Page 170 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

392
AN ILLUSTRATED FOLIO FROM THE SHAHNAMA OF
FIRDAUSI: ISFANDIYAR SLAYS A DRAGON
SUB-IMPERIAL MUGHAL, PROBABLY AGRA, CIRCA
1600-1610
Image 4¡ x 3√ in. (11.1 x 9.8 cm.); folio 8√ x 5Ω in. (22.5 x 14.1 cm.)

$3,000-5,000

PROVENANCE
Private collection, New York, by repute.

The present painting depicts Isfandiyar’s third exploit in which he
slays a dragon, accompanied by a retainer holding a spear. The
heroic fgures envisioned here as Akbar-period Mughals wearing
fat pagris (headgear) and jamas, on a dark-green fowering ground
against a yellow fower-strewn hillside.
The color palette, costume details, facial types and foral sprigs
(depicted as foating between foreground and background)
suggest a date in the very early seventeenth century probably
within the later reign of Akbar (1542-1605) and likely produced at
Agra - a center of artistic activity patronized by members of the
Mughal court.
The dispersed manuscript to which this leaf originally belonged
contained approximately fve hundred text folios written in very
fne Nasta’liq script on highly polished paper with twenty-fve
lines to the page in four columns. Each folio with intercolumnar
ruled lines in black, blue and gold some with cloudbands in gold.
The manuscript appears to have contained approximately sixteen
miniatures and fve illuminated headpieces.

392

393
A PORTRAIT SKETCH OF A COURTIER
NORTH INDIA, RAJASTHAN, KISHANGARH, ATTRIBUTED TO THE
WORKSHOP OF NIHAL CHAND, CIRCA 1760-1780
Folio 7¿ x 5º in. (18.1 x 13.3 cm.)

$1,500-2,500

PROVENANCE
Doris Weiner Gallery, New York, by repute.
At present, the identity the subject is uncertain. He appears to be a fgure
associated with the court of Maharaja Sawant Singh (1699-1764) or slightly
after - perhaps he is a servant or artisan, as his garments appear modest.
Nihal Chand (1710-1782) was the most infuential artist in the royal workshops
of Maharaja Sawant Singh (1699-1764) of Kishangarh. His style shows the
characteristically curving elongated eye, pursed lips and angular features
associated with paintings from Kishangarh as notable in the present drawing.
393