Asian and African studies blog

In two recent posts I examined a largely unpublished album of 18^th century paintings associated with the Deccan and with the Maratha courts and prior to those posts a newly acquired portrait of Ikhlas Khan, the African minister of the Bijapur sultans.  In this new post I want to look at some other Deccani items acquired since the publication of the Falk and Archer catalogue of Indian miniatures in 1981.  The first is associated with the artist Muhammad Khan, who is well known for his portraits of Sultan Muhammad ‘Adil Khan of Bijapur (reg. 1627-57) and notables of his court.  Two of these portraits are in the British Library (Johnson Album 1,9 and Add.Or.2770, see Falk and Archer 1981, nos. 405-406), while others are in the British Museum and in collections in India and the USA (Zebrowski 1983, pp.127-31).  He signs himself as the son of Miyan Chand, presumably another artist, none of whose work is now known.  Not at all known is the work of his son, Muhammad Husayn, one of whose works was acquired for the collection in 1985.  This is a head and shoulders portrait of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir (reg. 1605-27), a version of one of the bust portraits of that emperor done in the Mughal court during his reign. 

The Emperor Jahangir.  By Muhammad Husayn, son of Muhammad Khan.  Bijapur, 1660-70.  Opaque water-colour with gold.  Oval: 112 by 78 mm.  Add.Or.4243.

It is inscribed in Persian on the gold rim of the oval: Mashq-i Muhammad Husayn ibn Muhammad Khan Musavvir (‘copy by Muhammad Husayn son of Muhammad Khan the painter’).  This appears to be the first reference to Muhammad Khan’s son also being a painter.  It is certainly not the equal of his father’s work, but then it may of course be the work of an apprentice as suggested by the unusual term mashq (i.e.copy).

Another copied painting acquired in that same year is also linked with Bijapur.  This shows the founder of the Bijapur dynasty Sultan Yusuf ‘Adil Shah (reg. 1509-11) enthroned with the next four monarchs of Bijapur and being handed the key of royal authority by a Persian figure.  To his right, and slightly smaller and below him, are kneeling his two immediate successors Isma’il (d.1534) and Ibrahim I (d.1557), and likewise to his left are ‘Ali I (d.1579) and Ibrahim II (d.1626).  Attendants behind carry parasols above the sultans.  The painting is by a Deccani artist, apparently about 1750, after a lost Bijapuri original of c.1610.  It is inscribed on a cover sheet in Persian: Majlis-i ‘Adil Shah badshah ma’ah nazdikan  (‘assembly of King Adil Shah with his relatives’).

The first five Sultans of Bijapur.  By a Deccani artist, c.1750, after a lost Bijpur original of c.1610.  Opaque water-colour with gold.  180 by 272 mm.  Add.Or.4242 

A larger version of this scene including all the Bijapuri Sultans up to the last one Sikandar (reg. 1672-86) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Zebrowski 1983, pl.  XVII).  The New York version would appear to be an accession portrait linking Sikandar with his ancestors back to the founder of the dynasty, who is receiving the keys of royal authority from his Shia co-sectarian Shah Isma’il of Iran.  Our painting would appear to be after a painting that is not an accession portrait but a statement of Ibrahim II’s royal authority, since he is painted fully mature and with a beard; the original would have been the beginning of a tradition of such paintings which added each new ruler at the appropriate time. 

A well-known painting showing a lady lying pining on her couch for her absent lover is one of the most important paintings from Hyderabad in the Richard Johnson Collection.

A lady pining for her absent lover.  Hyderabad, c. 1740-50.  Opaque pigments with gold and silver.  215 by 150 mm. Johnson Album 50, 4. 

The duenna bends down to whisper to the recumbent lovelorn lady about her absent lover, perhaps suggesting his imminent arrival, while her two maids look at each other knowingly. There is real interaction between the two pairs of women.  The scene is set at night with a full moon and a pair of white cranes starkly silhouetted against the dark background, while the lady’s agitation is suggested by the breeze ruffling the canopy.  Even the cranes seem to have paused in their flight to comment to each other on the goings-on below them. 

A lady pining for her absent lover.  Hyderabad, c. 1740-50.  Brush drawing with gold.  170 by 132 mm.  Add.Or.5695. 

A closely related drawing was acquired in 2010.  The attention to detail in this lively drawing makes it look very finished and not at all a preliminary drawing for anything else.  The artist, being unable to suggest night-time, has substituted clumps of plants, all waving in the breeze that agitates the folds of the canopy above. Delicate designs on the textiles of bedcovers and clothes substitute for the vibrant colours of the painted version.

An album of 75 portraits (Add.Or.4396-4470) depicting principally the courtiers and ministers of the Nizams of Hyderabad ‘Ali Khan (reg.  1762-1803) and Sikandar Jah (reg.  1803-29) was acquired in 1989.  It was assembled originally in Hyderabad in the early 19th century, refurbished about 1900 and presented in 1915 by Nizam Mir Usman ‘Ali Khan to the Viceroy Lord Hardinge.  Inscribed on the fly-leaf is: To His Excellency Lord Hardinge of Penshurst Viceroy of India (with all good wishes) from Mir Usman ‘Ali Khan Nizam of Hyderabad 15th June 1915.

The album is particularly valuable for the large number of portraits and notables of the court of Hyderabad about 1810 in the time of Nizam Sikandar Jah (reg. 1803-29), during whose reign most of the portraits as well as those of earlier rulers seem to have been painted.  These greatly supplement in this respect the collection of Henry Russell, Resident at Hyderabad 1811-20 (Add.Or.1912-47, Falk and Archer 1981, no. 434).  An exception is the portrait of Nizam ‘Ali with his chief minister Aristu Jah in a larger format, which together with three portraits of notables of Nizam ‘Ali’s court in the same format are about 15 to 20 years earlier. 

Nizam ‘Ali Khan, Nizam of Hyderabad (reg.  1762-1803), seated on a terrace with his minister Aristu Jah.  Hyderabad, c.1790.  Inscribed below: Nawab Nizam ‘Ali Khan Bahadur.  Opaque pigments with gold.  217 by 125 mm.  Add.Or.4411. 

The minister is almost certainly ‘Azim al-Umara Aristu Jah (d. 1804).  His portrait is the same as that in the Victoria and Albert Museum identified as Aristu Jah (I.S. 163-1952, see Zebrowski, Deccani Painting, fig. 247, who misidentifies him as the chief minister of Nizam Sikandar Jah).  Despite his reputation as a wily politician, he was responsible for the disaster at Khardla in 1794 that befell the Hyderabadi forces in their encounter with the Marathas and spent two years imprisoned in Pune.

Finally in this brief selection is this delightful equestrian portrait of Lieutenant John Gustavus Russell, acquired in 1992.  Russell is accompanied by sowars of the Kurnool Irregular Horse, and is riding in a flowery landscape in front of a Muslim tomb typical of Kurnool architecture.  Inscribed on the wooden back-plate of the frame is: Blacklock an Arab Horse I had ten years.  Never lost a 1st Spear out Hog hunting when I rode him.- I spent £50 for him as a 3 year old and refused £300 when in his prime.- Dead.  Rosie a terrier my Constant Companion halting or travelling for 14 years, she is Still Alive. John G Russell.  4 April [18]53.  P.S.  The drawing is made by a native.  The horse & dog are right - but the rider not - I did not sit for it.

Lt. John Gustavus Russell with sowars of the Kurnool Irregular Horse.  By a Kurnool artist, c.1850. Water-colour with gold.  24 by 34 cm. Add.Or 4661 

Kurnool, some 120 miles south of Hyderabad, became in the 18th century semi-independent under its own Pathan Nawabs.  It was captured by Haidar ‘Ali of Mysore, and in 1799 was given to the Nizam at the division of Tipu Sultan's territory.  It was ceded by him to the East India Company in 1800, although the Nawabs were left in charge in return for a tribute to Madras.  The last of them was judged guilty of treasonable activity in 1838 and the territory was annexed, although left in the charge of a British Commissioner and Agent until 1858 rather than under the normal Collector and Magistrate of British India.  The arts flourished under the Nawabs and an offshoot of the Hyderabad style of painting can be located there (Zebrowski 1983, pp. 272-3).  In the 19^th century Kurnool produced paintings on leather of both Hindu and decorative subjects, but this painting by Kurnool artist would seem to be a rare instance of a Deccani ‘Company’ painting.  The artist has combined a delicate Deccani approach to landscape with the more naturalistic traditions associated with European portraiture.

John Gustavus Russell (b. 1817) first served in the 29th Madras Native Infantry in 1838 when based at Jalna near Aurangabad in the Nizam’s territory.  By 1846 he was placed in charge of a portion of the Kurnool Irregular Horse, a cavalry regiment formed from the numerous Pathan retainers of the Nawabs of Kurnool after the last one was deposed in 1838.  He remained in Kurnool until 1858, from 1849 as Assistant to the Governor of Madras's Agent at Kurnool, himself acting as Agent from 1856-58.  He was promoted to Captain in 1856. The role of Agent was abolished in 1858, when Kurnool was treated like a regular Madras District for the first time, and Russell from 1859-61 acted as Paymaster to the Malabar and Kanara Force, and then the Nagpur Force; he retired early with the rank of Major on 1 October 1861.

Further reading:

Falk, T., and Archer, M., Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, 1981

Losty,J.P., http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2013/04/ikhlas-khan-the-african-prime-minister-of-bijapur.html

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/04/an-album-of-maratha-and-deccani-paintings-part-1.html

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/06/an-album-of-maratha-and-deccani-paintings-add21475-part-2.html

Zebrowski, M., Deccani Painting, Sotheby Publications, University of California Press, London and Los Angeles, 1983

J.P. Losty, Curator of Visual Arts (Emeritus) 

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An Album of Maratha and Deccani Paintings - Add.21475, part 2

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An Album of Maratha and Deccani Paintings - part 1

Visitors to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library may have encountered our display of Indian paintings next to the entrance to the Magna Carta. As part of the conservation programme, the paintings are rotated every few months.  If you missed the display on the portraits of rulers of Rajasthan, you can still view a selection on the Asian and African Studies Blog.

Selecting paintings to display is no easy task: the library’s collection holds a diverse range of Indian paintings that date mainly from the 16-19^th centuries. Popular genres and themes for the display can be drawn from portrait studies, illustrations to literary themes, religious subjects and from the 19^th century onwards on architecture. In consultation with exhibitions and conservation, the selection is placed into the gallery.

The theme for the current selection is ‘Art of the Book’ and includes elegant visualisations of the ever so popular Hindu deity Krishna with his beloved Radha, Prince Rama and his brother Lakshman pinned by serpentine arrows, and illustrations to the Indian classical music known as ragamala (garland of musical modes). Some of the highlights are featured below:

Rama and Laksmana are pinned by serpentine arrows.  By a Pahari artist from Bahu or Kulu, from the Shangri Ramayana, Style III, circa 1700-10.  186 by 290 mm; page 215 x 316 mm. Add.Or.5696, acquired 2010. - See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/01/pahari-paintings-at-the-british-library.html#sthash.Kf5yXor6.dpuf

Radha makes love to Krishna by a grove. An illustration to a Rasakapriya of Keshav Das. Kangra, c.1820. Attributed to Purkhu and his school. Add.Or.26
 

Vasanta Ragini, Murshidabad (Bengal, India), c. 1760. Johnson Album 36,8.

The Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library hosts a permanent free display of the library's greatest treasures. It is usually open 7 days a week.

Additional material held in the Visual Arts department at the British Library can be viewed by appointment in the Print Room (Asian & African Studies Reading Room). Please email [email protected] for an appointment. The Print Room is generally open Monday-Friday, from 2-5pm.

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An Album of Maratha and Deccani Paintings - Add.21475, part 2

The Dara Shikoh Album (Add.Or.3129) is one of the most famous and important Mughal artefacts in the British Library’s collections.  Dara Shikoh (1615-58) was the eldest son and favourite of the Emperor Shah Jahan (reg. 1627-58).  He was married in 1633 to his cousin Nadira Banu Begum and in 1641 gave her the album which, it was argued recently (Losty and Roy 2012, pp. 124-37), the prince had assembled between 1631 and 1633 and not as normally assumed between his marriage in 1633 and the gift in 1641.  When I was researching the album, which is famous above all for its flower studies, I recognised a new European source of inspiration that had not previously been noticed.  Scholars of Mughal painting, following Robert Skelton’s seminal paper of 1972, have become increasingly aware of how Mughal artists used European prints to help both in their individual paintings of flowers and in the floral borders of the imperial albums of Jahangir (reg. 1605-27) and Shah Jahan.  Since it was possible to publish only the British Library’s Mughal paintings in our 2012 book, this note expands on some of the references made therein. 

The only signed and dated painting in the album is by the otherwise mysterious artist Muhammad Khan, who was possibly from the Deccan and engaged by Dara Shikoh when the Emperor’s court was in Burhanpur 1630-32.  My attention focussed on the vase which is filled with a bouquet of many different sorts of flowers and is very unlike contemporary Mughal depictions of vases of flowers in paintings.  

A prince in Persian costume pouring wine.  Inscribed on the bowl in Persian: ‘amal-i Muhammad Khan musavvir sanna 1043 (‘work of Muhammad Khan the artist, the year 1043/1633–4’).  Add.Or.3129, f. 21v.

While vases of flowers are occasionally seen in contemporary Mughal party scenes, they are normally slender and filled with a single type of flower arranged in two dimensions.  This extravagant bouquet in Muhammad Khan’s painting seems instead derived from a European exemplar, such as occur in several engraved florilegia of the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries.  In one of them, the Florilegium series of prints made by Adriaen Collaert and published by Philips Galle in Antwerp, first in 1587 and again in 1590, the third plate is an elaborate bouquet of various flowers arranged in a vase much as in Muhammad Khan’s version. 

 
Adriaen Collaert, Florilegium, published by Philips Galle, Antwerp, 1590.  555.d.23.(3.), pl. 3

So far as I am aware this Florilegium has not been identified before as a source for Mughal flowers studies, yet it can be shown as we shall see in a moment to have been a comparatively early arrival at the Mughal court.  Muhammad Khan has modified the decoration on his vase:  the image of a lion bringing down a large deer, perhaps a nilgai, is obviously of Indian inspiration despite its blue and white colouring, but the shape is not Chinese but derived from the sort of classical vase with wide shoulders and comparatively narrow base seen in Collaert’s engraving, although in the Mughal version without a foot. 

 
Vase of narcissi with covered cups, intarsia detail from the tomb of Itimad al-Daula, Agra, begun 1622. Photo by William Dalrymple, 2013, and reproduced with his kind permission

The aparently haphazard arrangement of flowers in a vase in the European manner would not have been thought suitable for execution in stone in a Mughal monument, so when bulbous vases containing a single variety of flowers make their appearance in Mughal art in the intarsia and painted decoration of the tomb of Itimad al-Daula in Agra begun in 1622, the floral arrangement has been beautifully regularized and flattened rather as in Mughal party scenes.

 
Vase of flowers in marble relief on the dado of the Taj Mahal tomb chamber, begun 1631..  Agra artist, c. 1810-15.  Add.Or.1771.

They appear most famously carved in marble in the dado of the tomb chamber of the Taj Mahal in the 1630s, where the vase again is clearly of European classical inspiration and with its swags and foot is almost certainly derived from Collaert’s vase.  Here, although the flowers are varied as in the exemplar, they form flattened sprays in mirror symmetry aroud the central iris.  Ebba Koch in her book on the Taj Mahal suggests C.J. Vischer’s engraving of a vase of flowers of 1635 as a possible source (Koch 2006, figs. 338 and 339), but Collaert’s vase of 1587-90 is much closer.

The Dara Shikoh album is celebrated for its exquisite and innovative flower paintings which, like the portraits, are arranged in matching pairs.  Some seem almost naturalistic, as if done directly from nature, although certain characteristics such as the hovering butterflies suggest that this is not the case but rather that European herbals served as the ultimate inspiration.

   
Flower studies.  Attributed to Muhammad Khan, 1630-33. Add.Or.3129, f.67v

One of the most beautiful studies of naturalistic flowers in the album is found in another page attributed to Muhammad Khan, where six different species of flowers are laid out as specimens on the page.  Such an arrangement seems to be derived from earlier paintings by Mansur, the foremost of Jahangir’s natural history painters, whose vanished album of the spring flowers of Kashmir painted in 1621 is one of the chief of our losses of Mughal paintings. 

Left: Lilies, signed by Mansur Jahangirshahi, c. 1605-12. From the Gulshan Album, Golestan Palace Library, Tehran, Ms 1663, p. 103. With kind permission of the Golestan Palace Library.  Right: Lilies, from Adriaen Collaert’s Florilegium, Antwerp, 1590, 555.d.23.(3.), pl. 6.       

One of Mansur’s rare surviving flower studies is included in Jahangir’s great album in Tehran now known as the Gulshan Album.  Previous scholarship concurred that Mansur’s flower studies all date from 1620 or thereabouts, but Susan Stronge has pointed out that Mansur must have done this study before he was given the title of Nadir al-‘Asr, Wonder of Time, which he is how he signs himself on paintings that can be dated to 1612 and later (2008, pp. 95-96).  On the other hand, since he uses the soubriquet Jahangirshahi, this suggests that he was already regarded as a master artist.  Stronge proposed that in this study Mansur was influenced by two of the individual plants published in John Gerard’s The Herball or Generall Historie of Plants, 1597, reversing the engravings, but suggesting that the ultimate source was a still undiscovered Florilegium.  The subjects of engraved florilegia were much copied from one publication to another.  Turning again to Collaert’s Florilegium of 1590, it can be seen that she was right.

Mansur’s painting of lilies has always struck me as a somewhat clumsy arrangement of flowers compared with the elegance of the Dara Shikoh page.  However, the arrangement of different kinds of flowers all from the same species, in this instance lilies, is of course derived from European florilegia, which are concerned with botany, not with aesthetics.  It can readily be seen that in this case Mansur reproduces the entirety of plate 6 from Collaert’s Florilegium the right way round and in an exact correspondence.  Clearly he was not familiar with lilies in nature since he has mistaken the trumpet part of the flower for green sepals.  So far from this being a masterpiece of Mansur’s maturity as is often proclaimed, it is in fact an immature study from early in Jahangir’s reign.  Just as Abu’l Hasan and other artists of the period painted over or copied European engravings of Christian religious imagery to help them develop a more naturalistic approach to the rendering of volume and space, so Mansur is using a European print to help him find his way into the naturalistic depiction of flowers.

J.P. Losty, Curator of Visual Arts (retired)

Bibliography:

Koch, E., The Complete Taj Mahal, London, 2006

Losty, J.P., and Roy, M., Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire – Manuscripts and Paintings in the British Library, London, 2012

Semsar, M.H., and Ernami, K., Golestan Palace Library: a Portfolio of Miniature Paintings and Calligraphy, Tehran, 2000

Skelton, R., ‘A Decorative Motif in Mughal Art’ in Aspects of Indian Art, ed. P. Pal, Leiden, 1972, pp. 147-52

Stronge, S., ‘The Minto Album and its Decoration’ in Wright, Elaine, ed., Muraqqa':  Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library Dublin, Alexandria VA, 2008, pp. 82-105

The Visual Arts department has recently added to its collection a folio from the dispersed ‘Impey’ Ramayana. The Ramayana manuscript is named for its patron Sir Elijah Impey, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Calcutta in the late 18^th century. Sir Elijah and Lady Mary Impey were well-established patrons of art and often commissioned illustrations to manuscripts or sets of paintings by local artists in Bengal. The provenance of this folio, as well as the rest of the series, is authenticated by the seal of Sir Elijah Impey stamped on the verso. Impey's manuscript (or possibly even a portfolio), which consisted of 44 single sided folios with no text pages, was later acquired by Sir Thomas Phillipps Bt (1792-1872). In 1968, the 44 folios were dispersed at auction.

The British Library is currently the only national collection to have in its collection a folio from this dispersed series. The only other folio, showing Rama kills Vali, in a public collection is at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  

Lakshman cuts of the nose of Shurpanakha by a Murshidabad artist, c. 1780. Opaque watercolour on paper. British Library, Add.Or.5725

The Ramayana is one of the great Sanskrit epics narrating the story of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, who lived in exile for 14 years. The story is attributed to the sage Valmiki, a contemporary of Rama.  Accompanied by his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, the Ramayama recounts their adventures and misfortunes including the kidnapping of Sita by the demon Ravana. The epic tale is composed of 24,000 verses that were divided into seven books. The episode depicted here, featuring Lakshman cutting off the nose of Shurpanakha, is reported in the Aranyakanda (‘Book of the Forest’).

Shurpanakha, the sister of Ravana (the 10-headed demon king of Lanka) encountered the handsome Rama at his hermitage. Awestruck by his beauty, she instantly transformed herself from a hideous demon with matted red hair into a vision of beauty. Initally rebuffed by Rama, she approached Lakshman and proclaimed: ‘My beauty renders me a worthy wife for thee; therefore come and we will range the Dandaka Forest and mountains happily together’ (Shastri 1952-59). Lakshman replied in jest: ‘how canst thou wish to become the wife of a slave, such as I? I am wholly dependent on my noble brother. Thou whose complexion resembles the lotus, who art pleasing to look upon and chaste? Lady of large eyes, though art a paragon, do thou become the consort of that matchless hero. Renouncing that ugly, evil and peevish old woman, whose limbs are deformed, he will certainly devote himself to thee! Lady of ravishing complexion and lovely limbs, what sensible man would sacrifice that unrivalled beauty of thine for an ordinary woman?’ (Shastri 1952-59).

Grasping the reality of his prose, Shurapanka unfurled her wrath on Rama’s beautiful wife Sita. Lakshman immediately pulled his sword and cut off the nose and ears of Shurpanakha!

Detail showing Lakshman mutilating Shurpanakha

Shrieking in pain and her face streaming with blood, she fled to her brother Ravana. The 10-headed demon sent his army to retaliate. In the lower half of the page, Rama and Lakshman are featured in combat with the demon army.

Detail showing Rama fighting the demons

This folio from the Impey Ramayana provides art historians the opportunity to further explore the regional style of painting at Murshidabad in Bengal in the 18th century. Impey’s commissions, including a set of ragamala paintings (British Library, Add.Or.4-8 and Add.Or.27-31) and the illustrations to a Razmnama manuscript (British Library, Add.5638-5640), are typically painted in a more refined and imperial style of painting. The artist who depicted Lakshman brutally mutilating the demon appears to have rapidly executed his paintings with the figures modeled with thick outlines and stylised features. There is little attention to the fine details. With further research on the illustrations to the Impey Ramayana and other commissions, it might be possible to ascertain the extent of Sir Elijah’s personal influence on the artistic style of this manuscript and regional artists. Through additional research on the illustrations to this series, it might be possible to create a detailed timeline of the artistic practices in Murshidabad.

Material held in the Visual Arts department can be viewed by appointment in the Print Room. The Print Room located in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room and is open Monday-Friday afternoons. Please email [email protected] for an appointment.

Further reading:

T. Falk and M. Archer, Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, Sotheby Parke Barnet, 1981

J.P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India, British Library, 1982

J.P. Losty, The Ramayana: Love and Valour in India's great epic, British Library, 2008

H.P. Shastri (trans.), The Ramayana of Valmiki, Shanti Shadan, 1952-59

Malini Roy, Visual Arts Curator

@BL_VisualArts

Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire
British Library (till 2 April 2013)

The current exhibition at the British Library explores one of the most powerful and splendid of all the world's great dynasties with Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire. The 'Great Mogul' seated on a jewel-encrusted throne is one of the most enduring images of India. But apart from this almost mythical ruler, the Mughal dynasty produced a great number of rulers of outstanding ability in statecraft and culture, whether in empire building or patrons of art and architecture.

This exhibition is the first to document the entire period, from the 16th to the 19th century, through more than 200 exquisite manuscripts and the finest paintings drawn almost exclusively from the British Library's extensive heritage collection.