A BIJAPURI PRINCE OR SCHOLAR, POSSIBLY SULTAN IBRAHIM ADIL SHAH II, DECCAN, BIJAPUR, FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY

The facial features of the figure depicted here bear a resemblance to those of Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur (r.1594-1627), and the book he is holding may symbolise this ruler's patronage of the arts and bibliophilic interests. He employed a large number of talented artists, poets and calligraphers, and his library was legendary among contemporary rulers. Indeed, at least two thousand manuscripts and illustrations were sent to the Mughal court as tribute in 1601.

The exquisite marbled album borders in which the miniature and the calligraphy are set are distinctive and resemble several folios in the well-known Read Albums in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York (see Schmitz 1997, pl.42, figs.182, 236, 237). Another closely related album page, also bearing a Deccani miniature and nasta'liq calligraphy on the reverse, is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.90.141.3, see Pal 1993, no.96, pp.320-2) and is almost certainly from the same album as the present work. Whether both are dispersed leaves from the Read Albums is debatable. Their size is very slightly smaller than the relevant folios in the Pierpont Morgan Library, but this could of course be accounted for by later trimming, and the borders of the Los Angeles example are damaged and fragmentary. Two further related album pages were sold in our New York rooms, 21 March 2012, lot 226, and in the Doris Wiener Collection, Christie's, New York, 20 March 2012, lot 234. For an essay on the technique of marbling in the Deccan see Benson 2015.