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Lot Essay
The motif of two camels in combat can be traced to as early as the 6th century BC, featuring on bronze plaques excavated in Central Asia (Adel T. Adamova, The Iconography of a Camel Fight, Muqarnas, issue 21, 2004, p.11). However perhaps the most famous treatment of the subject within the development of Persian painting is a painting attributed to Bihzad circa 1525 in the Gulistan Palace Library, Tehran (Binyon, Wilkinson and Gray, Persian Painting, New York, 1971, no. 132, pp. 130-131, pl. LXXXVII-A). To interpret Bihzad's scene must have been a noteworthy exercise for later artists in Iran as well as India, where it is thought the original was taken to the court of Humayun and famously interpreted by 'Abd al-Samad.
The present painting formerly belonged to the collection of the legendary book dealer and collector Hans P. Kraus (d.1988). In describing this painting in the catalogue, Ernst Grube praised the soft rendering of the camels' bodies and the artist's more realistic and lifelike interpretation of the subject in comparison to other examples (Islamic Painting from the 11th to the 18th century in the collection of Hans P. Kraus, New York, 1972, p. 198). The greater focus on lifelike modelling in our painting is indicative of the firangi-sazi style favoured by artists such as Muhammad Zaman and supports a dating of the second half of the seventeenth century.
An interpretation of the same subject by the artist 'Abdullah and attributed to Bukhara in the mid 16th century was sold in these Rooms, 25 April 2013, lot 28 and another attributed to the first half 16th century Safavid Tabriz was sold in these Rooms, 24 October 2024, lot 59, from the collection of Toby Falk.
The present painting formerly belonged to the collection of the legendary book dealer and collector Hans P. Kraus (d.1988). In describing this painting in the catalogue, Ernst Grube praised the soft rendering of the camels' bodies and the artist's more realistic and lifelike interpretation of the subject in comparison to other examples (Islamic Painting from the 11th to the 18th century in the collection of Hans P. Kraus, New York, 1972, p. 198). The greater focus on lifelike modelling in our painting is indicative of the firangi-sazi style favoured by artists such as Muhammad Zaman and supports a dating of the second half of the seventeenth century.
An interpretation of the same subject by the artist 'Abdullah and attributed to Bukhara in the mid 16th century was sold in these Rooms, 25 April 2013, lot 28 and another attributed to the first half 16th century Safavid Tabriz was sold in these Rooms, 24 October 2024, lot 59, from the collection of Toby Falk.