Timur enthroned on a palace terrace Oudh, perhaps Murshidabad, late...
Timur enthroned on a palace terrace
Oudh, perhaps Murshidabad, late 18th Century
gouache and gold on paper, gold and coloured borders; verso, a Shi'a calligraphic composition in the form of a face, North India, 19th Century, in gold against a scale-like ground within a circle, all against a ground of profuse floral motifs, the upper part of the page with a lobed mihrab composed of floral motifs
painting 240 x 190 mm. (sight); album page verso 355 x 245 mm.
Provenance
Sir Charles Forbes of Newe and Edinglassie, 1st Baronet (1774–1849): probably acquired during his time in Bombay, or by one of his family.
In the collection at Castle Newe, Scotland, by the early/mid 19th Century, the Baronial seat of the Forbes, amongst an extensive collection of Indian art, antiques, weapons and armour.
Sir John Stewart Forbes, 6th Baronet, (1901-1984), the vendor's great-great uncle, who sold the Forbes collection of Indian paintings at Sotheby's in the 1960s.
Mr J P Foster OBE, Emeritus Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey, the vendor's grandfather, who bought the painting back from the Sotheby's sale (and whose mother was Sir Charles Forbes, the 5th Baronet's daughter Evelyn Marjorie Forbes).
Thence to the seller's mother, who presented the painting to him in 2010.
See lot 148 for a painting by Muhammad Reza-i-Hindi perhaps deriving from the same source.
John Forbes (1743-1821) known as 'Bombay Jock', made a fortune in India from trading, shipping, and banking with his firm Forbes & Company, Ltd., after serving in the East India Company for three years from the age of 21. In 1796, he returned to Britain and bought the estates of Newe. The company had, amongst other things, been appointed banker to the Government of Bombay. His nephew, Charles Forbes, the 1st Baronet, also went to India and joined the company, returning in 1810.
For another Oudh painting with the same provenance as this painting, see the sale in these rooms, Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 23rd May 2023, lot 193.
Portrayals of Timur, founder of the Mughal dynasty, are not uncommon: the manner of his portrayal seems ultimately to derive from Govardhan's depiction of circa 1630 (handing on the crown to Babur, and seated with Humayun), from the Minto Album, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The calligraphic composition on the reverse consists of a stylised face, comprising the names Muhammad, 'Ali, Fatimah and Hasan, in positive and negative. Unusually it does not include the name Husain, though it does seem to be a Shia motif. For another similar example, see Christie's South Kensington, Arts and Textiles of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 11th October 2013, lot 531 (from a Deccani album).
Bid on this lot
Timur enthroned on a palace terrace
Oudh, perhaps Murshidabad, late 18th Century
gouache and gold on paper, gold and coloured borders; verso, a Shi'a calligraphic composition in the form of a face, North India, 19th Century, in gold against a scale-like ground within a circle, all against a ground of profuse floral motifs, the upper part of the page with a lobed mihrab composed of floral motifs
painting 240 x 190 mm. (sight); album page verso 355 x 245 mm.
Provenance
Sir Charles Forbes of Newe and Edinglassie, 1st Baronet (1774–1849): probably acquired during his time in Bombay, or by one of his family.
In the collection at Castle Newe, Scotland, by the early/mid 19th Century, the Baronial seat of the Forbes, amongst an extensive collection of Indian art, antiques, weapons and armour.
Sir John Stewart Forbes, 6th Baronet, (1901-1984), the vendor's great-great uncle, who sold the Forbes collection of Indian paintings at Sotheby's in the 1960s.
Mr J P Foster OBE, Emeritus Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey, the vendor's grandfather, who bought the painting back from the Sotheby's sale (and whose mother was Sir Charles Forbes, the 5th Baronet's daughter Evelyn Marjorie Forbes).
Thence to the seller's mother, who presented the painting to him in 2010.
See lot 148 for a painting by Muhammad Reza-i-Hindi perhaps deriving from the same source.
John Forbes (1743-1821) known as 'Bombay Jock', made a fortune in India from trading, shipping, and banking with his firm Forbes & Company, Ltd., after serving in the East India Company for three years from the age of 21. In 1796, he returned to Britain and bought the estates of Newe. The company had, amongst other things, been appointed banker to the Government of Bombay. His nephew, Charles Forbes, the 1st Baronet, also went to India and joined the company, returning in 1810.
For another Oudh painting with the same provenance as this painting, see the sale in these rooms, Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 23rd May 2023, lot 193.
Portrayals of Timur, founder of the Mughal dynasty, are not uncommon: the manner of his portrayal seems ultimately to derive from Govardhan's depiction of circa 1630 (handing on the crown to Babur, and seated with Humayun), from the Minto Album, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The calligraphic composition on the reverse consists of a stylised face, comprising the names Muhammad, 'Ali, Fatimah and Hasan, in positive and negative. Unusually it does not include the name Husain, though it does seem to be a Shia motif. For another similar example, see Christie's South Kensington, Arts and Textiles of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 11th October 2013, lot 531 (from a Deccani album).
