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拍品專文
Abu Sa'id Mirza was the Timurid ruler between 1451 and 1469. Following the death of Shah Rukh in 1447 Abu Sa'id Mirza turned against his cousin Ulugh Beg, in whose court he had been serving. Although Abu Sa'id brought a period of relative stability in the twilight of Timurid rule, he died in a failed invasion of western Iran. Despite his failure to restore the former glory of the Timurid Empire, his grandson and first Mughal Emperor Babur would establish Timurid rule in India.
This portrait and the following lot both come from a now dispersed album commissioned around 1700 by a Dutch traveller, perhaps Cornelius le Bruyn. The album was entitled ‘Mongolsche Keysers’ and contained nineteen large-scale portraits of Mughal rulers, princes and their ancestors. As with our portraits, each is identified on the reverse in Dutch and/or Latin and in Persian.
Portrait albums of Mughal and Deccani rulers proved popular amongst European – and particularly Dutch – travellers in the late 17th and early 18th century. The Witsen Album contains very similar albeit smaller portraits and is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-T-00-3186) whilst other comparable albums are in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Estampes, Od 32 and Od 61, see Hurel 2010, nos.230 and 234, pp.167-173) and the British Museum (1974.0617,0.2). Cornelius de Bruyn, the possible patron of ‘Mongolsche Keysers’, published Voyages de Corneille le Bruyn par la Moscovie en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales, in Amsterdam in 1718. The work recounted le Bruyn’s travels and was illustrated by a number of engravings which are similar to the present portraits. Single portraits from the present album have sold in Sotheby’s, London, 12 October 1981, lot 34; 15 October 1997, lots 72 and 73; 26 April 2017, lot 127 and 128; Sotheby’s, New York, 21 March 2002, lot 218. Others were sold in these Rooms 27 October 2023, lots 65 and 65 and 24 April 1990, lots 85 and 86.
This portrait and the following lot both come from a now dispersed album commissioned around 1700 by a Dutch traveller, perhaps Cornelius le Bruyn. The album was entitled ‘Mongolsche Keysers’ and contained nineteen large-scale portraits of Mughal rulers, princes and their ancestors. As with our portraits, each is identified on the reverse in Dutch and/or Latin and in Persian.
Portrait albums of Mughal and Deccani rulers proved popular amongst European – and particularly Dutch – travellers in the late 17th and early 18th century. The Witsen Album contains very similar albeit smaller portraits and is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-T-00-3186) whilst other comparable albums are in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Estampes, Od 32 and Od 61, see Hurel 2010, nos.230 and 234, pp.167-173) and the British Museum (1974.0617,0.2). Cornelius de Bruyn, the possible patron of ‘Mongolsche Keysers’, published Voyages de Corneille le Bruyn par la Moscovie en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales, in Amsterdam in 1718. The work recounted le Bruyn’s travels and was illustrated by a number of engravings which are similar to the present portraits. Single portraits from the present album have sold in Sotheby’s, London, 12 October 1981, lot 34; 15 October 1997, lots 72 and 73; 26 April 2017, lot 127 and 128; Sotheby’s, New York, 21 March 2002, lot 218. Others were sold in these Rooms 27 October 2023, lots 65 and 65 and 24 April 1990, lots 85 and 86.