.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This folio comes from a dispersed copy of the Baburnama, an autobiographical chronicle and memoir of Babur, the young prince who conquered India in 1526 and founded the Mughal dynasty. The manuscript was produced for the Emperor Akbar, Babur’s grandson, around the year 1590. The text was translated from its original Chagatai Turkish, the language of the Timurids, by ‘Abd al-Rahim, Akbar’s khan-i khanan (Susan Stronge, Painting for the Mughal Emperor. The Art of the Book 1560-1660, London, 2002, p.88). On our folio certain words used for military terms, such as chapqulash for combat and yaragh for military equipment, have in fact been left in their original Chagatai.
Although at least four other copies of this popular book were made in the 16th century, the Baburnama from which our painting comes is generally regarded as being the first illustrated copy. Ellen Smart wrote that ‘the spontaneity, simplicity, and forthright vigor of the paintings from this first manuscript are far more in keeping with the text than are the more complex, ornate paintings of the manuscripts that followed’ (Ellen Smart, ‘Six Folios from a Dispersed Manuscript of the Baburnama’, Indian Painting, Colnaghi, 1978). Nineteen folios from our manuscript are in the Victoria and Albert Museum and as a result it is often referred to as the ‘South Kensington Baburnama’. Other folios however are in major museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Chester Beatty Library. Other folios have sold at auction, most recently at Sotheby’s, 7 October 2015, lot 275.
Our page has been laid down on card, making precise identification of the scene difficult. It does depict a young Babur however, already a warrior. It has been suggested that it may portray his battle to retake Andijin or his encounter with Tambal.
This miniature is one of a number that were mounted on folios from a manuscript of the Farhang-i-Jahangiri, a Persian lexicon written by Jamal al-Din Husayn around 1608. That manuscript appears, at some point, to have been in the possession of the Parisian collector and dealer, Georges-Joseph Demotte. Eleven miniature paintings mounted on leaves of the manuscript are illustrated in his 1930 catalogue. Of those, many were from royal Mughal manuscripts, notably the Chester Beatty Akbarnama (Linda Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, vol.1, pp.264).
Although at least four other copies of this popular book were made in the 16th century, the Baburnama from which our painting comes is generally regarded as being the first illustrated copy. Ellen Smart wrote that ‘the spontaneity, simplicity, and forthright vigor of the paintings from this first manuscript are far more in keeping with the text than are the more complex, ornate paintings of the manuscripts that followed’ (Ellen Smart, ‘Six Folios from a Dispersed Manuscript of the Baburnama’, Indian Painting, Colnaghi, 1978). Nineteen folios from our manuscript are in the Victoria and Albert Museum and as a result it is often referred to as the ‘South Kensington Baburnama’. Other folios however are in major museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Chester Beatty Library. Other folios have sold at auction, most recently at Sotheby’s, 7 October 2015, lot 275.
Our page has been laid down on card, making precise identification of the scene difficult. It does depict a young Babur however, already a warrior. It has been suggested that it may portray his battle to retake Andijin or his encounter with Tambal.
This miniature is one of a number that were mounted on folios from a manuscript of the Farhang-i-Jahangiri, a Persian lexicon written by Jamal al-Din Husayn around 1608. That manuscript appears, at some point, to have been in the possession of the Parisian collector and dealer, Georges-Joseph Demotte. Eleven miniature paintings mounted on leaves of the manuscript are illustrated in his 1930 catalogue. Of those, many were from royal Mughal manuscripts, notably the Chester Beatty Akbarnama (Linda Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, vol.1, pp.264).