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Lot Essay
This page comes from a dispersed album recognisable for its gold-flecked margins with a cusped gold cartouche in the upper margin identifying the scene of the painting below in Persian. These inscriptions begin tasvir-e … ("An image of…") and depict various subjects. A number of folios, including the present lot, depict images of young women and begin tasvir-e hosn… ("An image of a beauty…") and therefore the album is sometimes referred to as the 'Hosn' album. It is thought to have been to have been assembled in Faizabad circa 1770, either by the Mughal noble Najm al-Din 'Ali Khan or the Nawab of Awadh Shuja' al-Daula (see Sotheby's London, 14 December 1987, p.18; Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1995, pp. 654-66).
A group of folios from the album were in the collection of Sir Elijah Impey, the first Chief Justice of Bengal, and bear his seal impression. These were auctioned after his death by Philips of Bond Street, 21 May 1810. However, the album was most likely already split by this point because other folios from the album have different early provenances, notably the group that were acquired in India by Admiral Edmund Fremantle (1836-1929). Some of these are in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.156-1952) and Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (Leach, op.cit., nos. 6.232-6.241). Folios from the same album but without the confirmed Impey or Fremantle provenances are in the Bodleian Library (Douce OR.A3) and the Museum of Canberra. Our folio is one of sixteen which belonged to the collection of the Honourable Stephen Tennant (1906-87) which were sold at Sotheby's London, 14 December 1987, lots 25-40. Stephen Tennant, a socialite and one of the "Bright Young Things" of the 1920s London, reputedly bought the group on the advice of his close friend and advisor E.M. Forster.
Further paintings from the 'tasvir-e hosn' type were in the Pozzi Collection (J. Soustiel and M. Beurdeley, Collection Jean Pozzi, Mes Rheims et Laurin, Palais Galleria, Paris, 5 Decembre 1970, no.17-20, 24, 71 and 82). Others have sold at Sotheby's London, 8 October 2014, lot 269 and 25 October 2017, lot 83, and in these Rooms, 25 April 2013, lot 175.
A group of folios from the album were in the collection of Sir Elijah Impey, the first Chief Justice of Bengal, and bear his seal impression. These were auctioned after his death by Philips of Bond Street, 21 May 1810. However, the album was most likely already split by this point because other folios from the album have different early provenances, notably the group that were acquired in India by Admiral Edmund Fremantle (1836-1929). Some of these are in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.156-1952) and Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (Leach, op.cit., nos. 6.232-6.241). Folios from the same album but without the confirmed Impey or Fremantle provenances are in the Bodleian Library (Douce OR.A3) and the Museum of Canberra. Our folio is one of sixteen which belonged to the collection of the Honourable Stephen Tennant (1906-87) which were sold at Sotheby's London, 14 December 1987, lots 25-40. Stephen Tennant, a socialite and one of the "Bright Young Things" of the 1920s London, reputedly bought the group on the advice of his close friend and advisor E.M. Forster.
Further paintings from the 'tasvir-e hosn' type were in the Pozzi Collection (J. Soustiel and M. Beurdeley, Collection Jean Pozzi, Mes Rheims et Laurin, Palais Galleria, Paris, 5 Decembre 1970, no.17-20, 24, 71 and 82). Others have sold at Sotheby's London, 8 October 2014, lot 269 and 25 October 2017, lot 83, and in these Rooms, 25 April 2013, lot 175.