Arts of the Islamic World and India, including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World and India, including Fine Rugs and Carpets
Property from a Prestigious Private European Collection
Greeting a royal arrival, India, Mughal, circa 1580-85
Auction Closed
April 26, 01:36 PM GMT
Estimate
150,000 - 200,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
gouache heightened with gold on paper, dark blue gold speckled borders, gold and coloured rules, buff margins, numbered 32 in nasta'liq in the top margin, verso with nasta'liq calligraphy of Persian text and mufradat (calligraphic exercises)
painting: 27.8 by 19.1cm.
leaf: 37.5 by 26.3cm.
Sotheby's London, 10 October, 1977, lot 27.
Colnaghi.
Ex-collection Khosrovani, Geneva.
This illustration is painted by an accomplished artist as demonstrated by the animated composition and exquisite detailing of the elephants and their caparisoning. Although the illustration has not been associated to a known manuscript this painting is clearly an imperial commission and would have been part of an historical manuscript, perhaps an Akbarnama that documented the emperor's fascination with elephants (Falk 1985, p.151)
Anthony Welch suggests this page was originally the left-half of a double-page due to the larger elephant's mahout and the two soldiers in the lower right corner bowing their heads in honour of an emperor illustrated on the right-hand page (ibid).
The chakdar jama four-pointed gown and small turbans secured by cords are typical of the early Akbar period and the palette and stylisation of the rocks and foliage recall the later pages of the Hamzanama (1562-77). See, for example, two folios from the Hamzanama attributed to Kesava Dasa from 1570 illustrated in Seyller 2002, p.173, no.56 and p.251, no.85.