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Lot Essay
This very finely painted composition centers on a commanding royal figure, mounted on a jeweled and armored horse, his outstretched hand conveying authority and ceremonial presence. Dressed in a vivid green tunic, the ruler is accompanied by a richly animated procession; behind him advances an army of armored horsemen in brightly-patterned garments, alongside elephants and camels. Flag-bearers, musicians, and drummers animate the upper right of the composition, while huntsmen below present the emperor with freshly taken quarry. In the distance, naturalistically rendered trees encircle a walled city at the upper left, lending both spatial depth and a sense of imperial domain.
The painting has previously been published and exhibited as a folio from the Baburnama, identified as depicting Humayun, and was featured in James Ivory’s seminal documentary on miniature painting, The Sword and the Flute (1959). However, closer examination of the painting’s format reveals that its dimensions do not correspond to those of extant Baburnama or Akbarnama manuscripts. On this basis, the painting is more convincingly understood as belonging to an as-yet unidentified large-format historical series, distinct from the standard imperial chronicles.
Support for this reassessment may be found in comparable folios of closely related size and conception, including the so-called Binney folio published at Sotheby’s, London, 13 April 1976, lot 23, and another sold at Sotheby’s, London, 7 July 1975, lot 14. The near-identical dimensions of these works strongly suggest that they once formed part of a coherent manuscript series of ambitious scale, comparable in format to the celebrated Bankipore Timurnama, one of the largest Mughal manuscripts known.
An inscription by Mir Kalan appears on the painting but is not contemporary with its execution and was likely added later by the album mounter. The inscription should therefore not be read as authorial. Nonetheless, the arrangement of the scene, the treatment of the figures, and the compositional rhythm closely align with the work of the celebrated Mughal artist Sur Das.
Sur Das, often described as ‘Gujarati’, entered the Mughal court approximately a decade after Akbar’s conquest of western India and was active in the imperial atelier between about 1595 and 1605. A prolific and highly accomplished painter, he contributed to several of the most important manuscripts of the period, including the British Library Khamsa of Nizami (1596), the Metropolitan Museum of Art /Walters Art Museum Khamsa of Dihlavi (1598), and the Cincinnati Gulistan of Sa‘di. The pinnacle of his career is marked by the four paintings he executed for the British Library volume of the Akbarnama (folios 34v, 40r, 47v, and 106r), as well as nine paintings for the Chester Beatty Akbarnama volumes.
As noted by Linda York Leach, Sur Das characteristically employs highly saturated colour in selected passages while leaving other areas comparatively unpainted, a distinctive feature observable here in the treatment of the fortification in the background (see L. Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings, Vol. I, p. 273, and related paintings nos. 1.137). Further comparison may be drawn with an unattributed Baburnama folio dated circa 1590–1593, which displays closely related horse trappings and architectural treatment (ibid., Vol. I, p. 131, no. 1.227). The scale, compositional ambition, and stylistic evidence suggest that this painting represents a rare survival from a monumental Mughal historical series, distinct from the established imperial chronicles and closely aligned with the artistic language of Sur Das at the height of his career.
The painting has previously been published and exhibited as a folio from the Baburnama, identified as depicting Humayun, and was featured in James Ivory’s seminal documentary on miniature painting, The Sword and the Flute (1959). However, closer examination of the painting’s format reveals that its dimensions do not correspond to those of extant Baburnama or Akbarnama manuscripts. On this basis, the painting is more convincingly understood as belonging to an as-yet unidentified large-format historical series, distinct from the standard imperial chronicles.
Support for this reassessment may be found in comparable folios of closely related size and conception, including the so-called Binney folio published at Sotheby’s, London, 13 April 1976, lot 23, and another sold at Sotheby’s, London, 7 July 1975, lot 14. The near-identical dimensions of these works strongly suggest that they once formed part of a coherent manuscript series of ambitious scale, comparable in format to the celebrated Bankipore Timurnama, one of the largest Mughal manuscripts known.
An inscription by Mir Kalan appears on the painting but is not contemporary with its execution and was likely added later by the album mounter. The inscription should therefore not be read as authorial. Nonetheless, the arrangement of the scene, the treatment of the figures, and the compositional rhythm closely align with the work of the celebrated Mughal artist Sur Das.
Sur Das, often described as ‘Gujarati’, entered the Mughal court approximately a decade after Akbar’s conquest of western India and was active in the imperial atelier between about 1595 and 1605. A prolific and highly accomplished painter, he contributed to several of the most important manuscripts of the period, including the British Library Khamsa of Nizami (1596), the Metropolitan Museum of Art /Walters Art Museum Khamsa of Dihlavi (1598), and the Cincinnati Gulistan of Sa‘di. The pinnacle of his career is marked by the four paintings he executed for the British Library volume of the Akbarnama (folios 34v, 40r, 47v, and 106r), as well as nine paintings for the Chester Beatty Akbarnama volumes.
As noted by Linda York Leach, Sur Das characteristically employs highly saturated colour in selected passages while leaving other areas comparatively unpainted, a distinctive feature observable here in the treatment of the fortification in the background (see L. Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings, Vol. I, p. 273, and related paintings nos. 1.137). Further comparison may be drawn with an unattributed Baburnama folio dated circa 1590–1593, which displays closely related horse trappings and architectural treatment (ibid., Vol. I, p. 131, no. 1.227). The scale, compositional ambition, and stylistic evidence suggest that this painting represents a rare survival from a monumental Mughal historical series, distinct from the established imperial chronicles and closely aligned with the artistic language of Sur Das at the height of his career.