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Lot Essay
This scene of leisure exemplifies the style of later Mughal painting and is symbolic of the flourishing court life in provincial Mughal centres such as Lucknow and Faizabad in the third quarter of the 18th century. Awadhi artists developed a penchant for painting night-time terrace scenes with women celebrating festivals or playing games. Elements such as lanterns, candelabra and fireworks are often incorporated to illuminate these night scenes. A painting in the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin illustrates a similar night scene from Lucknow or Faizabad, dateable to circa 1754-75. It depicts Princess Zib An-Nisa celebrating the festival of Shab-i barat with fireworks, accompanied by her lady attendants and musicians. Three candelabra similar to ours are placed in the foreground (I.4596 folio 23; S. Markel, T.B. Gude, R. Llewellyn-Jones et. al., India’s Fabled City: The Art of Courtly Lucknow, Los Angeles, 2011, p.172). There is also an illustration of ladies of the harem playing the board game of chaupar in the court zenana, possibly by the Lucknow artist Nevasi Lal, after a lost original by the English artist Tilly Kettle, circa 1790 (N. Patnaik, A Second Paradise, Indian Courtly Life 1590-1947, New York, 1985, no.15, p.181, ill.p.72.)
The artists often employed a vibrant palette with decorated pavilions and women in colourful, flowing dresses. The use of perspective, receding terraces, and enclosed gardens displays strong European influence and also the inheritance of stylistic features from earlier Mughal paintings known to artists Awadhi artists. For comparable paintings which have sold at auction recently, see Christie’s, London, 26 October 2017, lot 164 and 25 May 2017, lot 102.
The artists often employed a vibrant palette with decorated pavilions and women in colourful, flowing dresses. The use of perspective, receding terraces, and enclosed gardens displays strong European influence and also the inheritance of stylistic features from earlier Mughal paintings known to artists Awadhi artists. For comparable paintings which have sold at auction recently, see Christie’s, London, 26 October 2017, lot 164 and 25 May 2017, lot 102.