Page 111 - Indian and Himalayan Art, March 15, 2017 Sotheby's NYC
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PROPERTY FROM THE LANIER COLLECTION An extremely ne and naturalistic double portrait from the
imperial workshops of Emperor Shah Jahan where paintings
A ROYAL COUPLE by atelier artists were made of royal family members, courtiers
India, Imperial Mughal, Shah Jahan Period, and sometimes notable persons like great musicians and
circa 1650 diplomats, often on a blue-green verdigris background. Our
painting is superb in execution and reveals keen psychological
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper insight into the personal relationship of this anonymous royal
image: 7¾ by 5¼ in. (17.8 by 12.7 cm) couple. Similar Imperial portraits are in the Collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, with some mounted
PROVENANCE into muraqqa’ album folios like the Shah Jahan Album
(accession no. 55.121.10.33), and some as individual leaves like
Private collection London our own double portrait.
Acquired 1980’s
For further discussion on the Shah Jahan Album, see M. C.
A formal double-portrait of a royal couple. They stand facing Beach, The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India 1600-1660,
each other wearing diaphanous muslin outer jama and skirt - Williamstown, 1978.
against a brilliant malachite green ground - exchanging a gold
jeweled container. He holds a slender, ornate ceremonial $ 5,000-7,000
sword, a jeweled katar tucked into his sash. His short-length
patka with owering lily patterns was in favor during the latter
period of Shah Jahan. Red tinged clouds swirl above.
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