Page 77 - 2021 April 1, ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs, Christie's London

A FRAGMENT FROM THE HAMZANAMA

58
A MAN SLEEPING IN A PAVILION
MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1560-75 Emperor. Several eminent Persian artists of the 16th century were involved
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on cloth, composed of two separate in its production, principally 'Abd al-Samad and Mir Sayyid 'Ali, both having
album pages joined at the centre right, laid down on card, minor losses and left the employment of Shah Tahmasp. One of the first major commissions
areas of restoration of Akbar's reign it was significant for introducing Iranian artistic conventions
10Ω x 12æin. (26.5 x 32.3cm.) to Mughal painting, which were to have a profound influence on its
development.
£20,000-30,000 US$28,000-42,000
€24,000-35,000 The text tells the story of Amir Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad,
and blends history with local legend. The manuscript originally comprised
PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's London, 15 July 1975, lots 88 and 89 some 1400 folios of which about 200 survive. Painted on large sheets of
cloth, the images take up most of one side and the text is written in black
LITERATURE: nasta'liq on the reverse. It was in the Mughal Library up to the time of the
John Seyller, The Adventures of Hamza, Washington D.C., 2002, pp.278-9,
nos.R174 and R175. sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah in 1757, when many of the miniatures were
defaced. Many were found in the late 19th century covering the windows of a
The Hamazanama was the largest manuscript of Persian poetry ever Kashmiri teashop. When this painting first appeared at auction at Sotheby’s
produced and the only one known painted on cloth. It was commissioned in July 1975, it had been split and was offered as two separate fragments –
by the Emperor Akbar a little before about 1564, for it was in this year that part of the same original painting. They have now been re-joined, to make a
Abu'l Fazl records in the Ayn-i Akbari that extracts from it were read to the much more impressive fragment of this important manuscript.

75