ATTRIBUTABLE TO MIRZA GHULAM, MUGHAL AGRA, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1610

Our painting comes from a Shahnama manuscript which combines Persian and Indian painting traditions. Folios from this manuscript have been variously attributed to the Mughal workshop in Agra, as well as to Central Asia. A painting sold by Sotheby’s London, 26 April 2023, lot 40, was attributed to Mirza Ghulam, while a folio in the Cleveland Museum of Art (acc.no.2013.314) is believed to be the work of Haidar Kashmiri. Though both have similarities to the present painting, it is the former – with its teardrop-shaped trees, golden throne, and generously moustachioed bystander – which bears most similarity to ours. The illustration also has a strong Central Asian feel to it, bearing a resemblance to the work of Muhammad Nadir Samarqandi, who migrated to Kashmir in the mid-seventeenth century. The combination of traditions from across the Persianate world in Mughal Agra is a testament to the generous patronage of the Mughal emperors, whose deep pockets attracted talented artists from far and wide.

Mirza Ghulam was likely a follower of Aqa Riza, and like him was an artist steeped in Persian traditions. From 1599 to 1604 he worked for Prince Salim in Allahabad, before being recruited to the Imperial workshop in Agra. One of the manuscripts he worked on in that period was a Diwan of Hasan Dehlavi, to which he contributed five miniatures including an enthronement scene which also features a group of strong-featured, almost cartoonish, well wishers coming to pay their respects to a ruler (Amina Okada, Imperial Mughal Painters, Paris, 1992, p.115, fig.125). A further folio from this manuscript was sold as part of a private collection donated to benefit the University of Oxford, Part II, Christie's London, 4 October 2012, lot 18.