SIGNED BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR, MUGHAL INDIA, MID 19TH CENTURY

Details

A CALLIGRAPHIC COMPOSITION
SIGNED BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR, MUGHAL INDIA, MID 19TH CENTURY
Ink and opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the black calligraphy filled with a white scrolling floral vine, the interstices with gold trefoils, palmettes and lozenges against a blue ground, larger areas of similar decoration above and below, a panel below containing an inscription in red ink naming the scribe, set within gold rules and pasted onto later card margin, later inscription in black ink in the lower margin, the verso with blue and red pencil annotations, trade label in the upper left, some waterstaining
Text panel 8 x 5 ½in. (20.5 x 14cm.); folio 11 x 8 ½in. (28 x 21.5cm.)

Provenance

Anon sale, Christie's London, 7 April 2011, lot 293

Engraved

The red inscription below the composition: katabahu muhammad abu zafar saraj al-din bahadur shah ghazi

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Despite being the last Mughal Emperor of Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zafar (r. 1837-1857) managed to cultivate a rich court culture and brief renaissance of the arts and literature. A patron of the poets Ghalib and Zauq, Bahadur Shah Zafar was himself a poet and skilled calligrapher. Two examples of the Emperor's calligraphy are in the British Library (Add.21474,f.3 and IO Isl 3581). Another composition attributable to Bahadur Shah Zafar was sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lot 294.

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