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Lot Essay
Composite paintings, in which animals and humans make up larger figures, were popular in India. Earlier Deccani examples were produced in Bijapur from circa 1600 (Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Paintings From the Chester Beatty Library, Volume II, London, 1995, cat.9.670).
Composite sacred hamsa birds are rare (J.P. Losty, Indian Painting 1600-1870, New York, 2012, cat.6),. Animals like elephants were often favoured due to their size, which offered extensive compositional opportunity (Leach, Paintings from India, Oxford, 1998, cat.36). Hindu composite animals usually consist of odd-numbers of women, seven on our painting, probably auspicious within a Hindu context, although the original intent is usually difficult to tell (Robert J. Del Bonta, ‘Reinventing Nature: Mughal Composite Animal Painting,’ Som Prakas Verma (ed.), Flora and Fauna in Mughal Art, Bombay, 1999, pp.73, 81). The flying skirts of the women here recall those of a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2011.183, Losty, op.cit.), attributed elsewhere to Hyderabad (Leach, op.cit., cat.73).
Two paintings with composite animals from 16th century Bukhara, the Property of Mr. and Mrs. John D Rockefeller 3rd were recently sold in Christie's, New York, 27 January 2026, lots 825 and 826.
Composite sacred hamsa birds are rare (J.P. Losty, Indian Painting 1600-1870, New York, 2012, cat.6),. Animals like elephants were often favoured due to their size, which offered extensive compositional opportunity (Leach, Paintings from India, Oxford, 1998, cat.36). Hindu composite animals usually consist of odd-numbers of women, seven on our painting, probably auspicious within a Hindu context, although the original intent is usually difficult to tell (Robert J. Del Bonta, ‘Reinventing Nature: Mughal Composite Animal Painting,’ Som Prakas Verma (ed.), Flora and Fauna in Mughal Art, Bombay, 1999, pp.73, 81). The flying skirts of the women here recall those of a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2011.183, Losty, op.cit.), attributed elsewhere to Hyderabad (Leach, op.cit., cat.73).
Two paintings with composite animals from 16th century Bukhara, the Property of Mr. and Mrs. John D Rockefeller 3rd were recently sold in Christie's, New York, 27 January 2026, lots 825 and 826.