.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Amir Husayn, the Qaraunas leader and grandson of Qazaghan, requested the help of Timur, Amir Bayazid Jalayir and Amir Khizr Yasuri in defeating Amir Bayan Salduz. After having helped Amir Husayn achieve victory, it was necessary for the troops of Amir Khizr to pass through Timur’s territory on their home march. Timur accordingly ordered a feast to be prepared to welcome Amir Khizr in his summer pasture in Ulugh Maydan near Kish (For a translation of this episode, see Cherefeddin Ali (Sharaf al-Din ‘Ali Yazdi), The History of Timur Bec, 2 vols., London 1723, vol. 1, pp. 23-24). The ruins of Timur’s White Palace, (Ak Saray) from which he would have headed out still remain in Shahrisabz, formerly known as Kish.
Muhammad Daulat, also transcribed as Dawlat, was one of the younger artists working on this Zafarnama project. It has been proposed that he was the son of the artist Lal, but recent research has indicated that, while he was certainly born into the imperial household, he is not the son of this artist (Milo Cleveland Beach, “Daulat”, in in Milo C. Beach, Eberhard Fischer and B.N.Goswamy (eds.), Masters of Indian Painting 1100-1650, Zurich: Artibus Asiae, 2011, p.119f). Nevertheless he clearly showed considerable promise; he was far younger than most of the artists working on this commission (only Manohar would have been of the same generation) and yet it was he who was selected to paint the prestigious first illustration. One of the reasons was that he was renowned for his work on a small scale, perfect for this particular commission. His confidence, even as a young man, shows through in his signature right in the middle of the painting. Despite his early promise and later renown, he has left no written record in contemporary archives, so is known only from the inscriptions he added to paintings.
This painting was commissioned relatively early in his career, at about the same time as he was painting a page in the 1598 Baburnama depicting Babur distributing gifts to Afghan chiefs at Bagram (National Museum of India, 50.326, f.226r). As in that painting, there is an added intensity here, each colour appearing to glow amidst richer shading rather than just being a relatively flat tone. Figures are relatively small within the background, another feature which would have struck contemporaries as innovative. These same features can be seen in his double page for the “second” Akbarnama of 1604, depicting Akbar fighting with Man Singh (Chester Beatty Library, In 03, ff.168v and 169r, dated by Beach (in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy, op.cit., p.306) to 1596-1600 although this manuscript is generally dated 1603-5). While for much of his life he concentrated of creating fabulous illuminated borders, these features are still very much in evidence in his work intended for the Jahangirnama. In time he rose to become the head of the imperial atelier, masterminding the Gulshan Album among other responsibilities. The borders of that remarkable commission contain a number of depictions of artists including one where he depicts himself alongside the four other leading artists of the period, his contemporary Manohar and the younger Govardhan, Bishandas and Abu’l Hasan. (Beach, Fischer and Goswamy, op.cit., p.116). This opening folio from the Zafarnama is a major early addition to the very small known oeuvre of this important figure in the imperial atelier.
Muhammad Daulat, also transcribed as Dawlat, was one of the younger artists working on this Zafarnama project. It has been proposed that he was the son of the artist Lal, but recent research has indicated that, while he was certainly born into the imperial household, he is not the son of this artist (Milo Cleveland Beach, “Daulat”, in in Milo C. Beach, Eberhard Fischer and B.N.Goswamy (eds.), Masters of Indian Painting 1100-1650, Zurich: Artibus Asiae, 2011, p.119f). Nevertheless he clearly showed considerable promise; he was far younger than most of the artists working on this commission (only Manohar would have been of the same generation) and yet it was he who was selected to paint the prestigious first illustration. One of the reasons was that he was renowned for his work on a small scale, perfect for this particular commission. His confidence, even as a young man, shows through in his signature right in the middle of the painting. Despite his early promise and later renown, he has left no written record in contemporary archives, so is known only from the inscriptions he added to paintings.
This painting was commissioned relatively early in his career, at about the same time as he was painting a page in the 1598 Baburnama depicting Babur distributing gifts to Afghan chiefs at Bagram (National Museum of India, 50.326, f.226r). As in that painting, there is an added intensity here, each colour appearing to glow amidst richer shading rather than just being a relatively flat tone. Figures are relatively small within the background, another feature which would have struck contemporaries as innovative. These same features can be seen in his double page for the “second” Akbarnama of 1604, depicting Akbar fighting with Man Singh (Chester Beatty Library, In 03, ff.168v and 169r, dated by Beach (in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy, op.cit., p.306) to 1596-1600 although this manuscript is generally dated 1603-5). While for much of his life he concentrated of creating fabulous illuminated borders, these features are still very much in evidence in his work intended for the Jahangirnama. In time he rose to become the head of the imperial atelier, masterminding the Gulshan Album among other responsibilities. The borders of that remarkable commission contain a number of depictions of artists including one where he depicts himself alongside the four other leading artists of the period, his contemporary Manohar and the younger Govardhan, Bishandas and Abu’l Hasan. (Beach, Fischer and Goswamy, op.cit., p.116). This opening folio from the Zafarnama is a major early addition to the very small known oeuvre of this important figure in the imperial atelier.