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Lot Essay
The style of the faces and the jagged rocky outcrop seen here suggest an attribution to the artist Mahesh (Mahesa). An important artist in Akbar’s atelier, he is one of the seventeen artists noted as having ‘attained fame’ by Abu’l Fazl in the A’in-i Akbari (translated by Blochmann, London, 1873 (reprint 1989), vol.I, p.114). Mahesh is known to have worked on the Hamzanama, the Baburnama, the Victoria & Albert Akbarnama (notably comparable illustrations are IS.2:41-1896 and IS.2:99-1896), the Jaipur Razmnama and a number of paintings from the Darabnama which is now in the British Library (Add. Or. 4615; notably comparable illustrations are folios 5b and 90a). In describing a painting of Capricorn from the Eva and Konrad Seitz collection John Seyller notes the distinctive treatment of rocks by Mahesh which are nearly always smooth in curving shard-like outcrops coloured in violet and green as found in the present lot (Mughal and Deccani Paintings, Zurich, 2010, no.1, pp.32-4). A painting by Mahesh from the Sven Gahlin Collection was sold at Sotheby’s London, 6 October 2015, lot 9.
The overpainting above and below the 16th century work obscures text which makes it difficult to tie the work to any specific dispersed illustrated manuscript from the Akbari period. However, it was likely intended to be part of a royal commission given the quality of the painting and the other manuscripts that Mahesh is known to have worked on. The width of the present painting immediately precludes a number of Akbari manuscripts and the format of the page, which appears to have had large text panels above and below possibly with the painting extending around, ruling out other contenders. A similar painting dated circa 1590-95 from an unidentified Mughal manuscript depicting two armies in combat and of comparable size and format was with Francesca Galloway (A Prince’s Eye, London, 2013, no.1J). That painting has a text panel within the painting plane which has been obscured in gold. A number of similar folios are known including two in the Khalili Collection (inv.nos. MSS 569 and MSS 637), which were all in the collection of Hagop Kevorkian sold in Sotheby’s London, 6 December 1967, lot 117; 1 December 1969, lot 117; 7 April 1975, lot 98; 12 April 1976, lot 70; and 2 May 1977, lots 98 and 101. The Kevorkian group include figures from early Islamic history and the Old Testament and so it has been suggested it could be an abandoned history or perhaps a Qisas al-‘Anbiya. The subject of the present painting and figures within are difficult to identify from a contemporary Mughal history and the overly large ceremonial gem-set mace held by the figure on the left does not seem to feature in other Mughal paintings of contemporary court scenes. Therefore it is tempting to think that this painting could have been from the same manuscript or a similar history to the defaced ex-Kevorkian group.
We would like to thank John Seyller for his assistance with cataloguing this lot.
The overpainting above and below the 16th century work obscures text which makes it difficult to tie the work to any specific dispersed illustrated manuscript from the Akbari period. However, it was likely intended to be part of a royal commission given the quality of the painting and the other manuscripts that Mahesh is known to have worked on. The width of the present painting immediately precludes a number of Akbari manuscripts and the format of the page, which appears to have had large text panels above and below possibly with the painting extending around, ruling out other contenders. A similar painting dated circa 1590-95 from an unidentified Mughal manuscript depicting two armies in combat and of comparable size and format was with Francesca Galloway (A Prince’s Eye, London, 2013, no.1J). That painting has a text panel within the painting plane which has been obscured in gold. A number of similar folios are known including two in the Khalili Collection (inv.nos. MSS 569 and MSS 637), which were all in the collection of Hagop Kevorkian sold in Sotheby’s London, 6 December 1967, lot 117; 1 December 1969, lot 117; 7 April 1975, lot 98; 12 April 1976, lot 70; and 2 May 1977, lots 98 and 101. The Kevorkian group include figures from early Islamic history and the Old Testament and so it has been suggested it could be an abandoned history or perhaps a Qisas al-‘Anbiya. The subject of the present painting and figures within are difficult to identify from a contemporary Mughal history and the overly large ceremonial gem-set mace held by the figure on the left does not seem to feature in other Mughal paintings of contemporary court scenes. Therefore it is tempting to think that this painting could have been from the same manuscript or a similar history to the defaced ex-Kevorkian group.
We would like to thank John Seyller for his assistance with cataloguing this lot.