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Lot Essay
This finely executed scene depicts a yogi in discussion with a visitor or disciple. Another disciple sits behind the yogi and two further, younger yogis and a dog line the bottom of the composition by a water's edge. From the right two well dressed ladies approach to offer gifts and supplications to the yogi.
The drawing demonstrates very refined execution of the nim qalam style which gained popularity in the Mughal court in the 17th century. It was used to great effect by masters such as Govardhan, who also executed several paintings along a similar theme (for two examples see Chester Beatty Library, MS.60.4 and Milo Cleveland Beach, The Grand Mogul, Imperial Painting in India, 1600-1660, Williamstown, 1978, no.41). Our painting relates to a nim qalam painting of ladies visiting a yogini, probably by a disciple of Govardhan circa 1640 in the Chester Beatty Library (MS.55.4) which Linda York Leach described as having a 'stylistic debt to Govardhan' (Mughal and other Indian paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, no.3.79, p.471). Our artist is clearly following in the same tradition. The fineness of the work, especially in the use of shading for facial modelling suggests an artist of imperial quality, who would have had access to the works of Govardhan and his disciples to use as source material.
One possible suggestion is Muhammad Afzal, a painter from the atelier of Emperor Muhammad Shah (r.1719-1748). Writing about two works attributed to Muhammad Afzal from the Eva and Konrad Seitz collection (one of which sold at Sotheby's London, 30 April 2025, lot 576) John Seyller notes that Muhammad Afzal's figures have full-cheeked, modelled faces, soft hair, and eyes with a subtle downwards slant (Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection of Indian Miniatures: Mughal and Deccani Paintings, Zurich, 2010, p.71). Our figures exhibit these features, in particular the standing lady. Her portrait is closely comparable to a lady in a painting of a group of ladies with fireworks on a terrace signed by Muhammad Afzal in the Smithsonian Museum (F1924.6). We are grateful to John Seyller for this insight.
The drawing demonstrates very refined execution of the nim qalam style which gained popularity in the Mughal court in the 17th century. It was used to great effect by masters such as Govardhan, who also executed several paintings along a similar theme (for two examples see Chester Beatty Library, MS.60.4 and Milo Cleveland Beach, The Grand Mogul, Imperial Painting in India, 1600-1660, Williamstown, 1978, no.41). Our painting relates to a nim qalam painting of ladies visiting a yogini, probably by a disciple of Govardhan circa 1640 in the Chester Beatty Library (MS.55.4) which Linda York Leach described as having a 'stylistic debt to Govardhan' (Mughal and other Indian paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, no.3.79, p.471). Our artist is clearly following in the same tradition. The fineness of the work, especially in the use of shading for facial modelling suggests an artist of imperial quality, who would have had access to the works of Govardhan and his disciples to use as source material.
One possible suggestion is Muhammad Afzal, a painter from the atelier of Emperor Muhammad Shah (r.1719-1748). Writing about two works attributed to Muhammad Afzal from the Eva and Konrad Seitz collection (one of which sold at Sotheby's London, 30 April 2025, lot 576) John Seyller notes that Muhammad Afzal's figures have full-cheeked, modelled faces, soft hair, and eyes with a subtle downwards slant (Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection of Indian Miniatures: Mughal and Deccani Paintings, Zurich, 2010, p.71). Our figures exhibit these features, in particular the standing lady. Her portrait is closely comparable to a lady in a painting of a group of ladies with fireworks on a terrace signed by Muhammad Afzal in the Smithsonian Museum (F1924.6). We are grateful to John Seyller for this insight.