AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A LATE MUGHAL HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPT PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION Delhi School, Northern India, first half 19th century Opaque pigments, black ink and gold on paper, the vertical composition once part of a now dispersed historical manuscript illustrating a Mughal prince fending from an elephant charging against him, the prince portrayed in the act of cutting off the elephant's trunk, a crowd of attendants on foot and soldiers on horseback rushing to the scene, in the upper left corner a haloed Mughal ruler on horseback in conversation with two soldiers, opposite them a military encampment, the scene framed within four lines of black and red ink nasta'liq script set in golden clouds, the borders with typical golden and polychrome manuscript illumination, at the top in red ink a note reading 'The cutting of the elephant's trunk by the hand of Muhammad Azam Shah' indicating the main character in the scene as Muhammad Azam Shah (1653 - 1707), the son of Aurangzeb and seventh Mughal Emperor (r. March 1707 - June 1707), the recto with further nasta'liq text divided in a large rectangular cartouche at the top (6ll.) and four narrow vertical bands (each with 9ll.), 38.3cm x 21cm. The text accompanying this illustration is an extract from a known historical manuscript, the Tarikh-i Firishta, a general history of India prior to the time of the Muslim conquest up until the early 17th century, written around 1612 by the Persian historian Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, better known as Firishta. The book is also known as Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi because it was dedicated to Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur (1570 - 1627), and several chapters are specifically dedicated to the Deccan states, where Firishta served as court historian. Although most of Firishta's work was based on previously written historical manuscripts, particularly Nizamuddin Ahmad Bakhshi's Tabaqat-i-Akbari (1592 - 1593) and Bada'uni's Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (1590 - 1595), the book still owns its merit, being credited as an independent and reliable source on the topics of contemporary north Indian politics, especially in the Jahangiri times, and of the history of the Sultanate of Bengal, of which no contemporary historical account in Bengali was written. Several portions of Firishta's general history manuscript have been translated into English, one of the most complete and well-known versions published by General J. Briggs under the title of The History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (London, 1829, 4 vols. 8vo). For further reference, please read the entry of Tarikh-i Firishta in https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Tarikh-i-Firishtah (last accessed 18/03/2022).
AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A LATE MUGHAL HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPT PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION Delhi School, Northern India, first half 19th century Opaque pigments, black ink and gold on paper, the vertical composition once part of a now dispersed historical manuscript illustrating a Mughal prince fending from an elephant charging against him, the prince portrayed in the act of cutting off the elephant's trunk, a crowd of attendants on foot and soldiers on horseback rushing to the scene, in the upper left corner a haloed Mughal ruler on horseback in conversation with two soldiers, opposite them a military encampment, the scene framed within four lines of black and red ink nasta'liq script set in golden clouds, the borders with typical golden and polychrome manuscript illumination, at the top in red ink a note reading 'The cutting of the elephant's trunk by the hand of Muhammad Azam Shah' indicating the main character in the scene as Muhammad Azam Shah (1653 - 1707), the son of Aurangzeb and seventh Mughal Emperor (r. March 1707 - June 1707), the recto with further nasta'liq text divided in a large rectangular cartouche at the top (6ll.) and four narrow vertical bands (each with 9ll.), 38.3cm x 21cm. The text accompanying this illustration is an extract from a known historical manuscript, the Tarikh-i Firishta, a general history of India prior to the time of the Muslim conquest up until the early 17th century, written around 1612 by the Persian historian Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, better known as Firishta. The book is also known as Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi because it was dedicated to Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur (1570 - 1627), and several chapters are specifically dedicated to the Deccan states, where Firishta served as court historian. Although most of Firishta's work was based on previously written historical manuscripts, particularly Nizamuddin Ahmad Bakhshi's Tabaqat-i-Akbari (1592 - 1593) and Bada'uni's Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (1590 - 1595), the book still owns its merit, being credited as an independent and reliable source on the topics of contemporary north Indian politics, especially in the Jahangiri times, and of the history of the Sultanate of Bengal, of which no contemporary historical account in Bengali was written. Several portions of Firishta's general history manuscript have been translated into English, one of the most complete and well-known versions published by General J. Briggs under the title of The History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (London, 1829, 4 vols. 8vo). For further reference, please read the entry of Tarikh-i Firishta in https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Tarikh-i-Firishtah (last accessed 18/03/2022).
.jpg?w=400 "Source: Christie's")
.jpg?w=400 "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
