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Lot Essay
Albums made for the Emperor Shah Jahan and his father Jahangir are celebrated for the refined quality of the border decoration. The borders paid tribute to the royal patrons' growing concern with the natural world - they actively encouraged artists of their ateliers to study and observe all aspects of it. The European herbaria of the early 17th century that were bought into the Mughal court by Jesuit missionaries provided ample inspiration. Under Jahangir (r.1604-28) artists such as Manohar and Mansur were encouraged to record animals, plants and birds with great attention to detail. It is claimed in Jahangir's Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, that more than one hundred flower paintings were done by the artist Mansur in Kashmir alone (Milo C. Beach, Eberhard Fischer and B.N.Goswamy (eds.), Masters of Indian Painting, vol.I, exhibition catalogue, New York and Zurich, 2011, p.257). Under Shah Jahan, this keen observation was applied to the borders of albums, where artists demonstrated the great precision and naturalism with which they had become practiced.
A number of albums with closely related floral borders were produced under the patronage of Shah Jahan. These include the Minto, Wantage and Kevorkian albums – all now identified by the names of former Western owners. However our folio relates most closely to another, the now dispersed Late Shah Jahan album, probably assembled between 1650-58. In that album the calligraphic borders are usually floral, and certainly relate closely to the others mentioned above. However the spacing of the flowers is different – they are sparser and more delicate than those of the other albums. In addition, particular floral species are repeated on a single border unlike the Minto, Wantage and Kevorkian albums, where each type of flower is used only once. In many of the folios from the Late Shah Jahan album birds are a prominent feature, flying or walking amongst the flowering plants, usually in pairs as found on our page (Elaine Wright (ed.), Muraqqa’. Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, exhibition catalogue, Virginia, 2008, pp.115-16). Our page closely relates in these features, and it seems very possible that it was conceived for that album. Notably, a folio from the Late Shah Jahan album in the Chester Beatty Library shares with ours not only a very similar calligraphic panel by Mir ‘Ali, but also similar minor borders with pink cloud bands reserved against gold ground (Wright, op.cit., no.56b, p.372).
The calligraphy on the folio is signed al-muthnib ‘Ali, probably referring to Mir 'Ali al-Katib (d.1556). Mir ‘Ali is often mentioned by Safavid sources as amongst the most important nasta'liq calligraphers of all time. Various authorities attribute the codifying of the aesthetic rules of nasta'liq script to him. Born in Herat circa 1476, he was later taken to Bukhara by the Shaybanid ruler 'Ubaydullah Khan after his capture of Herat in AH 935/1528-29 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, vol. II, Tehran 1346 sh., p.494). His recorded works are dated between AH 914/1508-09 AD and AH 951/1544-45 AD. The works of leading Persian calligraphers were particularly prized at the Mughal court and Mir ‘Ali was amongst those particularly admired by Jahangir. A large number of qit’as signed by him found their way into important Mughal albums, and he is the calligrapher responsible for most of the specimens in the late Shah Jahan album. It is possible that they were bought to the Mughal court by way of his son Muhammad Baqir who emigrated to India and was mentioned by Abu’l Fazl’s in his Ain-i Akbari (Islamic Calligraphy, exhibition catalogue, Geneva, 1998, no.54, pp.170-71).
A number of albums with closely related floral borders were produced under the patronage of Shah Jahan. These include the Minto, Wantage and Kevorkian albums – all now identified by the names of former Western owners. However our folio relates most closely to another, the now dispersed Late Shah Jahan album, probably assembled between 1650-58. In that album the calligraphic borders are usually floral, and certainly relate closely to the others mentioned above. However the spacing of the flowers is different – they are sparser and more delicate than those of the other albums. In addition, particular floral species are repeated on a single border unlike the Minto, Wantage and Kevorkian albums, where each type of flower is used only once. In many of the folios from the Late Shah Jahan album birds are a prominent feature, flying or walking amongst the flowering plants, usually in pairs as found on our page (Elaine Wright (ed.), Muraqqa’. Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, exhibition catalogue, Virginia, 2008, pp.115-16). Our page closely relates in these features, and it seems very possible that it was conceived for that album. Notably, a folio from the Late Shah Jahan album in the Chester Beatty Library shares with ours not only a very similar calligraphic panel by Mir ‘Ali, but also similar minor borders with pink cloud bands reserved against gold ground (Wright, op.cit., no.56b, p.372).
The calligraphy on the folio is signed al-muthnib ‘Ali, probably referring to Mir 'Ali al-Katib (d.1556). Mir ‘Ali is often mentioned by Safavid sources as amongst the most important nasta'liq calligraphers of all time. Various authorities attribute the codifying of the aesthetic rules of nasta'liq script to him. Born in Herat circa 1476, he was later taken to Bukhara by the Shaybanid ruler 'Ubaydullah Khan after his capture of Herat in AH 935/1528-29 AD (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, vol. II, Tehran 1346 sh., p.494). His recorded works are dated between AH 914/1508-09 AD and AH 951/1544-45 AD. The works of leading Persian calligraphers were particularly prized at the Mughal court and Mir ‘Ali was amongst those particularly admired by Jahangir. A large number of qit’as signed by him found their way into important Mughal albums, and he is the calligrapher responsible for most of the specimens in the late Shah Jahan album. It is possible that they were bought to the Mughal court by way of his son Muhammad Baqir who emigrated to India and was mentioned by Abu’l Fazl’s in his Ain-i Akbari (Islamic Calligraphy, exhibition catalogue, Geneva, 1998, no.54, pp.170-71).