IMPERIAL MUGHAL, CIRCA 1620

Details

A DRUNKEN MUSICIAN AND ATTENDANT
IMPERIAL MUGHAL, CIRCA 1620
Pencil on paper, a drunken musician sits, one arm draped around a cushion behind him the other resting on the guitar by his side, his turban askew and robe disheveled, attended by a young servant, in the foreground some melons and a ferret, above them intricate fabric of the roof of the tent, laid down within two text panels on marbled ground between gold minor borders and buff margin, mounted, framed and glazed
Miniature 6¼ x 4 5/8in. (15.9 x 11.8cm.); folio 11¾ x 7½in. (29.8 x 19.1cm.)

Provenance

Anon sale (The property of a Lady) in these Rooms, 5 May 1977, lot 92.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

When offered previously in these Rooms, the catalogue noted that the verso was with six lines of nasta'liq, four inscribed 'written by Hidayatullah', and dated AH 1103/1691-2 AD.

The subject of this painting is typical of those done by Basawan, with his penchant for uncompromising, or as Amina Okada refers to them, 'spontaneous' portraits, those free from the obligation of the flattering image (Amina Okada, Imperial Mughal Painters, Paris, 1992, p.90). While the subject is very much one of his genre, our artist's treatment of the drapery of the robes and the absence of the dark shading for which Basawan is so well known, indicate a hand other than Basawan himself.

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