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Lot Essay
On his fourth expedition to Khwarazm, Timur’s army defeated the army of Yusuf Sufi, the ruler of the region. Yusuf Sufi and his army took refuge in the city of Urgench, which Timur’s army reduced to near ruin. The siege lasted three months and sixteen days, during which time Yusuf Sufi died. This event took place in the year AH 781⁄1379-80 AD (For a translation of this episode, see Cherefeddin Ali (Sharaf al-Din ‘Ali Yazdi), The History of Timur Bec, 2 vols., London 1723, vol.1, p.197).
While there is an artist Banwari who worked on the 1565 Tutinama (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962.279) amongst other early manuscripts, we must assume that this was a different, older, artist of that name who in the Razmnama of 1582-6 (Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II City Palace Museum, Jaipur, no inv. no.) is referred to as Banwari Kalan (the elder). The younger (Khurd) Banwari is first noted already acting as a designer/painter in the Tarikh-i Khandan-i Timuriyya of circa 1584 (Khoda Baksh Public Library, Patna, no.551, HL 107) and from that point he was regularly employed to paint on the imperial projects being produced, including the circa 1590-95 Iyar-I Danesh (Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, In 04), the 1591 Baburnama (British Library, London, Or.3714; where he worked alongside his namesake) and the 1596 Jami al-Tawarikh (Golestan Palace Library, 2254-0347; two folios by Banwari Khurd are among those dispersed from this manuscript, being sold at Sotheby’s London 22 April 1980, lot 33 and 14 October 1980, lot 240; two further remain with the manuscript). In 1598 he worked on the Razmnama (Core of the manuscript in the British Library, Or.12076, various pages separated at auction Sotheby’s London 25 October 1921 are in various collections including the Free Library in Philadelphia and the Victoria and Albert Museum IS.121.1955) and a further folio from the present manuscript by him was on the New York market (with Prahlad Bubbar, London, 2017). No works of the 17th century are ascribed to him.
While there is an artist Banwari who worked on the 1565 Tutinama (Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962.279) amongst other early manuscripts, we must assume that this was a different, older, artist of that name who in the Razmnama of 1582-6 (Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II City Palace Museum, Jaipur, no inv. no.) is referred to as Banwari Kalan (the elder). The younger (Khurd) Banwari is first noted already acting as a designer/painter in the Tarikh-i Khandan-i Timuriyya of circa 1584 (Khoda Baksh Public Library, Patna, no.551, HL 107) and from that point he was regularly employed to paint on the imperial projects being produced, including the circa 1590-95 Iyar-I Danesh (Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, In 04), the 1591 Baburnama (British Library, London, Or.3714; where he worked alongside his namesake) and the 1596 Jami al-Tawarikh (Golestan Palace Library, 2254-0347; two folios by Banwari Khurd are among those dispersed from this manuscript, being sold at Sotheby’s London 22 April 1980, lot 33 and 14 October 1980, lot 240; two further remain with the manuscript). In 1598 he worked on the Razmnama (Core of the manuscript in the British Library, Or.12076, various pages separated at auction Sotheby’s London 25 October 1921 are in various collections including the Free Library in Philadelphia and the Victoria and Albert Museum IS.121.1955) and a further folio from the present manuscript by him was on the New York market (with Prahlad Bubbar, London, 2017). No works of the 17th century are ascribed to him.