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115
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Emperor Akbar visiting an ascetic during a hunt
North India,…
See original version (French)
115
-
Emperor Akbar visiting an ascetic during a hunt
North India,…
See original version (French)
Estimate €6,000 - €8,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Emperor Akbar visiting an ascetic during a hunt
North India, provincial Mughal workshop, First half 17th century, after a scene from the Akbarnāma
Opaque pigments and gold on paper mounted as an album page with wide orange margins speckled with gold
Annotation on the back in pencil: Akbar Bādshāh
A collection number 561-7907A-03231.
Condition: even wear, probable repaints, abrasions.
Page: 40 x 29 cm
Painting: 19.8 x 12.2 cm
Provenance
Collection of the late Dr. Robert Douat (1926-2004), collector of Indian paintings.
Related works :
- David Collection, inv. no. 15/1980
- Simon Ray, Indian and Islamic Works of Art, November 2018, nᵒ 12, dated circa 1625-1650.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 30.95.174.9.
This composition depicts Jalāl ud Dīn Muhammad Akbar (r. 1556-1605) visiting a Hindu ascetic, probably a yogi or sādhu, secluded in a rocky hermitage. Following a narrative pattern typical of Mughal painting, the scene combines a lively hunt in the foreground - with elephant, horsemen and servants - and, in the centre, a spiritual encounter in which the emperor, seated on a carpet and nimbed, suspends his action to listen to the sage's teaching. However, the face is more reminiscent of the portraits of Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) than those of Akbar, suggesting that it has been repainted in the past.
This type of iconography originated in the illustrated cycles of the Akbarnāma, the official chronicle written by Abū'l Fazl, which recounts Akbar's encounters with religious figures from different traditions. These episodes contribute to the construction of an idealised image of the sovereign, both a man of action and a philosopher prince. Sheila R. Canby has emphasised the extent to which the theme of the prince meeting an ascetic while hunting or travelling is a recurrent one in Mughal painting, reflecting both the issues of religious tolerance in an expanding empire and the valorisation of the sovereign in his quest for spiritual wisdom (S. R. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan, London, 1998, p. 111, nᵒ 81).
Comparable compositions are known from early seventeenthᵉ century Mughal production, including a scene of a prince visiting an ascetic circa 1610 (M. C. Beach, The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India 1600-1660, Williamstown, 1978, pp. 163-164, nᵒ 61, now in the David Collection), as well as other examples published by Simon Ray. Two other occurrences of this theme are also discussed by Pratapaditya Pal (Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, vol. I, 1000-1700, Los Angeles, 1993).
On the reverse, the late inscription in pencil, "Akbar Bādshāh", in Persian, as well as a number "15", testify to the later circulation of the folio, which probably passed through several collections and dealers in Europe. The treatment of the rocks in purplish tones, the compact masses of vegetation and the softly modelled but slightly schematised figures link the work to the Mughal pictorial tradition inherited from the great imperial workshops. The format of the sheet, with its wide margins, is in keeping with the tradition of the muraqqaʿ, the Mughal albums, in which the paintings were mounted and recontextualised, sometimes independently of their original context. The composition and certain stylistic elements - notably the rocky landscape, the dark blue border and certain figures such as the caparisoned elephant - evoke leaves from the Akbarnāma known as the 'Davis Album', produced around 1604 and held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but certain simplifications in the drawing, the presence of overpainting and the slight hardening of certain faces suggest that this is a later adaptation, or possibly a studio prototype, rather than a page from that album itself.
A Mughal album page depicting Emperor Akbar visiting an ascetic during a hunt, after a scene from the Akbarnama. Opaque pigments and gold on paper, mounted on an album page with wide gold-flecked orange margins, North India, Mughal school, first half of the 17th century.
The composition combines an animated hunt in the foreground - elephant, horsemen and attendants - with, at the centre, a spiritual encounter: the haloed emperor, seated on a carpet, suspends his action to listen to the teaching of a Hindu ascetic withdrawn in a rocky hermitage. The physiognomy is, however, closer to portraits of Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) than to those of Akbar, suggesting an early overpainting of the face.
The iconography derives from the illustrated cycles of the Akbarnama, the official chronicle composed by Abu'l Fazl, which records Akbar's encounters with religious figures of various traditions - episodes that contributed to the idealised image of the sovereign as both man of action and philosopher prince. The composition recalls folios of the so-called "Davis Album" Akbarnama (c. 1604, Metropolitan Museum of Art); certain simplifications in the drawing and probable repaintings suggest, however, a slightly later adaptation - possibly a workshop prototype - rather than a page from that album itself. A comparable scene of c. 1610 is preserved in the David Collection, Copenhagen (M. C. Beach, The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India 1600-1660, Williamstown, 1978, no. 61); see also S. R. Canby, Princes, Poets and Paladins, London, 1998, p. 111, no. 81.
Pencilled inscription on the verso in Persian, Akbar Badshah, with collection numbers "15" and "561-7907A-03231". Even wear, probable repaintings, abrasions.
See original version (French)
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