PROVINCIAL MUGHAL, POSSIBLY LAHORE, PRESENT DAY PAKISTAN, CIRCA 1725-50

The figures standing in three-quarter profile, with pointed moustaches and their eyes set closely together, can be compared with 18th century portraits from Hyderabad in the Deccan. The episode illustrated, although unidentified, finds comparison with several fantastical illustrations from a magnificent Mughal epic which sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2006, lot 113. Based on the Shahnama, the epic includes text and illustrations from the Garshaspnama and the Samnama, probably produced in Lahore and dated to the second quarter of the 18th century. It is very possible that the present painting was produced in the same atelier.