MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1710

Details

A MYTHICAL PEACOCK
MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1710
From a poetical romance relating to Shah 'Alam I, opaque pigments and gold on paper, the human-headed peacock faning its tail, standing in a mountain landscape topped with two lonesome trees, a group of little egrets standing by the lake shore, a fish surfacing between the waves, with gilt floral borders, the reverse with a panel of stenciled silhouette animals, including lions, deer and dogs, on a pink-speckled ground, outlined in gold, with gold foliage outline in black, with gilt floral borders, the original margins lacking, some flaking and rubbing
12¼ x 7 3/8in. (31.1 x 18.8cm.)

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

Sale room notice

Please note that this album page should be attributed to Mughal India, circa 1710. This painting, as well as lot 16 in this sale are from a series of illustrations to a poetical romance relating to Shah 'Alam I.

Lot Essay

Another page in this sale, lot 16, is decorated using an identical stencil of lions, deer and dogs on pink-speckled background. Although the gold foliage painted on each of these pages show variations, they were obviously drawn in the same atelier, if not by the same hand and it is very probable that the two pages come from the same album.

Other pages from this series of illustrations to a poetical romance relating to Shah 'Alam I sold at Sotheby's, New York, 17 March 1988, lots 326-329 and 22 March 1989, lot 66.

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