MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1590

This folio comes from the dispersed ‘De Luynes’ Album which comprised a number of Mughal paintings of a similar size and style. The style of this painting relates to the sub-imperial commissions of Akbar’s courtiers during the late 16th century such as the Ramayana created in 1587-98 for ‘Abd al-Rahim Khan Khanan, Akbar’s military commander-in-chief, now in the Freer Gallery (M. C. Beach, The Imperial Image, Paintings for the Mughal Court, Washington D.C., 1981, pp.128-155; also J. Seyller, Workshop and Patron in Mughal India, Zurich, 1999). Other related manuscripts include the British Library Razmnama of 1598 (J.P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India, London, 1982, no.88), and the ‘Manley’ Ragamala of circa 1600 (now in the British Museum). Related illustrations are also found in the manuscript of the Baburnama now divided between the State Museum of Oriental Cultures, Moscow, and the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (S. Tyulayev, Miniatures of Babur-nama, Moscow, 1960, pls. 1 and 64-69).

Princes seeking the counsel of holy men was a popular subject for Mughal artists in the late 16th and 17th centuries and such scenes were quite commonly included in Mughal albums. As pointed out by A. Welch and S.C. Welch, the iconography of a prince visiting a holy man is based on earlier Iranian prototypes of rulers visiting dervishes. The contrast of these two aspects of society symbolised the ‘juxtaposition and distant affinity of temporal and spiritual authority’ (A. Welch and S.C. Welch, The Arts of the Islamic Book, The Collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, New York, 1982, p.160). This theme was of great interest to Akbar and is first thought to have appeared in Mughal painting during his reign. He was widely admired for his interest and tolerance of other faiths. After Akbar, Jahangir continued his father’s policy of religious tolerance. Shah Jahan’s elder son, Prince Dara Shikoh had a keen interest in Sufism and mystical aspects of religion and is known to have often frequented gatherings of holy men. He commissioned Mughal artists to paint portraits of ascetics and dervishes and is often himself the subject, seated amidst Sufis. There is a 17th century example, painted by the Mughal artist, depicting Dara Shikoh visiting the Sufi saints Mian Mir of Lahore and Mullah Shah of Badakshan, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. IM.250-1921).

This scene may also be a reference to Alexander visiting the sage Plato in his mountain cave, from a Khamsa of Amir Khosraw Dehlavi. There is an illustration attributed to Basawan, dateable to circa 1597-98, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 13.228.30; J. Seyller, ‘Basawan’ in Milo C. Beach, Eberhard Fischer and B.N. Goswamy (eds.), Masters of Indian Painting, Vol. I, exhibition catalogue, New York and Zurich, 2011, fig. 13, p. 133). The treatment of the rocks and the costumes, especially the turbans, is also very similar to a Mughal double-sided album page, dating to circa 1590, depicting two hunting scenes in Simon Ray, Indian and Islamic Works of Art, London 2012, no. 26.

The reverse of the album page is painted with a European inspired illustration of Madonna and Child. This scene was popular in the late 16th and 17th centuries when European prints and paintings with Biblical scenes made a great impact on the artists of the Mughal imperial atelier. The Madonna stands with her head slightly bent holding the Christ child in her left arm. She holds a feather-like object in her right hand, perhaps a quill, and the child has a small bird resting on his lap. The bird symbolises the Resurrection of Christ. It feeds on the blood of Christ, an act that refers to the Eucharist. The blue robe of the Madonna can be compared to the robes worn by the ladies mourning Christ in a Crucifixion scene by a Mughal artist, circa 1600-10, now in the collection of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (B.N. Goswamy and E. Fischer, Wonders of a Golden Age, Zurich, 1987, no. 10, p.40.) The composition is also very similar to a Mughal depiction of Virgin Mary and Child, circa 1620-30, in the British Library (J.6,3; T. Falk and M. Archer, Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, London, 1981, no. 444i, p.520). Although catalogued by Falk and Archer as a work from the Deccan, circa 1640-60, J.P. Losty later revised this attribution. The British Library image, like our painting, is based on an engraving of the icon in the basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, such as one by Giovanni Battista de’ Cavalieri, circa 1560-1600, now in the British Museum (inv. no. li,5.104). (https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2015/11/further-deccani-and-mughal-drawings-of-christian-subjects.html)

For other folios from the De Luynes Album which have sold at auction, see Christie’s, London, 23 April, 2015, lot 115, 4 October 2012, lots 163-176, and Christie's New York, 19 June 2019, lots 11 and 183.