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Lot Essay
The present scene is an illustration to the Iskandarnama as told in the Khamsa of Nizami. After Iskandar defeats the Zangis in Egypt, the Persian ruler Darius III grows concerned by the growing wealth and prestige of his vassal. Upon a pretext for war Darius marches an army against Iskandar with the two sides meeting in a great battle near Mosul. On the second day of the battle Darius is killed by two of his own officers, who had been bought by Iskandar. Regretting his actions and the ignoble death of his worthy adversary, Iskandar rushes to comfort the dying Darius, which is the scene depicted here. Rather than receiving their reward the two traitors, shown here as prisoners in the centre left, are executed by Iskandar. Central to the story of the death of Darius are themes of kingship, nobility, loyalty and treachery, and the scene was a popular choice for illustration in Persian and Indian manuscripts of Nizami's text.
Compositionally, the present painting is very similar to the illustration of the same subject from the Khamsa of Nizami created for the Emperor Akbar in 1595. That painting, which is of nearly identical size but fully coloured unlike our nim qalam illustration, is by the artist Dharm Das and is in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (W.613.26B). Despite the compositional similarity, the present lot has been attributed to the imperial Mughal artist Ahmad by Robert Skelton (Simon Ray, Indian & Islamic Works of Art, London, 2002, p.95). Ahmad is credited for three illustrations to the Chester Beatty Akbarnama of 1603-05 which are all crowded and animated battle scenes: Bahadur Khan attempts to seize Qandahar, Akbar's conquest of Chitor Fort, and Akbar's armies at Chitor fort (Chester Beatty Library, 03.23; 03.133; 03.134). It seems likely that our painting was created at a similar date to Ahmad's recorded activity in the atelier where he would have had access to the painting of Dharm Das as source material.
Further supporting the dating of the present lot is the nim qalam technique in which our painting is executed. Nim qalam, literally 'half-pen', was particularly popular in Mughal painting of the early 17th century and is used in many of the illustrations from the Chester Beatty Akbarnama if not by Ahmad himself (see Chester Beatty Library, 03.1 and 03.25). A nim qalam painting of similar period attributed to the artist Govardhan was sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 64.
Compositionally, the present painting is very similar to the illustration of the same subject from the Khamsa of Nizami created for the Emperor Akbar in 1595. That painting, which is of nearly identical size but fully coloured unlike our nim qalam illustration, is by the artist Dharm Das and is in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (W.613.26B). Despite the compositional similarity, the present lot has been attributed to the imperial Mughal artist Ahmad by Robert Skelton (Simon Ray, Indian & Islamic Works of Art, London, 2002, p.95). Ahmad is credited for three illustrations to the Chester Beatty Akbarnama of 1603-05 which are all crowded and animated battle scenes: Bahadur Khan attempts to seize Qandahar, Akbar's conquest of Chitor Fort, and Akbar's armies at Chitor fort (Chester Beatty Library, 03.23; 03.133; 03.134). It seems likely that our painting was created at a similar date to Ahmad's recorded activity in the atelier where he would have had access to the painting of Dharm Das as source material.
Further supporting the dating of the present lot is the nim qalam technique in which our painting is executed. Nim qalam, literally 'half-pen', was particularly popular in Mughal painting of the early 17th century and is used in many of the illustrations from the Chester Beatty Akbarnama if not by Ahmad himself (see Chester Beatty Library, 03.1 and 03.25). A nim qalam painting of similar period attributed to the artist Govardhan was sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 64.