PROPERTY FROM THE ASBJORN LUNDE FOUNDATIONA PORTRAIT OF PRINCE DARA SHIKOH FROM A POLIER ALBUMSTYLE OF MIHR CHAND PROVINCIAL MUGHAL, FAIZABAD OR LUCKNOW, 1780 CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED AND DATED, 'MUHAMMAD 'ALI 1195' (1780 CE) Opaque watercolor, silver, gold, and ink on paper; the painting (recto) and calligraphy page (verso) laid on an album page with painted floral borders; recto with inscribed cartouche in the lower border 'Dara Shikoh' and numbered '22'. Image: 8 3/4 x 4 5/8 in. (22.2 x 11.8 cm); Folio: 15 1/2 x 11 in. (39.3 x 28 cm)FootnotesThis grand portrait of Prince Dara Shikoh (1615-59) comes from the studio of Mihr Chand whose enlightened patron, Antoine Louis Henri Polier (1741–95), commissioned multiple albums inspired by the works of past masters of the early Mughal period. Folios from Polier Albums all share distinctively wide borders with bold and somewhat loose floral sprays. Prince Dara Shikoh was the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan and was favored to accede to the throne until he was defeated and killed by his brother Aurangzeb. In emulation of his father, he is depicted holding a sword over his shoulder and a whisk in his hand, common attributes of royal Mughal portraits. Compare with portraits of Shah Jahan in the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. (S1986.405), in Goswamy and Fischer, Wonders of a Golden Age, 1987, no.45, pp.99-100, as well as with an elderly portrait of Shah Jahan from the Manley collection (Sotheby's, London, 14 July 1971, lot 56). The distinctive treatment of the prince's face and the surrounding landscape follows the work ascribed to Mihr Chand Antoine Louis Henri Polier, a native of Switzerland, worked as a surveyor in the East India Company. By 1758, he became Chief Engineer of the Bengal Army in Calcutta, and Chief Architect for the Kingdom of Oudh under the patronage of Nawab Shuja ud-Daula. During his time in India, Polier studied and collected a number of Persian and Sanskrit manuscripts and miniatures. In 1767 he was gifted three albums commissioned by the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh that served as the inspiration for the artist who produced this celebrated series. Upon his return to Europe, Polier sold the albums to the English collector William Beckford and in turn eleven of these eventually found their way to the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin (Losty, After the Great Mughals, 2002, pp.43 & 46). Muhammad 'Ali contributed numerous pages to the Polier albums and may even have been responsible for the compilation of one of the volumes, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. He has been identified as Mirza Muhammad 'Ali, the son of Mirza Khayrullah Farmanniwis, who lived in Lucknow and was in the service of Wazir 'Ali Khan (1780-1817). For his biography, see Stronge & Moghaddam, 'An Unrecorded Polier Muraqqac (c.1785)', in Adle Nāmeh: Studies in Memory of Chahriyar Adle, 2018, pp.195-228. Provenance: Maggs Bros. Ltd., London, 15 September 1967 Collection of Asbjorn Lunde (1927-2017), New York
PROPERTY FROM THE ASBJORN LUNDE FOUNDATIONA PORTRAIT OF PRINCE DARA SHIKOH FROM A POLIER ALBUMSTYLE OF MIHR CHAND PROVINCIAL MUGHAL, FAIZABAD OR LUCKNOW, 1780 CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED AND DATED, 'MUHAMMAD 'ALI 1195' (1780 CE) Opaque watercolor, silver, gold, and ink on paper; the painting (recto) and calligraphy page (verso) laid on an album page with painted floral borders; recto with inscribed cartouche in the lower border 'Dara Shikoh' and numbered '22'. Image: 8 3/4 x 4 5/8 in. (22.2 x 11.8 cm); Folio: 15 1/2 x 11 in. (39.3 x 28 cm)FootnotesThis grand portrait of Prince Dara Shikoh (1615-59) comes from the studio of Mihr Chand whose enlightened patron, Antoine Louis Henri Polier (1741–95), commissioned multiple albums inspired by the works of past masters of the early Mughal period. Folios from Polier Albums all share distinctively wide borders with bold and somewhat loose floral sprays. Prince Dara Shikoh was the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan and was favored to accede to the throne until he was defeated and killed by his brother Aurangzeb. In emulation of his father, he is depicted holding a sword over his shoulder and a whisk in his hand, common attributes of royal Mughal portraits. Compare with portraits of Shah Jahan in the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. (S1986.405), in Goswamy and Fischer, Wonders of a Golden Age, 1987, no.45, pp.99-100, as well as with an elderly portrait of Shah Jahan from the Manley collection (Sotheby's, London, 14 July 1971, lot 56). The distinctive treatment of the prince's face and the surrounding landscape follows the work ascribed to Mihr Chand Antoine Louis Henri Polier, a native of Switzerland, worked as a surveyor in the East India Company. By 1758, he became Chief Engineer of the Bengal Army in Calcutta, and Chief Architect for the Kingdom of Oudh under the patronage of Nawab Shuja ud-Daula. During his time in India, Polier studied and collected a number of Persian and Sanskrit manuscripts and miniatures. In 1767 he was gifted three albums commissioned by the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh that served as the inspiration for the artist who produced this celebrated series. Upon his return to Europe, Polier sold the albums to the English collector William Beckford and in turn eleven of these eventually found their way to the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin (Losty, After the Great Mughals, 2002, pp.43 & 46). Muhammad 'Ali contributed numerous pages to the Polier albums and may even have been responsible for the compilation of one of the volumes, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. He has been identified as Mirza Muhammad 'Ali, the son of Mirza Khayrullah Farmanniwis, who lived in Lucknow and was in the service of Wazir 'Ali Khan (1780-1817). For his biography, see Stronge & Moghaddam, 'An Unrecorded Polier Muraqqac (c.1785)', in Adle Nāmeh: Studies in Memory of Chahriyar Adle, 2018, pp.195-228. Provenance: Maggs Bros. Ltd., London, 15 September 1967 Collection of Asbjorn Lunde (1927-2017), New York
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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