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Lot Essay
On these folios, a fine sheet of gold has been laid down on coloured paper, and cut to a design with a stencil. As Navina Haidar points out, the principle is similar to the leather filigree work seen on Persian doublures. The similarity in craft, as well as the fact that these sheets have been laid down on card, suggests that these may have also been intended as book covers.
There are a small number of other known folios from this group. Two of these examples are identical in design to the right-hand page in our pair, with the only difference that the red and black colours on the folio are switched. One, in the Kronos Collection, New York, was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2015 (published Navina Najat Haidar, Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy, New York, 2015 no.105, p.212). The other, laid down in calligraphic borders, and formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, sold Sotheby's London, 6 April 2011, lot 102. The folio on the right of our pair has an identical border to those examples, but a very different field design.
There are a small number of other known folios from this group. Two of these examples are identical in design to the right-hand page in our pair, with the only difference that the red and black colours on the folio are switched. One, in the Kronos Collection, New York, was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2015 (published Navina Najat Haidar, Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy, New York, 2015 no.105, p.212). The other, laid down in calligraphic borders, and formerly in the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, sold Sotheby's London, 6 April 2011, lot 102. The folio on the right of our pair has an identical border to those examples, but a very different field design.