ARTS OF INDIA

6
A DOUBLE-SIDED ILLUSTRATED FOLIO: AN ASCETIC IN
THE WILDERNESS
MUGHAL INDIA, PAINTING LATE 16TH CENTURY
Probably after a European print, ink, transparent and opaque pigments
on paper, seated by a fre and leaning on a wood crutch, a water vase and
prongs before him, the sketch of a dog drawn by his side in the lower left
corner, a tree and his thatched hut behind him, a city in the background,
the cream borders with gold foral illumination, the reverse with a foral
study, mounted
Painting 5Ω x 3¿in. (14.1 x 7.8cm.); folio 9æ x 5√in. (25 x 14.8cm.)
£7,000-10,000 $10,000-14,000
€8,800-12,000
This depiction of an ascetic appears to be an interesting combination
of a European print probably depicting St. Jerome in the wilderness
together with a local Mughal image of a dervish. The developed
muscular body and the delicate facial features follow in the school of
Kesu Das, a painter who worked for the Mughal Emperor Akbar (r.1556-
1605) in the late 16th century. Kesu Das was known to have copied an
engraving by Mario Cartaro of St. Jerome which is dated to circa 1580-
85 which shares many of these same muscular features (Jorges Flores
and Nuno Vassallo e Silva (eds.), Goa and the Great Mughal, exhibition
catalogue, Lisbon, 2004, p.156-57). The presence of a dervish crutch,
the bedding bowl and the animal skin cloak however confrm that
this is an ascetic frmly based in the Indian tradition though clearly
borrowing infuences from European imagery.
7
A PORTRAIT OF THE EMPEROR SHAH JAHAN
MUGHAL INDIA, FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, standing facing left,
wearing a simple turban, pink trousers and diaphanous tunic held with
a jewel-incrusted belt and an intricate sash, holding a straight bladed
tulwar, on pale green ground, later attributions including one to Manohar
along the lower edge, within foral margins with gold and blue rules, with
wide, gold-speckled blue borders, mounted, framed and glazed
8æ x 5in. (22.3 x 12.7cm.)
£10,000-15,000 $15,000-21,000
€13,000-19,000
7
This fne portrait depicts the Emperor Shah Jahan. A portrait of the young Prince by the court artist Abu al-Hasan depicts Shah Jahan (then still known by his
birth name, Prince Khurram) at the age of 25 (Amin Jafer (ed.), Beyond Extravagance. A Royal Collection of Gems and Jewels, New York, 2013, pp.364-65). As
in our portrait, Abu al-Hasan’s depiction of Shah Jahan shows him without the beard which became a distinctive feature of later portraits. It is likely that our
painting depicts him at a similar young age.
A portrait from the Shah Jahan album and now in the Metropolitan Museum depicts Shah Jahan and his son Prince Dara Shikoh toying with jewels (MMA
55.121.10.36v; Stuart Cary Welch, Annemarie Schimmel, Marie L. Swietochowski and Wheeler M. Thackston, The Emperors’ Album. Images of Mughal India,
exhibition catalogue, New York, 1987, no.55, pp.194-95). Painted by Nanha in around 1620, the Metropolitan depiction of Shah Jahan is startlingly similar to
ours – from the distinctive double curl at the sideburns to the spinel and pearls that hang around his neck and the elegant sash with alternating cartouches and
quatrefoils that falls from his waist. The two portraits are so close that is likely that they were painted at similar period, and perhaps that the artist of one was
familiar with the work of the other.
7