SIGNED AMIR, MUGHAL INDIA, EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

A CALLIGRAPHIC PANEL
SIGNED AMIR, MUGHAL INDIA, EARLY 17TH CENTURY
Persian manuscript on marbled paper, 6ll. of black nasta'liq, the reverse plain, mounted, framed and glazed
12 ½ x 7 ¼in. (31.7 x 18.5cm.)

Provenance

American art market, 1995

Literature

Cheney Cowles, Helen Delacretaz and Barry Till, Image and Word: Indian Paintings, Drawings, and Calligraphy (1350-1830), Victoria, 1998, p.24, fig.24

Exhibited

'Image and Word: Indian Paintings, Drawings, and Calligraphy (1350-1830)', Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Canada, 1998

Engraved

Faqir amir ghafara lahu, ‘The poor Amir, may [God] forgive him’

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Originating in Greater Iran, the swirling colours and organic shapes of marbled paper became popular in Mughal India in the 16^th century. This was especially favoured for calligraphy, lending a decorative background to elegant nasta’liq verse.

Examples of nasta’liq on marbled paper attributed to 17^th century Mughal India can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1999.356 and 1986.109.2).

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