LUCKNOW, CIRCA 1770

Details

AKBAR HOLDING HIS FATHER'S TURBAN
LUCKNOW, CIRCA 1770
Gouache heightened with gold on paper, Akbar stands in a landscape wearing cream robe with gold flowers and orange turban, holding in his hands the turban of his father Homayun, laid down between gold and blue floral margins on gold speckled cream paper, on the margin above an inscription cartouche with the words Taswir Galal Akbar Shah, the reverse with a quatrain of nasta'liq signed by Hafiz Nasrallah in cloud bands reserved against a gold and polychrome ground, some flaking, mounted, framed and glazed
7¾ x 3½in. (19.9 x 9cm.)

Provenance

Sotheby's London, 14 December 1987, lot 38

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.

Sale room notice

Please note that this miniature is from the Husn Album collected by Sir Elijah Impey. Further details are available on request.

Lot Essay

The inscriptions are:

recto: 'Portrait of Jalal al-Din Akbar Padshah'
verso: A calligraphic page in nasta'liq signed as 'The needy Hafiz Nurullah'. This is a scribe working at the court of Asaf al-Dawla (1189-1212/1775-97) of Oudh (Awadh) in Lucknow (Ghulam Muhammad Dihlavi, The Tadhkira-I-Khushnavisan, edited by M. Hidayet Husain, Calcutta, 1910, pp. 64-5).

This lot and the preceding come from the same album as a mid 18th century Mughal miniature depicting Prince Hassan with attendants, in the sale of the collection of Charles Gillot (Christie's Paris, 4 and 5 March 2008, lot 92). The margins are the same, as are the identification cartouches above each miniature.

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