MUGHAL INDIA, MID-18TH CENTURY

Chand Bibi (d. 1599) became Regent of Bijapur during the minority of her son Ibrahim Adil Shah II (r. 1580-1627) following the death of her husband Ali Adil Shah I. She was later Regent of Ahmednagar during the minority of her great-nephew Bahadur Shah (1596-1600). She led the defence of Ahmednagar against the Mughal armies in 1595 gaining the title Chand Sultana. She continued to fight the invading Mughals before finally losing the fortress to Daniyal Mirza in 1599. An influential ruler and accomplished military leader and strategist, Chand Bibi’s image became popular in both Deccani and Mughal painting. Like the present lot, she is often depicted hawking, an activity typically enjoyed and pursued by princes and sultans rather than women. Our painting of Chand Bibi is particularly similar to one in the British Museum (1920,0917,0.25).

The album page which the painting belongs to relates to a group of folios assembled in Lucknow, circa 1780. The group are recognisable for their imaginative border decoration typically depicting mythological or genre scenes amongst vegetation and hills. The group have been called the Reid Albums, after Sir Charles Hercules Reid who sold them in the early 20th century. The largest group of fourteen folios is in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York (MS 458). Barbara Schmitz has assigned them as Album A of group 2 of the Reid Albums, bought in 1911 (Islamic and Indian Manuscripts and Paintings in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1997, p.116). Our folio was sold separately to this larger group in 1928 at Sotheby's when Sir Charles was giving up his London House in Palace Gardens Terrace. Three further folios are in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (11A.70 to 11A.72), three were sold in these Rooms, 26 April 1994, lots 5, 8 and 10 and another was sold at Bonhams, New York, 17 March 2014, lot 108.