Katalog

46 Fig. 1 Ca 112 Cover, right Album with forty-six portraits of Persian, Mughal and Deccani kings and noblemen Golconda (Deccan), 1668–1689 Album with 55 fols., 32.2×18.8×1.5 cm, Persian style morocco binding, embossed with gold 46 images on 24 fols., watercolour and gold, borders with framing lines in black ink and gold on sprinkled ground, inscribed on recto in nasta’līq with the name of the sitter, one page with empty frame design, verso of no. 46 empty 32 endpapers and separating pages, inscribed on left endpaper in German: “Dieses Buch ist ganz von hohen werth / d. 23 Dec. 1689.” Two added loose leaves with lists of names, written in ink, one list with a note in English,“By the Hon[ora]ble Edward Gardner. Late one of the Political Resi- dents in Bengal”; corrections in graphite and blue pencil References: Melzer 2010, pp. 292–3; Dresden 2013, p. 111; Dresden 2017, cat. 10, pp. 143–7 Assembled along with other albums of Indian paintings and an incomplete set of play- ing cards, Ca 112 (fig. 1) formed part of the rich collection of Augustus the Strong (r. 1694–1733). 1 The album contains two handwritten lists of the names of the rulers portrayed, one of them along with a note referring to Edward Gardner. 2 The album is mentioned in the 1738 inventory of Johann Heinrich Heucher as “24 Blat [3] derglei­ chen, [4] 17 davon die Blätter, das erste ausgenommen auf beyden Seiten bemahlt, en Marcoquin rouge d’oré. Steckt in einem ledernen Beutel. Folio” 5 (24 folios of the like, which, except for the first are painted on both sides, in morocco rouge d’oré. Placed in a leather bag). The album consists of forty-six portraits, each separated by a sheet of Indian paper: forty standing, four seated, one double, and one group. Reading from right to left, as the book is in its original Islamic binding, the portraits of the rulers are grouped by dynasty, with the first being a portrait of the third Mughal emperor of India, Akbar (r. 1556–1605), and the last a group portrait of the fifth shāh of the Safavid dynasty in Iran, Shāh ‘Abbās I (r. 1588–1629), and Mīrzā Barkhurdār, the ambassador of the Mughal Emperor Jahāngīr (r. 1605–1627). 6 The album represents the rulers of four dynasties—Mughals, Qutb Shāhīs of Golconda, ‘Ādil Shāhīs of Bijapur, and Safa- vids—along with Hindu rājās and other dignitaries and high-ranking personages belonging to these dynastic courts. 7 Executed with great uniformity, these miniatures are mounted on album leaves with a floral border executed in gold against a sprinkled background. In the margins are arabesque designs similar to the kind found on monuments of the time of Shāh Jahān (r. 1628–1658). Painted in watercolour and lavishly decorated with gold, most of the portraits on facing pages seem to be in dialogue, as in the visual representations known as sawāl-u jawāb , or question and answer (figs. 4a and 4b). The exceptions are the portrayals of Safavid men and of Aurangzēb and Murād Bakhsh, two sons of Shāh Jahān, who but look away from each other (Ca 112/41 and 42). In light of the history between these two brothers, who conspired to remove their elder brothers, Dārā and Shujā‘, in the war of succession, and the episode of Aurangzēb convicting Murād of killing a fellow officer and hence executing him in 1661, it is reasonable to assume that the artist or artists made this compositional change deliberately. Paintings occupy the central position on each page accompanied by nasta’līq inscriptions in the glowing tinted backgrounds, which have minimal representations of sky and ground. The stamped binding in dark red leather—probably goat skin—show- cases the impressed decoration of inlaid and gilded medallions (see fig. 1). Although in good condition, the text is extruding from the case due to shrinkage over time. A similar album of forty-eight portraits (fig. 2) 8 is known to have belonged to Count Giovanni Antonio Baldini (1654–1725), as described by Antonio Vallisnieri of Padua in the Giornale dei letterati d’Italia (1722). Vallisnieri catalogued Baldini’s collection (now dispersed) with Baldini’s assistance. 9 This album includes an inscription in Italian on the front page, apparently in Baldini’s hand: “It contains forty-seven portraits [10] in miniature of the princes of Mogol that were collected during a voyage in the year 1690 in Persia and Oriental India by the Dutch painter Mr. Claudio Le Brun. [11] The burgo- master of Amsterdam, Witsen, had said portraits copied, and I saw the copies in his house in 1714”  12 (fig. 3). The collection of Nicolaas Witsen (1641–1717), the burgomaster of Amsterdam and the director of the Dutch East India Company from 1693 onwards, was sold upon his death. It is clear from Baldini’s statement that an album similar to the one in Paris belonged to Witsen, as confirmed by the mention of such a set in the auction catalogue of Witsen’s collection, Amsterdam, March 30, 1728, no. 9: “Een ditto Boek met 46 Mo­ golse Portraiten, zynde heele Stand-beeldjes van de Grooste des Ryks” (A similar book with 46 Mogul portraits of full-length figures of the greatest of the empire). 13 Cat. 1 | Ca 112