ATTRIBUTABLE TO BISHAN DAS, MUGHAL INDIA, FIRST QUARTER OF THE 17TH CENTURY

The Garshaspnama is a heroic epic poem completed in AH 458⁄1066 AD by Asadi Tusi. The story revolves around the Iranian hero Garshasp, who features heavily in the Shahnama of Firdawsi. Clearly both derive from the same sources but, despite their similarity, Tusi’s work never seems to have been considered a serious rival to the Shahnama (Francois de Blois, ‘Garsasp-nama’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol.X, New York, 2001, Fasc. 3, pp.318-319).
This illustration almost certainly comes from a manuscript of circa 1610 created for the Mughal Emperor Jahangir (r.1605-27) which includes texts from both the Garshaspnama and Shahnama. Of this text only six other illustrated folios are known: the David Collection (inv 17⁄2004); the Cleveland Museum of Art (1945.171); the Los Angeles Museum of Art (M.78.9.5); two folios in the Rothschild Collection (B.W.Robinson, Persian and Mughal Art: The Rothschild and Binney Collections, Colnagi, 1976, no.88); and one sold at Sotheby’s, 16 March 2016, lot 858. Further to these, seven non-illustrated folios are in the Chester Beatty Library (11A.34) and another was sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2005. The relation to Jahangir’s atelier can be made through the margins and borders of the folios. Either left just marbled or luxuriously illuminated in gold, with either simple floral arabesques or scenes of animals amidst vegetation, the margins relate closely to those of the Farhang-i Jahangiri, the lavish dictionary created for the Emperor in 1608, folios of which are now in the Walters Art Museum (acc.W.874.B), Yale University Art Gallery (2001.138.58) and Cleveland Museum of Art (2013.318.a).
This imperial Garshaspnama was illustrated by the very best artists of the age and the aforementioned folios are ascribed in the margins to Govardhan, Aqa Reza Jahangiri, Balchand, Dhanraj and Bishan Das. Whilst our folio is lacking any marginal ascription to the artist, the extremely fine illustration has been previously suggested to be the work of Bishan Das. Certainly this painting exhibits an exceptional talent for individual portraiture, for which Bishan Das is renowned. We find each figure has its own distinct sense of character. The face of the envoy is that of a careworn and mature man, his face with furrowed brow. In contrast the King has a sleeker look about him, barring the pouches under his eyes which are perhaps the reveal a slight overindulgence in the pleasures of royal life. Note as well the feeling of anxious expectation created through the concerned expressions of the surrounding characters, captured in stunning accuracy down to the stubble on their faces.
However, this scene is not simply a feat of portraiture but it has been convincingly assembled to create a harmonious and credible composition. Great pleasure has also been taken in details, the prime example of which being the beautifully rendered Safavid figural coat worn by the envoy, which is very similar to one in the Swedish Royal Collection from the period of Shah Abbas I (LRK 6195). According to Amina Okada, these elements are all hallmarks of the mature style of Bishan Das (Indian Miniatures in the Mughal Court, New York, 1992, p.160).
Perhaps originally from the Deccan and nephew of the prominent Akbar era painter Nanha, Bishan Das enjoyed a successful career between 1590 and 1640. The artist was a favourite of the Emperor Jahangir and worked for him whilst he was still a Prince at the atelier in Allahabad from 1600-1604. One of only five artists to be mentioned by name in the Tuzuk-i Jahangiri, Bishan Das was described by the Emperor himself as ‘unequalled in drawing portraits’ (Asok Kumar Das, ‘Bishandas’, in Goswamy, Beach and Fischer (eds.), Masters of Indian Painting, 1100-1650, vol.I, p.259.). He is also one of only forty-four artists whose portrait was painted by Daulat, at the request of Jahangir, in the margins of a folio from the Muraqqa-i Gulshan, now in the Golestan Palace Library, Tehran. In fact, such was his prowess in portraiture, the painter was sent to accompany the embassy of Khan ‘Alam in 1613 to record Shah ‘Abbas I and the Safavid court. This makes him the only Mughal painter to known to have travelled abroad and leaving an influence there. This was most notably achieved through his painting of Shah ‘Abbas and Khan ‘Alam meeting in a landscape which became the subject for many later Persian artists, a variant of which by Shaykh ‘Abbasi sold in these Rooms, 28 October 2021, lot 25.