. English: A Deccani courtier who may or may not be the king himself, Source: id=4DV8Y (downloaded Mar. 2005) 'PORTRAIT OF A DECCANI COURTIER, POSSIBLY ADIL SHAH II, ON HORSEBACK, STYLE OF FARRUKH BEG, BIJAPUR, DECCAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1600. Measurements note: panel by by 27cm. DESCRIPTION: pen and gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on stout paper with borders incorporating panels of nasta'liq calligraphy, central panel with a courtier on horseback carrying a hawk on his right hand and riding throug
. English: A Deccani courtier who may or may not be the king himself, Source: id=4DV8Y (downloaded Mar. 2005) 'PORTRAIT OF A DECCANI COURTIER, POSSIBLY ADIL SHAH II, ON HORSEBACK, STYLE OF FARRUKH BEG, BIJAPUR, DECCAN, INDIA, CIRCA 1600. Measurements note: panel by by 27cm. DESCRIPTION: pen and gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on stout paper with borders incorporating panels of nasta'liq calligraphy, central panel with a courtier on horseback carrying a hawk on his right hand and riding through a rocky landscape CATALOGUE NOTE: This impressive portrait is strikingly similar to a portrait from the Leningrad Album hailed by Zebrowski as 'the most poetic Bijapuri portrait to have survived,' depicting the Deccani ruler Ibrahim Adil Shah II () hawking (Zebrowski 1983, , ). The central figure with his outstretched arm, blue gauntlet and snowy eagle, cantering through a rocky landscape on a piebald horse is closely comparable in both subject matter and style to this example. Other features exhibited in the present lot are comparable to the Leningrad album page and suggest that it too is a royal portrait, the facial type with pursed lips, aquiline nose and rounded cheeks distinctly recalls portraits of Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II (see Zebrowski 1983, , and , ). Akbar's contemporary, Sultan Ibrahim II, was an active patron of the arts who encouraged all manner of artists, whether poets, musicians or painters, in their creative endeavours. A contemporary poem by the sultan's poet laureate, Zhuhuri, describes his support of the arts in fulsome terms, 'no thorn in the path of Art ever pierced a man's foot but he picked up gardens of [Ibrahim's] and in nothing was the excellence of Art hidden but his discernment openly fell in love with it.' (Zebrowski 1983, ). This praise is not just the flattery of a court
Size: 2605px × 1919px
Photo credit: © The Picture Art Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., /., 1600., beg, bijapur, circa, deccan, farrukh, india, style
