Page 115 - ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS Carpets, Ceramics Objects, Christie's London Oct..27, 2022

The Painting:
The use of bells and lamp to hunt deer by night was characteristic of profile. In another portrait from the Johnson Album 25. no.7 in the British
some of the forest-dwelling indigenous tribes of India. That the Mughals Library dated to c.1690, the well-defined profile is yet again apparent.
were intrigued by these aboriginal hunters and their way of life is apparent
from the many paintings produced in this genre, which lasted well into The painting closely derives from a painting in the Keir Collection which
the late-18th century. Although they were celebrated for their hunting shows prince Kam Bakhsh’s royal cavalcade of hunters and a Chenchu
dexterity in Mughal eyes, it was only during the mid-17th to early 18th couple stalking deer by night and is dated 1691. The artist has moved
century that numerous compositions of a tribal couple hunting blackbuck the crouching man to the far left corner in the St Petersburg page, and
by night became a popular subject for illustration. The Bhils of central and decreased the number of figures and hawks in the imperial retinue. On the
western India, often dressed in animal skins and the Chenchus of Andhra, basis of the dating of the Keir painting which is the earliest depiction of
distinguished by their leaf skirts and head dress, are the two tribes most the genre, and the fact that Ruhullah Khan died in 1692 , the painting can
frequently represented in Mughal paintings. be dated to c. 1691. In another painting of a similar date and theme, sold
through Sotheby’s in 1988, the prince has lost his riding companion and the
This evident interest in the hunting methods and way of life of these cavalcade now encircles Kam Bakhsh. The visual divide is subdued and the
primitive people is however only sparsely corroborated in early Mughal distant entourage is largely seen to the left. Despite their altered details,
historical accounts and only a brief echo of it is found in the A’in (Ā’īn, tr. these images retain the essential details of the historical encounter that
vol, II, p.233). By contrast, references to these adept hunters are frequent shapes the compositions, unlike other versions in which the narrative is
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in ancient Sanskrit literature (The Mahābhārata, vol. 1, tr. and ed. J. A. B. lost. The context of the scene is altered in another late 17 century variation.
van Buitenen, Chicago, 1973, pp. 270-71), Kannada literary sources from Kam Bakhsh has been omitted and his unknown youthful companion is
the Vijayanagara period and in 17th century accounts of Aurangzeb’s shown instead. An inaccurate inscription near the upper margin of the image
Deccan campaigns. Their fame as skilled hunters is shown in the sculptural identifies the prince as Shah Jahan and attributes it to the artist Chand:
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programme of the 14th-16th century relief carvings of the Throne Platform Sotheby’s 17 July 1978, lot 25, present location unknown. For another picture
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of the Hindu capital city of Vijayanagara in the Deccan, where royal and of the early 18 century in which the young nobleman appears instead of
tribal hunters are depicted together. Kam Bakhsh, see Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D. C, 07.210 S.I. 1516. By
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the mid-18 century the composition was completely reinterpreted by artists
and this is seen in another picture now in the Freer Gallery 07.199 S. I. 1505.
This interpretation of the tribal hunt communicates the Mughal interest in
people whose way of life and hunting traditions were alien to their own and
also substantiates the importance of this historical encounter.
We would like to thank Adeela Qureshi de Unger for her preparation of this
essay.
The Throne Platform of the Hindu capital city of Vijayanagara.
The Calligraphy:
This juxtaposition of the tribal and royal hunt seen in the relief carvings of The St. Petersburg Muraqqa’ contained calligraphic folios that were the work
the Throne Platform, is similarly expressed in several paintings including of only one calligrapher, Mir ‘Imad al-Hassani, whose signature is found on
the St Petersburg page. The picture’s foreground is divided into two scenes the reverse of this folio. Mir ‘Imad was born around the year AH 961/1553-
of a Mughal cavalcade with falconers and a Chenchu couple hunting deer 54 Ad in Qazwin, the capital of Safavid Iran. He moved to Tabriz where he
by night. To the right of the rocky divide, a Chenchu huntress carrying a was apprenticed to the master Muhammad Husayn Tabrizi, moving back to
musical instrument made of bells blinds a group of apprehensive blackbuck the capital on completion of his studies in AH 981/1573-74 AD. He became
with her lamp. Her male companion brings down a helpless male buck an itinerant craftsman, as was the custom among his profession, accepting
with a swift arrow. The angled glare of the lamp brings into view a pair of commissions as he moved from one town to the next. Later in life he set out
cobras, mongoose and a group of blackbuck. In the background just behind for the Hajj, and remained in the region for several years, working in Aleppo
the Chenchu couple is seen an expanse of mountainous ghats covered before returning to Iran in AH 1005/1596/97 AD. His great rival as court
by dense shrubbery. The Mughal cavalcade with a royal figure mounted calligrapher, ‘Ali Reza-i Abbasi, gradually replaced him in the Shah’s favour
on an elephant being led by flaming torches is seen in the meandering and, in the increasingly extreme Shi’ite environment of the court of Shah
valley between the two scenes. On the ghats to the far left is seen a tribal ‘Abbas, he was accused of Sufism and Sunnism. He was murdered in AH
settlement where families congregate outside their conical huts. The 1024/1615-16 AD by an agent of the Shah.
group of imperial hunters to the left are led by two mounted noblemen who
are conversing with a group of huntsmenwith goshawks and noblemen. The Borders:
In the far left-hand corner of the foreground is a squatting man, clearly Three artists are known to have worked on the decoration and composition
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uninterested in his companions’ conversation. of the album in the mid-18 century – Muhammad Hadi, Muhammad Baqir
and Muhammad Sadiq. Most of the work decorating the album was done
The composition has previously been accepted as a mere juxtaposition of by Muhammad Hadi. In his discussion on the compilation and decoration of
tribal and royal hunting scenes. However, the image is based on a historical the album, Anatol Ivanov writes that Hadi only decorated the margins around
encounter between indigenous tribal peoples and Kam Bakhsh’s cavalcade the calligraphic specimens (von Habsburg, et al., op.cit., Lugano, 1996, p.26).
as it marched to Cudappa by way of Karnul. A rare textual echo of this The borders that surround the painting side of our folio are closely related to
significant meeting is found in the Tarikh-i-Dilkusha (Delightful History) of those that surround the painting side of the related folio in the album.
Bhimsen, a Hindu official serving with the Mughal armies in the Deccan
during the second half of the 17th century. Aurangzeb’s Mir Bakhshi, Ruhullah The wonderfully vibrant border on the calligraphy side of our folio is signed
Khan (d. 1692), also accompanied prince Kam Bakhsh on this particular Muhammad Yazdi and dated AH 1247/1831-32 AD. The latest folios from the
campaign and it is plausible that the mounted rider with a falcon perched on album are dated AH 1172/1756-57 AD, predating ours by some 80 years. The
his gloved right-hand to the left is Ruhullah Khan. The resemblance of the St. Petersburg Muraqqa’ was however never completed and we know that
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nobleman is comparable to a late 18 century portrait in the Free Library of many of the margins and borders were not finished in the 1750s. This might
Philadelphia, Lewis 373 which corroborates his large form and his distinct be a later attempt to complete it.

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