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Lot Essay
Inscriptions:
Tasvir-i husn parastish-i mahadev, 'Depiction of beauty. Worship of Mahadev (Shiva)'
This miniature comes from what is known as the ‘Hosn Album’, which is characterised by fine 18th century miniatures all laid down on the same gold-speckled margins with the gold identification cartouche above. Linda Leach suggested that the album was compiled by the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja’ al-Dawla and that the mounting was done in Faizabad circa 1770 (Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1995, pp.654-56). Folios were later acquired by Sir Elijah Impey, the first Chief Justice in Bengal from 1774 to 1785. He and his wife were avid collectors of Indian painting, and famously commissioned a group of natural history illustrations in Calcutta between 1777 and 1783, now referred to as the ‘Impey Album’ (for a folio from this album, see lot 108 in the present sale). Others were acquired in India in the 1880s by Admiral Fremantle, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (IS-156-1952), the Chester Beatty Library (Leach, op.cit., pp.654-56), the Bodleian Library (Douce OR.A3) and the Museum of Canberra.
A group of related pages from the ‘Hosn Album’ were in the Pozzi Collection (J. Soustiel and M. Beurdeley, Collection Jean Pozzi, Mes Rheims et Laurin, Palais Galleria, Paris, 5 Decembre 1970, no.17-20, 24, 71 and 82). A footnote there suggested that hosn (meaning ‘the Beauty’) was the name given to the young symbolic female represented in the miniatures. Although the miniatures are from a variety of origins, and depict a range of subjects (including three from a Ragamala series), they were all grouped together with cartouches labelling them as hosn.
Another painting from this album sold in the sale of the Ancienne Collection Charles Gillot (1853-1903), Christie’s, Paris, 4 and 5 March 2008, lot 92. Two other paintings sold in these Rooms, 8 April 2008, lots 293 and 294. Another sold recently at Sotheby’s, London, 27 October 2021, lot 143.
Tasvir-i husn parastish-i mahadev, 'Depiction of beauty. Worship of Mahadev (Shiva)'
This miniature comes from what is known as the ‘Hosn Album’, which is characterised by fine 18th century miniatures all laid down on the same gold-speckled margins with the gold identification cartouche above. Linda Leach suggested that the album was compiled by the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja’ al-Dawla and that the mounting was done in Faizabad circa 1770 (Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1995, pp.654-56). Folios were later acquired by Sir Elijah Impey, the first Chief Justice in Bengal from 1774 to 1785. He and his wife were avid collectors of Indian painting, and famously commissioned a group of natural history illustrations in Calcutta between 1777 and 1783, now referred to as the ‘Impey Album’ (for a folio from this album, see lot 108 in the present sale). Others were acquired in India in the 1880s by Admiral Fremantle, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (IS-156-1952), the Chester Beatty Library (Leach, op.cit., pp.654-56), the Bodleian Library (Douce OR.A3) and the Museum of Canberra.
A group of related pages from the ‘Hosn Album’ were in the Pozzi Collection (J. Soustiel and M. Beurdeley, Collection Jean Pozzi, Mes Rheims et Laurin, Palais Galleria, Paris, 5 Decembre 1970, no.17-20, 24, 71 and 82). A footnote there suggested that hosn (meaning ‘the Beauty’) was the name given to the young symbolic female represented in the miniatures. Although the miniatures are from a variety of origins, and depict a range of subjects (including three from a Ragamala series), they were all grouped together with cartouches labelling them as hosn.
Another painting from this album sold in the sale of the Ancienne Collection Charles Gillot (1853-1903), Christie’s, Paris, 4 and 5 March 2008, lot 92. Two other paintings sold in these Rooms, 8 April 2008, lots 293 and 294. Another sold recently at Sotheby’s, London, 27 October 2021, lot 143.