A double-sided illustrated folio from the De Luynes Album: recto...
gouache heightened with gold and silver on paper, the paintings laid down on an album page with buff margins, recto with dark green and verso with dark blue borders, polychrome rules
recto painting: 30.6 by 20.7cm.
verso painting: 25.2 by 15.1cm.
leaf: 46.7 by 33cm.
Condition Report:
Corners and edges of folio with minor scuffing and water damage, remnants of previous binding along left edge, blue rule along edges, recto numbered '45' in pencil at upper right corner of folio, verso with '1291' in pencil at lower left corner, margins with minor staining and handling marks, paintings with minor scattered spots of staining and discolouration, minor creasing, some rubbing, small scattered losses to pigments but overall pigment colours are strong, some tarnish to silver pigment, as viewed.
Catalogue Note:
The present double-sided Mughal album page was part of a collection brought from India to Europe either in the second half of the eighteenth century or the first half of the nineteenth century. It was subsequently acquired by the family of the Duc de Luynes. There is no family record to confirm when the collection was formed. Fourteen paintings from the collection were sold at Sotheby’s London in 1995. One of the paper folders in which the miniatures were kept was labelled ‘Dessins Indiens’ and inscribed in pencil: Il manque 4 dessins prêtes à Mr. Waschmut, peintre à Versailles, le 10… 1843. (This is the painter Ferdinand Waschmut (d.1859), who studied under Baron Gros at his atelier in Paris. He exhibited at the Salon between 1833 and 1859 and is known to have travelled to North Africa. He died in 1869.) It is possible that the date of 1843 was the latest date when the collection was formed, or perhaps it is a later annotation by one of the owners from the family.
This painting belongs to an album from this collection which was most likely produced for a European patron. Most of the Mughal miniatures from this album, which are double-sided and of a similar size, depict princely activities of various kinds, suggesting that their original purpose was possibly to illustrate a Mughal historical text of the nature of the Baburnama or the Akbarnama. It is noteworthy that the paintings do not have illuminated margins and lack any calligraphic inscriptions.
Although many artists of the period painted in a similar style, the two miniatures on this double-sided folio have been attributed to the Mughal artist Paras who was active from roughly 1580 to 1600. An illustration from an Akbarnama dated to circa 1590-95, depicting the drowning of Pir Muhammad Khan, a general in the service of Emperor Akbar, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is ascribed with the names of the artists Paras and Miskina (IS2:26-1896). A further painting depicting a night scene in an encampment, dated to the early seventeenth century, bears a signature by Paras, with a later attribution to Muhammad Arif. The work is in the British Museum (illus. Rogers 1993, no.66, p.99). An illustration in the British Library Baburnama, circa 1591 (f.347b, published in Suleiman 1979, pl.50) bears numerous similarities to the present hawking scene, including the scallops of paint on the large tree trunk, the treatment of the figures (including the small, almond-shaped eyes) and the grassy bands which blur the transition from one coloured area to another.
For other paintings from the De Luynes Album sold at auction, see Sotheby’s, London, 26 April 1995, lots 119-122, 124-132; Christie’s, London, 4 October 2012, lot 163-176; 10 October 2013, lot 171; 23 April 2015, lot 115; Christie’s, New York, 19 June 2019, lot 11, 183.
Provenance:
The family collection of the Duc de Luynes, brought to Europe before the middle of the nineteenth century
Sotheby’s, London, 26 April 1995, lot 123
Sotheby’s, London, 6 October 2010, lot 82
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gouache heightened with gold and silver on paper, the paintings laid down on an album page with buff margins, recto with dark green and verso with dark blue borders, polychrome rules
recto painting: 30.6 by 20.7cm.
verso painting: 25.2 by 15.1cm.
leaf: 46.7 by 33cm.
Condition Report:
Corners and edges of folio with minor scuffing and water damage, remnants of previous binding along left edge, blue rule along edges, recto numbered '45' in pencil at upper right corner of folio, verso with '1291' in pencil at lower left corner, margins with minor staining and handling marks, paintings with minor scattered spots of staining and discolouration, minor creasing, some rubbing, small scattered losses to pigments but overall pigment colours are strong, some tarnish to silver pigment, as viewed.
Catalogue Note:
The present double-sided Mughal album page was part of a collection brought from India to Europe either in the second half of the eighteenth century or the first half of the nineteenth century. It was subsequently acquired by the family of the Duc de Luynes. There is no family record to confirm when the collection was formed. Fourteen paintings from the collection were sold at Sotheby’s London in 1995. One of the paper folders in which the miniatures were kept was labelled ‘Dessins Indiens’ and inscribed in pencil: Il manque 4 dessins prêtes à Mr. Waschmut, peintre à Versailles, le 10… 1843. (This is the painter Ferdinand Waschmut (d.1859), who studied under Baron Gros at his atelier in Paris. He exhibited at the Salon between 1833 and 1859 and is known to have travelled to North Africa. He died in 1869.) It is possible that the date of 1843 was the latest date when the collection was formed, or perhaps it is a later annotation by one of the owners from the family.
This painting belongs to an album from this collection which was most likely produced for a European patron. Most of the Mughal miniatures from this album, which are double-sided and of a similar size, depict princely activities of various kinds, suggesting that their original purpose was possibly to illustrate a Mughal historical text of the nature of the Baburnama or the Akbarnama. It is noteworthy that the paintings do not have illuminated margins and lack any calligraphic inscriptions.
Although many artists of the period painted in a similar style, the two miniatures on this double-sided folio have been attributed to the Mughal artist Paras who was active from roughly 1580 to 1600. An illustration from an Akbarnama dated to circa 1590-95, depicting the drowning of Pir Muhammad Khan, a general in the service of Emperor Akbar, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is ascribed with the names of the artists Paras and Miskina (IS2:26-1896). A further painting depicting a night scene in an encampment, dated to the early seventeenth century, bears a signature by Paras, with a later attribution to Muhammad Arif. The work is in the British Museum (illus. Rogers 1993, no.66, p.99). An illustration in the British Library Baburnama, circa 1591 (f.347b, published in Suleiman 1979, pl.50) bears numerous similarities to the present hawking scene, including the scallops of paint on the large tree trunk, the treatment of the figures (including the small, almond-shaped eyes) and the grassy bands which blur the transition from one coloured area to another.
For other paintings from the De Luynes Album sold at auction, see Sotheby’s, London, 26 April 1995, lots 119-122, 124-132; Christie’s, London, 4 October 2012, lot 163-176; 10 October 2013, lot 171; 23 April 2015, lot 115; Christie’s, New York, 19 June 2019, lot 11, 183.
Provenance:
The family collection of the Duc de Luynes, brought to Europe before the middle of the nineteenth century
Sotheby’s, London, 26 April 1995, lot 123
Sotheby’s, London, 6 October 2010, lot 82
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
