welch et al, pp.122-123, no.21).
ASAF KHAN
Asaf Khan (1569-1641) was the brother of Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir. He succeeded his own father, I’timad al-Daula, as vizier at the end of Jahangir’s reign, by which time he had married his daughter, Mumtaz Mahal, to the future Emperor Shah Jahan. He was thus one of the most intimately connected noblemen at the Mughal court, brother-in-law to one emperor and father-in-law to another.
Among the many works that include a portrait of Asaf Khan, the majority show him in old age with a fuller grey beard and a rather aquiline nose. Those that show him earlier in life (some retrospectively) include: Leach, vol.I, pp.451-3, no.3.63; Beach, Koch and Thackston, pp.92-97, 198-203, nos.37-39.
SAYF KHAN BARHA
Sayf Khan Barha (Sayyid Ali Asghar) was from the family of Barha Sayyids, who played an influential role in Mughal court circles. He was a favourite of Jahangir and in 1606 Jahangir recorded in the Janhangirnama that "I have bestowed on 'Ali Asghar Barha, who has not a rival in bravery and zeal, ... the title of Sayf Khan and thus distinguished him among his equals and peers. He seems to be a very brave youth and was always one of those few confidants who went with me on hunts and other places." (Jahangirnama, p.19, quoted in Welch et al., p.122). He died young, of cholera, in 1616.
THE PAINTER BISHANDAS
Bishandas, the nephew of the painter Nanha, began his career under Akbar around 1589-90, contributing to the Baburnama (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, IM.276,276a-1913, the double-page illustration of Babur supervising the laying out of the Bagh-e Wafa ('Garden of Fidelity'), see Stronge, pp.90-91, pl.59). He quickly became respected for his skills as a portraitist and in 1600 moved with Prince Salim to Allahabad, continuing in his employ after Salim succeeded to the throne as Emperor Jahangir (r.1605-27). He continued painting for Shah Jahan (r.1627-58), his career coming to an end around 1640.
THE PAINTER NANHA
Nanha, uncle of Bishandas, was himself a highly skilled and innovative artist. Leach (vol.II, p.1114) notes that he merits inclusion in Abu'l Fazl's list of eminent Mughal artists. His career began during Akbar's reign, when he contributed to the Darabnama, the Timurnama, the Jaipur Razmnama, the Baburnama and the Chingiznama. His early delicate style developed in Jahangir's reign into a more rich and confident but nevertheless delicate mode that was well suited to portraiture, in which context he painted several of Jahangir's courtiers.
PROVENANCE
Anonymous collection, England, 1960s: Sotheby's, London, 12 December 1966, lot 58
Sven Gahlin (1934-2017), London, 1966-2014: Sotheby’s, London, 6 October 2015, lot 21
H.H. Sheikh Saud Al-Thani (1966-2014): Christie's, New York, 19 June 2019, lot 324
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
Probably Bijapur, Deccan, circa 1630-40
Opaque pigments with gold on paper
6 ¾ by 3 ¾ in.; 17.2 by 9.5 cm.
A Sufi with exaggerated facial features, a distinctive blue robe and a striped turban kneels on the ground. He has an elongated nose, arched eyebrows and a somewhat menacing grin revealing both rows of teeth. In his left hand, he holds a long staff with curved terminal; in his right hand, he holds prayer beads. Dangling from the sash around his waist are several Central Asian style accoutrements with tasselled ends, and he wears a large hoop earring in his left ear. The landscaped background, with distinctive tufts of grass and flowering plants, resembles a similar landscape setting in a painting of a dancing dervish from a Diwan of Urfi, dated 1637, one of nine paintings remaining in the manuscript. It is possible that our painting originated in this volume.
This collection of poems was made for Muhammad Adil Shah of Bijapur (r.1627-56) and is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (Quintanilla, pp.241-3, cat. 56 and Fraser, pp. 54-56).
The paint of the vivid sky-blue jama worn by the dervish is thickly applied and has tiny marks on the surface that brings to mind Zebrowski’s comment that it was a trait of Bijapur artists to layer the paint so thick it later cracked (Zebrowski, p.92). Brilliant blue pigment often appears in Bijapuri paintings along with bright orange and moss green, as we find in our painting. Another image of a kneeling dervish attributed to Bijapur, circa 1610-20, from the Gulshan album in the Gulistan Palace Library in Tehran, has a similar way of depicting his hand holding prayer beads where the little finger extends, just like the right hand of our dervish (Zebrowski, p.84). Sufi saints or mystics forged strong allegiances in Bijapur and could become as powerful as rulers. Depictions of kings visiting holy men were a frequent theme in Mughal paintings, and these images also spread to the Deccan (Haidar & Sardar, p.109). However, this figure has been caricatured and has a comedic quality that brings to mind a particular genre of paintings that depict gatherings of mystics that also became popular under the Mughals. These figures are often shown in an intoxicated state and have a satirical nature that has its roots in Safavid Iran (Topsfield, pp.42-3).
PROVENANCE
Hutchinson Scott Auctioneers, Yorkshire, 19 June 2020, lot 180
Private collection, London, 2020-23
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
Mughal India, circa 1650
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, laid down in an album page; on the verso Layla and Majnun in a landscape, circa 1740; with blue border and black and white rules
7 ½ by 5 ¼ in.; 19.1 by 13.3 cm. painting.
7 3/8 by 4 ¾ in.; 18.9 by 12.2 cm. painting on verso
12 ½ by 10 ¼ in.; 31.8 by 26 cm. folio
On a buff-coloured ground four piebald pigeons, two pink and two black, peck about in a courtyard, their feathers skilfully detailed. Beyond is a double-domed blue-and-white pottery or porcelain dovecote with a lotus finial, painted with a landscape of trees. Behind is a rectangular brown pigeon-house, designed in the form of a garden pavilion. Of coffered form, it is painted in white with seven windows composed of cusped arches, two with hinged doors to admit the birds. On the roof are cusped foliate medallions with eaves and borders of foliate scroll.
Pigeons have long been considered sacred in India, where they were kept and trained by princes and paupers and considered sacred to both Hinduism and Islam.
At the Mughal court pigeons were bred and imported from abroad. In the Akbarnama, Abu’l-Fazl records Emperor Akbar’s pleasure at receiving ‘fairy-flying’ pigeons with a skilled handler, from Farghana where the Mughals originated, in present-day Uzbekistan. At Akbar’s court there were thought to be more than 20,000 pigeons, but only 500 were considered select. When the emperor moved camp, as he did frequently, the pigeons went too, transported by their bearers in portable dovecotes. In another work, the Ain-i Akbari, Abu’l-Fazl describes the breeding, flying and the different colours of the royal pigeons. Birds were trained to perform complicated movements such as turning somersaults or ‘the wheel’, where a bird would throw itself over in a full circle. A select pigeon could do seventy of the former and fifteen of the latter in one session.
Mughal paintings depicting pigeons are rare. A 1595 portrait of the Governor of Kabul, in the Johnson Album at the British Library, London, has a seventeenth century addition depicting two pigeons and a domed dovecote, see Sims-Williams. Also in the Library is a Kabutarnamah, an illustrated ‘Book of Pigeons’ written in 163 couplets by the poet Sayyid Muhammad Musavi, known as Valih. It contains information on their categories, colour and characteristics, as well as how to manage, fly and breed the different types of fancy pigeon. It is illustrated with thirteen Hyderabad paintings, circa 1788, showing the pigeons and their keepers.
A painting depicting two pigeons with a portable dovecote, circa 1635, is in the Dara Shikoh Album at the British Library, see Falk & Archer, pp.77 & 388, no.68f.31v. For another painting depicting pigeons round a dovecote, circa 1650, now in a private collection and formerly in the Lloyd Collection, London, see Losty 2011, no.5 and Losty 2012, p.120, no.62. Another version of this painting was formerly in the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and is now in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, see Canby, p.153, no.114. For a Mughal portrait of two royal pigeons, circa 1650, in the Hodgkin Collection, another version of which is in the Bibliothèque National, Paris, (Hurel, no.29), see Topsfield, pp.50-51, no. 14.
INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed on either side, on the foreground, in Devanagari and Persian, reading:
Shiraz pigeon’
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s, New York, 16/17 March 1988, lot 347
Private collection, New York, 1988-2023
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
An assembly of Mughal Emperors and Rajput rulers visiting two holy men
Mewar, circa 1695-1705
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, white, yellow and black rules with red border, inscribed on upper border, inventory number on the reverse
13 2/5 by 20 2/3 in.; 34.1 by 52.3 cm. painting
15 1/5 by 22 in.; 38.6 by 56 cm. folio
PAINTING IN THE PERIOD OF AMAR SINGH II
In the closing decades of the seventeenth century Mughal armies repeatedly invaded the Mewar state but were repelled by the forces of Maharana Jai Singh (r.1680-98) and his successor Amar Singh II (r.1698-1710). Under the latter, alliances were made with the powerful fellow-Rajput states of Amber (Jaipur) and Marwar (Jodhpur) in order to continue his dynasty’s century long resistance to Mughal invasion. However, to defray the vast cost to the treasury of repelling the Mughal armies, he also made secret treaties with the Mughals. For a detailed survey of the period see Topsfield, pp. 109-139.
A number of highly finished large scale Mewar paintings of this type, with figures from the Mughal court, were commissioned during the reign of Amar Singh II. In view of the historical context, what appears to be an unusual subject may in fact have been painted as a vision of Mughal and Rajput harmony. Here we have an imaginary gathering of Mughal and Rajput princes visiting two holy men sheltering in a rocky wilderness. A stark dark brown treeless ground conveys a desert or barren place creating a sobering contrast between the regal splendour of the princes and the humility of the two sages.
The bearded shaven-headed Hindu yogi sits cross-legged leaning on his mendicant’s crutch, naked apart from a blue loin-cloth, his eyes closed in deep meditation, at the entrance of the cave. Below him the Muslim shaykh, perhaps a Sufi, dressed in a simple white cotton tunic and skull-cap, sits cross-legged holding a rosary in his raised right hand, gazing intently at the princes.
IDENTIFICATION OF PRINCES
The eighteen figures depicted comprise Mughal and Rajput princes, dignitaries and courtiers, the upper row commencing with Emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. The second figure below with greying beard may be Shah Jahan with behind him his four sons. The four Rajput princes at the back being Hindu have their jamas tied on the left, whereas Muslims tie theirs on the right. Their suggested identities are: Man Singh of Amber, the stout figure in yellow in characteristic pose; Chhatar Sal of Bundi behind him in gold-striped jama; the stout figure above him in lilac may be Bhagwan Das of Amber and to his right is perhaps Gaj Singh of Marwar in a pale blue jama. The absence of a Mewar prince may be explained by the dynasty’s pride, despite various treaties, in never having actually been conquered by the Mughals.
The sartorial details are fascinating: all the princes wear turbans, close-fitting paijamas and silk brocade jamas with frontal patka. The palette of their jamas, embellished with idiosyncratic repeating floral motifs or stripes, creates a sumptuous effect. Noticeable amongst their jewellery is a predominance of pearls, a prerequisite of royal princes, most wearing a double string around the neck and turban, as well as pearl bracelets. Most also sport a gold pectoral, finger- and toe-rings. Some have daggers at the waistband and all are barefoot as a mark of respect to the sages.
INSCRIPTIONS
The Mewar inventory number on the back is 20/6 and the valuation is Rs. 25. No date is given. There is also mention of the Padhshah of Bukhara (?) on the verso.
Upper border with verses in Mewari Hindi:
duha: sore se seli [ta] ji: turi agare ?lakh: sai tere karane: chhora se lab lakh// 2?// patasya sri surtan memadi sabi//
It has not been possible to interpret this inscription, which appears to mention a Padshah Shri Surtan.
PROVENANCE
Mewar Royal Library, Udaipur
Spink & Son, London, circa 1985
Pierre Jourdan-Barry, (1926-2016), Paris
Spink & Son, London, 2000
H.H. Sheikh Saud Al-Thani, (1966-2014), London, 2000-14: Bonhams, London, 8 April 2014, lot 257
Simon Ray, London, 2014 his catalogue
Private collection, Europe, 2014-22
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
We are grateful to Dr. Andrew Topsfield for his assistance in the dating of this painting.
Mughal India, circa 1710
Persian manuscript on paper, the first with 18 lines of black nasta'liq within clouds on a pink ground, the reverse with 13 lines of black nasta'liq arranged in a boteh motif surrounded by poppies against a gold ground; the second folio with two panels of illumination between 4 lines of nasta'liq
11 7⁄8 by 7 in.; 30.3 by 17.7 cm. each, text panel
16 by 10 5⁄8 in.; 40.8 by 27 cm. folio
These two calligraphic folios originate from an album, with paintings of unusual and sometimes extraordinary scenes, assembled in the early eighteenth century and distinguished by its fine pale pink paper borders with stencilled designs of animals and flowers.
The first folio has a striking arrangement of thirteen lines of black nasta'liq in a boteh motif. This serrated leaf shape is surrounded by delicately-rendered vermillion and pale pink poppies on a solid gold ground. A margin of pink-tinted paper, decorated with floral designs drawn in faint black lines and coloured gold, frames the central rectangular panel. On the reverse are eighteen lines of nasta'liq within clouds on a pink ground; the same pink paper can be seen more clearly in the margin, embellished with a geometric floral pattern. The calligraphy on both sides is religious Shi'ite texts. The painting of the poppies surrounding the boteh motif is exceptionally well executed in the detail of the drawing and the overall composition and use of saturated colour.
The second folio features rectangular panels containing panels of illumination between four lines of nasta'liq. The illuminated designs comprise gold arabesques with three lapis blue cartouches - a cusped lozenge-shaped one in the centre and two triangular cartouches along each vertical side. The margins on both sides are of pink-tinted paper with symmetrical gold floral designs.
OTHER FOLIOS FROM THIS MANUSCRIPT
Eight further paintings from this album have been sold at auction, four each at Christie’s, London, 31 March 2022 and Sotheby’s New York, 17 March 1988, two from the latter sale are now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (Quintanilla, pp.339-40, nos. 72-3).
(i) Emperor Farrukhsiyar in durbar with (identified) princes (Christie’s, London, 31 March 2022, lot 74)
(ii) Mahliqa, daughter of the emperor of China, pointing at the bird-man Khwaja Mubarak (Cleveland, Qintanilla, p.339, no.72; Sotheby’s, New York, 17 March 1988, lot 327)
(iii) A princess before a nobleman surrounded by slain demons (Cleveland, Qintanilla, p.339, no.73; Sotheby’s, New York, 17 March 1988, lot 329)
(iv) Courtiers confronting a giant demon (Christie’s, London, 31 March 2022, lot 75)
(v) Courtiers in discussions with the same demon (Christie’s, London, 31 March 2022, lot 75)
(vi) A forlorn lady on a terrace (Christie’s, London, 31 March 2022, lot 76)
(vii) Noblemen watching a wrestling match (Sotheby’s, New York, 17 March 1988, lot 328)
(viii) Emperor Shah Alam I (r. 1707-12) in durbar with (identified) princes, below him the corpse of his overthrown brother (Sotheby’s, New York, 17 March 1988, lot 326)
The years following the death of Aurangzeb (r.1658-1707) were a tumultuous time for the Mughal court in Delhi, with power changing hands several times. Shah Alam's reign lasted only five years, paintings and albums produced during his reign are therefore rare (Dalrymple & Sharma, p.72).
PROVENANCE
Private collection, U.S.A. until 2022
REFERENCES
Dalrymple, W and Sharma, Y., Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi, 1707-1857, New Haven and London, 2012
Quintanilla, S., Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories, Cleveland, 2016
Two nightingales in a rose bush
Signed by Abdullah Bukhari (d. 1745)
Turkey, circa 1725-45
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, laid down in a marbled album page, signed at lower left; on the verso a rose and a tulip and two standing figures
7 ½ by 4 1/3 in.; 19 by 11 cm. painting
16 1/3 by 11 in.; 41.4 by 27.8 cm. folio
Two nightingales perch on the branches of a rose bush. The second nightingale is smaller in scale on a lower stem. Hovering above the plant are a mosquito and two house-flies. The larger of the birds occupies the upper branch between a rose in flower and another in bud. The rose heads are elegantly composed and well-observed, with particular attention to the wavy segments of the sepals and the various shades of pink for the petals.
The verso is a collage comprising two paintings and two small sections of illuminated designs. The larger of the paintings is a study of two flowers: a rose stem with one bloom and below it a short-stemmed pale pink tulip. The drawing is detailed with minute black outlines, echoing the style of the Bukhari rose painted on the other side of the album page, and the corners have spandrels of gold split-palmette design. The second drawing, in a less fine hand, depicts two turbaned men in conversation against a red background with a high horizon line. The man on the right is leaning on a staff listening to the other figure who holds a book, perhaps an author expounding on the volume in hand.
THE ARTIST
'Abdullah Bukhari has signed his painting in the lower left corner. He was one of the great Ottoman artists of the eighteenth century and was active from about 1725 to 1745. Most of his commissions were for paintings to be mounted in albums, such as this one. He specialised in single female figures and floral compositions (Artan and Schick, p.174; Bağcı et al., p. 276) but is also known for his erotic paintings. He mostly painted for patrons other than the sultan, but much of his work ended up in the royal collections.
THE ALBUM PAGE
Both sides of this album page have striking margins of marbled paper (abri) in a loose-flecked blue design. The entire surface was considered when designing an album page; a decorative border often frames the central image. While it is often the case that paintings can be re-margined by later owners, this example is original. This type of loosely-patterned marbling is typical of eighteenth-century designs, and many 'Abdullah Bukhari paintings were mounted with marbled margins before being bound into albums.
Water-based marbled paper first appeared in East Asia about one thousand years ago. However, Benson suggests another form using plant mucilage may have emerged independently in Timurid Iran (Benson, p.157). A well-known Timurid scribe working at the turn of the fifteenth century, and many of his followers, wrote calligraphy on marbled paper. As these works were collected widely, this may have been the dissemination point for marbling techniques from India to Turkey. It became popular across the Persianate world, with the Deccan in India and Ottoman Turkey becoming two of the most prolific producers of marbled paper.
INSCRIPTIONS
Signature of the artist ‘Abdullah Bukhari at lower left
PROVENANCE
Librairie Samuélian, Paris, early 1990s
Eric Grunberg, Brussels
Sotheby’s, London, 24 April 2012, lot 225
Christie’s, London, 26 April 2018, lot 169
Private collection, France, 2018-22
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
Murshidabad, circa 1750
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, laid down on card
11 by 18 ¾ in.; 28 by 47.5 cm.
The central figure in this extensive painting of an army parade is a nawab riding on an elephant in a domed palanquin, who may be the Nawab Alivardi Khan (1671-1756). Behind him are rows of horseback infantry carrying swords and additional armour. Immediately behind and slightly to the right of the nawab's elephant are four figures grasping tall spears. In the foreground, other attendants on foot hold swords and shields, and one of them bears a hookah – a status symbol of authority and wealth in India. The ruler and his elephant are the focal points, not simply due to their central position but also their large size; all other figures and animals are represented much smaller in scale.
Figures on horseback or on foot lead the parade. In front of the nawab are two figures transported in palanquins by groups of attendants, presumably family members; one is a male figure in a bright saffron jama, and the other one imagines hidden behind the pink canopy, evidently one of the nawab's wives in purdah. Flanking these are two figures riding elephants wearing matching grey robes and turbans, giving the appearance of royal guards. The horizon line is high and edged in a row of trees, behind which an elephant leads infantry with triangular battle-standards embellished with a sword with bifurcated blade. They are followed by mounted musicians, a camel corps and finally two elephants bringing up the rear. The formal structure of the parade is animated by the sheer number of figures and the rhythm of the different groups and individuals, each with a coded outfit that reflects their role. While the nawab is the largest figure in the painting, all others are scaled differently, sometimes reflecting their status, for instance the palanquin-bearers are smaller than the figures leading horses at the front of the parade.
OTHER PORTRAITS OF ALIVARDI KHAN
A comparison with surviving paintings of Nawab Alivardi Khan (r.1740-56) reveals a strong resemblance to the current image (Losty, 2013, p.83). The overall shape of the beard with an almost-square shape to the chin, the large almond eyes and neatly arched eyebrows, the long straight nose and the turban design all appear to confirm this. Most Murshidabad paintings under his patronage date from the later part of his reign, such as a painting of the nawab hunting, circa 1750, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Losty, 2002, p.36, no.2; Losty & Roy, p.84). Only around 1750, after he had defeated the Marathas, did his realm become politically stable, and he established a thriving cultural centre in Murshidabad. A more detailed Murshidabad army procession, circa 1780, from the collection of Ann and Gordon Getty, was sold at Christie's, New York, 24 October 2022, lot 1103. There is some visual connection with a series of genre scenes that depict daily life with multiple small figures engaged in different activities. Two of these paintings, circa 1760-70, are now in the British Library, London (Losty & Roy, pp.178-9, nos.119-120).
PROVENANCE
Monsieur B. de M., Belgium (1945-2021)
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
Holi Festival with Nawab Siraj al-Dawla as the Nayaka (Vasant Ragini)
Murshidabad, Bengal, circa 1755
Opaque watercolour with gold on paper, laid down in a reduced album page decorated with repeating lotus buds on a gold ground
9 ¼ by 5 4/5 in.; 23,5 by 15 cm. painting
11 by 7 in.; 28 by 17.8 cm. folio
This vibrant painting depicts the spring festival Holi in the form of Vasant Ragini, the musical mode from the Ragamala that celebrates spring. Here Siraj al-Dawla, Nawab of Bengal (r.1733-57) takes the role of the Nayaka celebrating Holi with a group of court ladies.
Siraj al-Dawla embraces one of the ladies in the centre while the others gather around. The two women in the immediate foreground are armed with syringes of coloured water. One is firing at the embracing couple while the other is reaching into a gold globular vessel to refill her syringe. Some ladies standing to the right and one on the left are clutching coloured powder in their hands, about to throw it, the colour leaking down the palms of their hands. A lady on the right plays an oblong drum, and another on the left holds up a round drum. Four hold up small vases of flowers, including the lady embracing the Nayaka. The background is magenta representing the already-thrown pigment that covers the ground of this landscape setting, and the clothing of all the figures is of shades of magenta and saffron, rendering the entire painting an arresting display of dazzling colour.
SIRAJ AL-DAWLA, NAWAB OF BENGAL
Despite most sources condemning his character, Siraj al-Dawla (1733-57) was nevertheless renowned for his good looks. Two fine group portraits of his grandfather, Nawab Alivardi Khan (1671-1756), in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, circa 1750, show Siraj al-Daula, his favourite grandson, facing him to the far right of each picture; see Losty 2017, pp. 794-5, nos. 31 & 32. The resemblance between the portrait of Siraj al-Daula here and his depiction in the Ragamala painting is unmistakable; large eyes with full lips, a small dark moustache, shadow of a beard, and a similar turban secured with a pearl and emerald band.
Siraj al-Dawlah had since childhood been groomed by his grandfather, the powerful Alivardi Khan (1671-1756), Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from 1740, to succeed him, which he did on Alivardi Khan’s death in 1756. Intrigue at court and the ever-increasing threat from the British in Calcutta, who were becoming more autonomous, forced the Nawab into action when reinforcements to Fort William were made. Having attacked the city, he took it briefly and imprisoned 150 British and Indian soldiers from the Fort, in the infamous ‘Black Hole’ incident where over 100 died. Other conflicts followed and, ultimately, after much intrigue on both sides, Siraj ud-Daula was defeated at the Battle of Plassy in 1757 by Robert Clive (‘Clive of India’), after which Bengal passed into the hands of the East India Company. In trying to make his escape to Patna by boat the Nawab was captured and murdered.
Skelton quotes the contemporary historian Ghulam Hussain Khan, who states that his cousin, the Nawab, was known all over Bengal for the "regularity and sweetness" of his looks (Skelton, p.14). His character however was far less appealing, and Ghulam Hussain also wrote a scathing account of his debauched nature and that the nobility disliked him. However, he enjoyed the arts, and Skelton attributed a new 'freshness of vision' within Murshidabad painting to Siraj al-Dawla's pleasure-loving nature and patronage, including this Ragamala set. Skelton viewed this series as heralding a new phase of Murshidabad painting with vitality and softer modelling that contrasts with earlier, more formal styles. The style suggests a date of circa 1755 in the last years of the reign of Nawab Alivardi Khan. The horizon is high and curved, somewhat similar to a later set of Ragamala paintings from Murshidabad (Losty, 2013, p.91, fig.9).
OTHER FOLIOS FROM THIS RAGAMALA
A Ragamala (‘garland of ragas’) is a set of paintings, each representing a ‘raga’ or musical mode depicted as a figure experiencing a particular emotion at a specific time of the day and season of the year. Other images from this Ragamala series include: Bhairava Raga, where the Nawab appears with a woman sitting on a low seat in a palace courtyard by candlelight at night (Christie's, London, 25 May 2017, lot 219); Hindola Raga with Siraj ad-Daula depicted on a swing with a princess in the garden; and Kakubha Ragini showing a lovelorn woman holding two garlands of flowers standing between two peacocks in a landscape setting (Skelton, figs 4 and 5). The latter is in the same gold-ground album page with repeating buds as ours. In 1956 these were both in the collection of a Mrs. D’Arcy Hunt.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kent, 1963-2012: Canterbury Auctions, Kent, 23 October 2012, lot 300
Peter Blohm, 2012-13
Claudio Moscatelli, London: Christie’s, London, 25 May 2017, lot 20
Private collection, Europe, 2017-23
PUBLISHED
Dalrymple, W., The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence and the Pillage of an Empire, London, 2019, pp. 102-3
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
Company School, Probably Calcutta, circa 1790-1800
Ink and bodycolour on laid paper watermarked J WHATMAN
26 ½ by 19 7/8 in.; 67.3 by 50.5cm.
This large and superbly skilled drawing captures with perfect naturalism the image of a standing painted stock. The colouring of the plumage is handled with great sensitivity, descending in size from the white along the neck and upper body to the grey-bordered soot-black wings. Following the example set by Lady Impey in the 1770s many artists were commissioned by individual British patrons who, as here, would have supplied English paper. In the 1780-1810 period, remarkable collections were formed, many now in the British Library, London, including those of Marquis Wellesley (1760-1842) and a former Governor-General and Lord Clive (‘of India’), see Archer, pp.2-14. Another keen enthusiast of natural history painting was George Annesley, Viscount Valencia (1769-1844), who visited India on his travels in 1802-06 and while in Calcutta formed a highly regarded album of his own, now dispersed. For three of his birds, see Welch, pp.58-59, no.18.
Another stork, by a Calcutta artist, circa 1803, painted on Whatman paper of similar dimensions, was published by Hobhouse, no. 15. For another image of this species from the Impey album, ‘Painted stork eating a snail’, by Shaikh Zain ud-Din, dated 1781, see Dalrymple, p.58, no.21.
THE PAINTED STORK
The aptly named Painted Stork is among the most colourful members of the stork family. It is the Indian representative of the genus Mycteria—meaning ‘nose’ or ‘snout’ in the ancient Greek—remarkable for their large size, striking markings, bald face and, most especially, their downturned, ibis-like bill to which their name alludes. The genus has a strictly tropical distribution and is neatly represented with a species each in the Americas, Africa, India, and eastern South-East Asia.
Unlike their straight-billed relatives, Mycteria storks are chiefly aquatic and have a highly specialised foraging strategy. They wade through freshwater lagoons sweeping their submerged bill from side to side, open and ready to snap shut the moment contact is made with prey. It is one of the fastest reflexes known in the animal kingdom, though precisely how they distinguish between edible animals and vegetable detritus is still unknown.
We are grateful to the ornithologist Katrina van Grouw for identifying the species and writing this note on the stork and its habitat.
INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed Jaunghil in English and janghal in Persian (stork)
PROVENANCE
Sven Gahlin (1934-2017), London, circa 1970
Private collection, New York, circa 1970-2023
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
Five Sages on pilgrimage in the Himalayas worshipping a lingam
Family workshop of Purkhu
Guler, circa 1810
Opaque pigments and gold on paper, red borders with blue inner border, both with double white rules, the number ‘13’ in the upper margin
11 ½ by 16 3/8 in.; 29.2 by 41.6 cm. painting
14 3/8 by 19 ¼ in.; 36.5 by 48.9 cm. folio
THE KEDARA KALPA OR ‘FIVE SAGES’ MANUSCRIPT
Over twenty years ago Professor B.N. Goswamy (1999, no. 216) identified the manuscript which these folios illustrate, the Kedara Kalpa, a little-known Shaiva text that extols the virtues of taking the pilgrimage to the mountainous region of Kedara-Kailasa. This is in fact the medieval Kedarnath Temple, which remains an important shrine and is located high in the Garhwal region of the Himalayas but can only be reached by a fourteen mile trek. In 2021 a complete study of the manuscript was published, recording that there are in fact two quite similar manuscripts, of which thirty-three folios are now known, see Goswamy & Goswamy, pp.11-26.
The text, which the Goswamys discovered in the Biblioteca Bodmeriana in Geneva in 1996, is concerned with the glory of Siva and praises the great merits of pilgrimage to those regions in the Himalayas that are associated with him, principally Kedara and Kailasa. The story is narrated by Siva to his consort Parvati and their son Karttikeya in the form of a series of tales (Mason, no. 86, shows the narrative beginning). One of the tales is about five siddhas or sages, who seem to be the protagonists of nearly all the known pages, who go “on a pilgrimage to the land of Siva through snow-clad mountains, past the domains of the moon, and encountering on the way not only the greatest of difficulties, but also the most wondrous of sights. Golden cities, apsaras singing and dancing, young maidens hanging from trees like fruit, roads paved and rocks studded with rubies and emeralds come their way” (Goswamy 1999, p. 280).
In this scene, the emaciated five sages are shown six times in the course of their harrowing journey through the bare hillside and craggy snow-bound mountains. Shaven-headed they are naked except for white shorts and a thin shawl. At centre right we see them paying obeisance, holding rudraksha beads in their joined hands, to the large flower-garlanded Siva-lingam, which stands in a waisted blue yoni base on a red sandstone platform. Below the platform they are finally depicted seated round a fire, their strained faces still solemn but their long pilgrimage at last complete.
THE ARTIST
For Purkhu and his workshop see Goswamy & Fischer (2011), pp.719-32. The blue and red borders with white rules of our set are the same on almost all the epic and puranic series produced in Purkhu’s workshop in Kangra, for which see Goswamy & Fischer (1992), pp. 368-87.
OTHER FOLIOS FROM THIS MANUSCRIPT
Goswamy & Goswamy record (2021) that thirty-three paintings are known from the two Kedara Kalpa series. The two sets are “different but clearly related” (op. cit., p.39), one being slightly smaller than the other. The larger of the two tend to be numbered on the upper margin, as here. The National Museum, New Delhi, acquired eleven of these in 1963. For a complete list of the thirty-three known folios, with images, see Goswamy & Goswamy, pp. 11-25 & 40-104. Other leaves from this distinguished series are in a private and public collections including:
Philadelphia Museum of Art (formerly Bellak Collection); Walters Museum of Art (formerly Ford Collection); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (formerly Hudson Collection); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; San Diego Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (formerly Walter Collection); Polsky Collection, New York; Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin; Birla Academy, Kolkata; Salar Jang Museum, Hyderabad; Goenka Academy, Kolkata; Bhayana Collection, New Delhi
OTHER FOLIOS SOLD AT AUCTION
Dr. William Ehrenfeld: Sotheby’s, New York, 6 October 1990, lot 57
Carter Burden: Sotheby’s, New York, 27 March 1991, lot 56
Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck: Sotheby’s, New York, 22 March 2002, lot 69
Paul Walter, Sotheby’s, New York, 14 November 2002, lot 83
Sven Gahlin, Sotheby’s, London, 6 October 2015, lot 102
PROVENANCE
Sven Gahlin, (1934-2017), London, circa 1970
Private collection, New York, circa 1970-2023
For references cited please refer to our online or printed catalogue.
By Pannalal
Mewar, circa 1930-35
Gouache on paper, blue and white rules with a tan border, an inscription in white Nagari on the lower border, an inventory number and the artist’s name in blue ink on the verso
29 by 51 5/8 in.; 73.7 by 131.1 cm. painting
35 by 56 ¾ in.; 88.9 by 144.1 cm. folio
H.H. Maharana Sir Bhupal Singh Bahadur, K.C.I.E. (1884-1955) ruled Mewar state from 1930-55.
In a grand scene set at the bottom of what appears to be a hill fort, Bhopal Singh, seated on a ceremonial elephant at the centre of a vast entourage, arrives at a (?)hunting encampment at a place named in the inscription as (?)Kharakji Suncho, in the summer month of Asharh, but the year is not stated. The procession snakes its way through an encampment towards a rocky hillside dotted with trees in a terrain typical of Mewar.
The camp contains various types of hut and tent, while oxen graze and women and children watch the procession. The Rana is encircled with courtiers in white holding banners, fans, morchhals and other emblems of state, and around them stand lines of armed soldiers in red. The procession is led by marching infantry followed by mounted troops. A further elephant leads the royal party and a contingent of cavalry in navy brings up the rear. The camp is shaded by mature trees.
Though undated the scene seems to have been painted in the early years of the Rana’s reign, when the prince had formally succeeded his father Fateh Singh whose nearly half-century reign finally ended with his death in 1930.
THE ARTIST PANNALAL
According to Topsfield, pp.295-301, “the final phase of traditional Udaipur painting, from c. 1910-45, is dominated by Pannalal Parasram Gaur [insert space] (1860-1935), known as Pannalal, and his son Chaganlal”.
For other works by this artist including a Tiger-Hunt, 1911, Bhupal Singh shooting leopard, 1916, the investiture of Bhupal Singh, 1930 and two scenes of the Rana in the royal barge at Gangaur Ghat, circa 1929 and 1935 respectively; see Topsfield, pp.266-8 & 270-2.
INSCRIPTIONS
Bhupal Singh is described in the inscription as
maharajadhiraja maharanaji sri sri 108 sri bhopal singhji....
The artist's name is given as Pannalal Parasuram Gaur.
On the verso, Mewar inventory numbers in blue ink:
'Number' 1672
....? 229; inv. no. 0/93; valuation Rs. 250
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s, New York, 2 June 1992, lot 153
Private collection, New York, 1992-2023
PUBLISHED
Topsfield, 2002, p. 305, note 135 (mentioned).
REFERENCES
Topsfield, A., Court Painting at Udaipur: Art under the patronage of the Maharanas of Mewar, Zurich, 2000
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