Page 108 - Indian and Himalayan Art, March 15, 2017 Sotheby's NYC

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PROPERTY FROM THE LANIER COLLECTION
A MIRACULOUS RESCUE
India, Imperial Mughal, circa 1610-20
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper
image: 7¼ by 4 in. (17.8 by 10.1 cm)
folio: 13½ by 8¾ in. (33 by 20.3 cm)
PROVENANCE
The Saint Louis Art Museum
Sotheby’s New York, 25 March 1987, lot 12
An important illustration from the story of the Prophet Yusef
and his jealous brothers. The handsome Yusef called “The
Moon of Egypt” was thrown down a well by his brothers who
were greatly jealous of his beauty. He was deeply mourned
by his father who thought him dead - but he was miraculously
discovered and rescued as everyone rejoiced and were amazed
at his recovery.
Two panels of black ink Nasta’liq script in Persian within gold Schools, Portland, 1973, p. 72-3, cat. 20 and cat. 46 a/b,
ruled lines at top read:
“Chon an maheh jahan ara baramad / Zejanash banke ya
boshra baramad”
(Once the beautiful moon face was rescued, they rejoiced and
celebrated)
The young and handsome prophet Yusef is rescued from the
raised well by four men as they struggle to pull him to safety.
Another places his index nger to his lips in astonishment
at the good fortune before them. A baobab tree with its
numerous vertical root systems and reaching branches bursts
with green leaves. Finely stylized rock formations in mauve
and pink, a visual motif brought to India by Persian-trained
artists during the previous century, spreads in the middle
distance. Colorful tents beyond and a blue sky above.
$ 20,000-30,000
Mounted within outer borders from a folio of the dispersed
Farhang-i Jahangiri, a lexicon in Persian circa 1618-19
created for the Emperor Jahangir, its borders decorated with
depictions of birds and animals. A tiger attacks a buck as deer
and rabbits leap away - a peacock and peahens. Interweaving
leaf and oral sprays in black ink with gold. Sixteen complete
folios from the lexicon are in the collection of the Chester
Beatty Library, Dublin (cat. I, Ms. XXXIII).
The depiction of this well and baobab tree recalls a painting
from the Baburnama circa 1590-92 depicting the Mughal
Emperor Babur’s well-known visit in 1519 to Bigram and the
cave at Gur Khattri - with its famous Baobab tree and enclosed
well - similarly depicted as the setting in our painting (British
Library Or. 3714, f.320v). Iconographically, the theme of loss
and rescue is echoed in the Shah Nama of Firdausi, telling the
story of “Rustam and the Rescue of Bizhan from the Well” a
story certainly appreciated by the Mughals. Our painting is not
from a known or published series - it may have been intended
as an individual work depicting the famous narrative.
For related works, see E. Binney III, The Mughal and Deccani
pp. 72-73 (Farhang-i Jahangiri). For Mughal painting during
the early 17th century, see M. C. Beach, The Grand Mogul:
Imperial Painting in India 1600-1660, Williamstown, 1978; M.
C. Beach, The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court,
Washington D.C., 1981; and M. C. Beach, ‘Indian Painting from
1575-1650’, p. 111-118, in M. C. Beach, E. Fischer and B. N.
Goswamy, Masters of Indian Painting 1100-1650, Artibus Asiae
Sup., 2015.
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