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Lot Essay
The style of these miniatures is very close to folios from an unidentified manuscript of religious history dated to circa 1590 formerly with Hagop Kevorkian, now in the Khalili Collection (mss. 637 and mss. 569, see Linda York Leach, Paintings from India, London, 1998, Nos 6 and 7. pp. 32-35). These manuscripts and our own album page have very similar depictions of rounded rocks set in a landscape and also show very similar tall figures with round turbans. This indicates that these miniatures would probably have been produced in the same workshop during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.
The main beardless figure holding a hawk on the verso side of this album page can be identified as being the Emperor Akbar himself. His horse is richly adorned to illustrate his position of imperial importance. The recto side of this album page is very similar in composition to the verso side. Both depict similar hunting scenes with central figures on richly adorned horses holding hawks. It can be inferred from this that the older bearded figure holding a hawk on the recto side is presented as being someone of similar stature to the Emperor. In this regard it is particularly interesting to compare the trappings of the horses. Both have trappings of similar forms with a large white hanging ornament attached to the neck and with a small red cap on top of the head. Akbar's horse however, is slightly more richly decorated with inset stones and embroidered details on the saddle blanket which are absent from the trappings on the other horse. It is probable that the other important figure on the recto side holding a hawk is the pre-eminent General and Imperial Regent Bayram Khan. He would have been the only figure who could have been presented in a comparable light to that of the Emperor. There are very few representations of Bayram Khan. Another recorded image of him is in a miniature in an Akbarnama dated circa 1604 in the Freer Gallery of Art, (inv. 52.33), which records the submission of Bayram Khan to Akbar shortly before he was dismissed from service. (see Milo Cleveland Beach, The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court, Freer Gallery, Washington D.C., 1981, cat. No.12b, pp. 104-105). The figure of Bayram Khan in both paintings is recognisably similar. Bayram Khan was later assassinated on his way to perform the Hajj. His son, 'Abd al-Rahim was returned to be brought up in Akbar's court. He later became an important Minister at Akbar's court and also an important bibliophile employing many illuminators and painters. It is possible that the miniatures on this folio were produced by artists in the service of 'Abd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan seeking to commemorate the image of the patron's father.
The main beardless figure holding a hawk on the verso side of this album page can be identified as being the Emperor Akbar himself. His horse is richly adorned to illustrate his position of imperial importance. The recto side of this album page is very similar in composition to the verso side. Both depict similar hunting scenes with central figures on richly adorned horses holding hawks. It can be inferred from this that the older bearded figure holding a hawk on the recto side is presented as being someone of similar stature to the Emperor. In this regard it is particularly interesting to compare the trappings of the horses. Both have trappings of similar forms with a large white hanging ornament attached to the neck and with a small red cap on top of the head. Akbar's horse however, is slightly more richly decorated with inset stones and embroidered details on the saddle blanket which are absent from the trappings on the other horse. It is probable that the other important figure on the recto side holding a hawk is the pre-eminent General and Imperial Regent Bayram Khan. He would have been the only figure who could have been presented in a comparable light to that of the Emperor. There are very few representations of Bayram Khan. Another recorded image of him is in a miniature in an Akbarnama dated circa 1604 in the Freer Gallery of Art, (inv. 52.33), which records the submission of Bayram Khan to Akbar shortly before he was dismissed from service. (see Milo Cleveland Beach, The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court, Freer Gallery, Washington D.C., 1981, cat. No.12b, pp. 104-105). The figure of Bayram Khan in both paintings is recognisably similar. Bayram Khan was later assassinated on his way to perform the Hajj. His son, 'Abd al-Rahim was returned to be brought up in Akbar's court. He later became an important Minister at Akbar's court and also an important bibliophile employing many illuminators and painters. It is possible that the miniatures on this folio were produced by artists in the service of 'Abd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan seeking to commemorate the image of the patron's father.