SIGNED MIR MUHAMMAD GHAFUR AHMADNAGARI, KADAPA ANDHRA PRADESH, CIRCA 1732-40

The colophon to the Gulistan, the last chapter of this Kulliyat states that it was copied by Mir Muhammad Ghafur Ahmadnagari on the 20th of Shawwal. The year is not mentioned. It also indicates that the copy was commissioned by 'Abd al-Majid Khan, son of Nawab 'Abd al-Nabi Khan Bahadur. These two names appear in a paragraph dedicated to the Nawabs of Cuddapah (modern day Kadapa) in C.F. Brackenbury, The District Gazetteer, Cuddapah, New Delhi and Madras, 2000, p.41. According to the Gazetteer the first nawab to assert his control over the region, located about a third of the distance north of Madras to Hyderabad, was ‘Abd al-Nabi Khan in 1714. His son’s name ‘Abd al-Majid Khan (‘Mahazid Khan’) appears as that of the ruling nawab in 1732. The nawabs of Cuddapah were defeated by the Marathas in May 1740.

Two artists worked on the illustrations of this Kulliyat of Sa’di. The artist responsible for most paintings in this manuscript worked in a Mughal style typical of the reign of Muhammad Shah (r. 1719-48). All figures are dressed in the Mughal fashion with little shading applied to the faces, and landscapes are standardised. The second artist, more inventive and and more skilled, is responsible for the paintings in the Deccani style. The figure of the King receiving a foreign dignitary (illustrated here) is very close to a painting in the Custodia Foundation, Paris tentatively attributed to Bidar and dated to the first quarter of the 18th century (Mark Zebrowski, Deccani Painting, London, 1983, cat.197, p.225).