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Lot Essay
This leaf comes from the so-called 'Ardeshir Album' probably assembled during the reign of Muhammad Shah (1719-1748). The album was dispersed at auction at Sotheby's on 26th of March 1973. A number of the paintings in that album showed signs of having been taken from other albums before being remounted as they are now. The most important of the paintings, including that offered here, date from the Shah Jahan period (1628-58). In their discussion of the Windsor Padshahnama, Beach and Koch describe the borders of the Ardeshir album as the closest equivalent to those on that famous manuscript (Beach and Koch, King of the World, exhibition catalogue, London, 1997, fig.25, p.128). Another manuscript with very similar borders is a half Qur'an which sold in these Rooms, 8 April 2008, lot 275.
The page from the Ardeshir album illustrated by Beach and Koch has a painting of a gathering of wise men attributed to Payag. The central figure in our own painting with a long white beard is very similar to the depiction in the Beach and Koch example. The distinctive slightly hooked nose and long white beard would indicate that this figure is a depiction of an historical figure. The white bearded figure could be interpreted as being the legendary saint Khwaja Khizr Khan, however the three quarter view of our present example makes it difficult to compare directly with the usual profile depiction of him. For a portrait of Khwaja Khizr in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. IS.48:12/A-1956), also dating to the mid-17th century see Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, vol. II, No.6.239, p.662.
The younger man with a brown beard seated to the right of the previously mentioned white bearded figure has a series of pock marks and rounded lumps depicted on his hands. These specific physical details confirm this as a portrait of an unidentified ascetic rather than a generic depiction.
The page from the Ardeshir album illustrated by Beach and Koch has a painting of a gathering of wise men attributed to Payag. The central figure in our own painting with a long white beard is very similar to the depiction in the Beach and Koch example. The distinctive slightly hooked nose and long white beard would indicate that this figure is a depiction of an historical figure. The white bearded figure could be interpreted as being the legendary saint Khwaja Khizr Khan, however the three quarter view of our present example makes it difficult to compare directly with the usual profile depiction of him. For a portrait of Khwaja Khizr in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. IS.48:12/A-1956), also dating to the mid-17th century see Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, vol. II, No.6.239, p.662.
The younger man with a brown beard seated to the right of the previously mentioned white bearded figure has a series of pock marks and rounded lumps depicted on his hands. These specific physical details confirm this as a portrait of an unidentified ascetic rather than a generic depiction.