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拍品专文
Manohar is known to have produced a number of single-figure studies on a pale blue background similar to this painting. These include portraits of Mirza Ghazi and Murtaza Khan which were collected and bound in the Wantage Album, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (IM.118-1921 and IM.123A-1921 respectively). A similar painting, attributed to Mansur, depicts another orange-clad moustachioed courtier. It was in the Salim Album, assembled around 1604 (Milo C. Beach, 'Mansur', in Masters of Indian Painting 1100-1650, Zurich and New York, 2011, p.249, no.19, illustrated fig.12).
The calligraphy on the reverse of this painting is signed with the name 'Abdullah al-Husayni. The same name appears on the calligraphy of two other folios which were sold in the 1973 Sotheby's sale of the Brabourne-Ardeshir album, lots 32 and 38. The latter is now in the Reitberg Museum, Zurich (2021-418). The name also appears in a folio in the Dara Shikoh album, dated AH 1018 / 1609-10 AD, only one year later than that on our panel (J. P. Losty, 'Dating the Dara Shukuh Album: the Floral Evidence", in Ebba Koch and Ali Anooshahr, The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan, Mumbai, 2019, p.254). 'Abdullah al-Husayni also contributed calligraphic panels to an Akbari royal album which sold Sotheby's London, 27 October 2020, lot 425.
The facing page from the original album was almost certainly lot 18 from the 1973 Sotheby's sale, which depicts a prince reading from a scroll. That painting is framed by an identical arrangement of nasta'liq verse and illuminated borders. Although the margins are not illustrated in the catalogue, they are described as depicting 'birds and deer in landscapes in colours and gold', much like on our folio. The practice of having identical borders connecting similar paintings - in this case, two figures ascribed to Manohar - is typical of Mughal albums of this type.
The calligraphy on the reverse of this painting is signed with the name 'Abdullah al-Husayni. The same name appears on the calligraphy of two other folios which were sold in the 1973 Sotheby's sale of the Brabourne-Ardeshir album, lots 32 and 38. The latter is now in the Reitberg Museum, Zurich (2021-418). The name also appears in a folio in the Dara Shikoh album, dated AH 1018 / 1609-10 AD, only one year later than that on our panel (J. P. Losty, 'Dating the Dara Shukuh Album: the Floral Evidence", in Ebba Koch and Ali Anooshahr, The Mughal Empire from Jahangir to Shah Jahan, Mumbai, 2019, p.254). 'Abdullah al-Husayni also contributed calligraphic panels to an Akbari royal album which sold Sotheby's London, 27 October 2020, lot 425.
The facing page from the original album was almost certainly lot 18 from the 1973 Sotheby's sale, which depicts a prince reading from a scroll. That painting is framed by an identical arrangement of nasta'liq verse and illuminated borders. Although the margins are not illustrated in the catalogue, they are described as depicting 'birds and deer in landscapes in colours and gold', much like on our folio. The practice of having identical borders connecting similar paintings - in this case, two figures ascribed to Manohar - is typical of Mughal albums of this type.