MUGHAL WARRIORS PREPARING FOR A BATTLE IN THE STYLE OF RAM SAHAI AND CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED MIR ALI HERAVI (D. 1544)

Project Details

MUGHAL WARRIORS PREPARING FOR A BATTLE IN THE STYLE OF RAM SAHAI AND CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED MIR ALI HERAVI (D. 1544)

Mughal Empire, Faizabad

Circa 1770

Miniature painting folio 24.4 x 34.5 cm, Calligraphy on the reverse: 22 x 13 cm. Calligraphy folio 24 x 38 cm. Framed 42.5 x 52 cm.

Gouache on paper, mounted on an album page with gilt-decorated borders. Calligraphy on the reverse signed by the Timurid & Shaybanid court calligrapher ‘Mir Ali’ (Heravi, d. 1544). A ruler seated in a small palace pavilion as a dervish steps forward presenting a donation, a military commander seated on a dais to the left inspecting soldiers on foot bearing swords and shields, a horseman , possibly an Ethiopian, riding from the left as two foot soldiers grapple on the ground brandishing daggers. Following the death of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (r. 1719-1748), Mughal artists sought employment in Delhi well into the nineteenth century. But others, such as Ram Sahai, moved to centres in Oudh including Faizabad and Lucknow. The soft colouring in this particular painting is typical of Faizabad as is Ram Sahai ‘s detailed style. Another example of his work is depicted in a polo scene by him in the Johnson album in the India Office Library now in the British Library. For further discussion see T. Falk and M. Archer, Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, London, 1981. no. 261. On the reverse, there is a Persian quatrain in nas-ta‘liq script, signed by the famous Timurid and Shaybanid court calligrapher Mir Ali Heravi, celebrated for his unparalleled skills in writing nas-taliq in a particularly elegant style for which he became famous.

Provenance

Private French Collection, Paris.

Formerly in the collection of Sir A.W. Robert Dent (d. 1796). Sold at Sotheby’s on 11 April 1972, Lot 66.

Sir A.W. Dent was a servant of the East India Company at Patna, Buxar and Tamluk between 1776-1796. His brother John was a Lieutenant in the Bengal Infantry 1782-1772. Many of the Indian miniature paintings in the Sotheby Dent sale bear the inscriptions of ownership of Nawab Shuja ud-Daula, third Nawab of Oudh (r. 1754-1775), indicating that they had previously been in his royal library at Faizabad where he died in 1775 aged 43.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Margaret Erskine for writing this article on the present miniature painting.

Categories: Calligraphy & Miniatures

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MUGHAL WARRIORS PREPARING FOR A BATTLE IN THE STYLE OF RAM SAHAI AND CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED MIR ALI HERAVI (D. 1544)

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