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Lot Essay
The borders of a page from the Nasir al-Din Shah Album in the Chester Beatty Library are almost identical to those of the present album page. They consist of intertwined gold bands on plain cream card, each band filled with a gold meander of composite flowers and joined by cusped medallions at the corners and to the middle of the long edge. A vine of polychrome composite flowers meanders between the gold arabesque. See Elaine Wright, Muraqqa', Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Alexandria, 2008, cat.77 and 78, pp.424-427.
This famous Indian album was in Iran during the 19th century. It was altered by order of Nasir al-Din Shah (r.1848-1896), after whom the album is named. The alteration included the pasting of later Indian and Iranian paintings onto some of the folios and also the addition of "new" inner borders. The present folio was probably alterded in this way. Eighty-four folios are in the Gulistan Palace Library, fourteen are in the Chester Beatty Library and at least another eighteen folios are dispersed in various collections (https://www.cbl.ie/Exhibitions/Past-Exhibitions/Travelling-Exhibition/T he-Nasir-al-Din-Shah-Album.aspx).
This famous Indian album was in Iran during the 19th century. It was altered by order of Nasir al-Din Shah (r.1848-1896), after whom the album is named. The alteration included the pasting of later Indian and Iranian paintings onto some of the folios and also the addition of "new" inner borders. The present folio was probably alterded in this way. Eighty-four folios are in the Gulistan Palace Library, fourteen are in the Chester Beatty Library and at least another eighteen folios are dispersed in various collections (https://www.cbl.ie/Exhibitions/Past-Exhibitions/Travelling-Exhibition/T he-Nasir-al-Din-Shah-Album.aspx).