SIGNED MIRAN, PROBABLY LAHORE, SECOND QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

Details

KAVEH THE BLACKSMITH COMPLAINS TO THE TYRANT ZAHHAK
SIGNED MIRAN, PROBABLY LAHORE, SECOND QUARTER 18TH CENTURY
From a manuscript composed on the model of the Shahnama of Firdawsi, opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, Kaveh followed by a youth and two men carrying staffs approach Zahhak who sits cross-legged on his gold throne, two black serpents emerging from his back and attended by two courtiers with fly-whisks, signed Miran below the miniature, 4ll. of black nasta'liq script above and below arranged in four columns with double gold intercolumnar rule, the verso with 11ll. of black and red nasta'liq arranged in diagonal and horizontal panels within four columns with similar intercolumnar rule, gold outer margins, small areas of repair
Painting 9 3/8 x 10 1/8in. (23.5 x 25.8cm.); folio 19 5/8 x 12½in. (49.9 x 31.6cm.)

Provenance

Asaf al-Dawla, Nawab of Oudh (r.1775-1795).
Owned (roughly 80-100 years ago) by a man in Herat
Ghaemmaghami Collection, Tehran
Habib Sabet Collection
Christie's, 10 October 2006, lot 113

Special notice

From time to time, Christie's may offer a lot which it owns in whole or in part. This is such a lot.

Lot Essay

This illustration comes from the magnificent late Mughal epic, based on the Shahnama but including the Garshaspnama and Samnama, that was sold at Christie's, 10 October 2006, lot 113. That manuscript belonged to Asaf al-Dawla, Nawab of Oudh, 1775-97 and the reverse of all pages bore his rectangular seal impression which was partially erased.

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