A carnation, attributed to Haider 'Ali and Ibrahim Khan, Deccan, Bijapur, circa 1625-50

gouache against a pricked gold background on paper, ruled in black

Probably Shuja' al-Daula, Nawab of Oudh, Lucknow (1731-75, r.1754-75)
Either John Dent (Captain, Bengal Infantry, 1782-92) or his brother William Dent (in Bengal, 1776-96)
Sir Robert Annesley Wilkinson Dent, C.B. (1895-1983)
Sotheby's, London, 11 April 1972 (the Dent Collection), lot 106

Paintings from the Muslim Courts of India, British Museum, London, 1976
In the Image of Man, Hayward Gallery, London, 1982

London 1976, p.91, no.177
London 1982-I, p.107, no.49.
Zebrowski 1983, p.133, no.101

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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The popularity of flower studies in early-seventeenth-century Indian art is mostly associated with the Mughal school, where Jahangir's well-documented interest in flowers gave an added impetus to a group of artists and patrons already interested both in natural history and naturalism in painting. This royal interest in floral studies coincided with the arrival in India of European images of flowers in the form of engravings, florilegia and perhaps official documents with floral borders (for the latter, see Brend in Crill, Stronge and Topsfield 2004, pp.138-140). Many Mughal examples of flower studies survive, but Deccani examples are rarer - the present work exhibits an almost mesmerising quality that is closer to the distinctive Deccani aesthetic than the Mughal counterpart. This intensity is conveyed not only through the exquisitely detailed painting of the red flowers themselves, but also through the shimmering gold background that has been pricked all over with tiny clusters of four dots, giving the surface an enhanced texture.

The study has been attributed to Haidar Ali and Ibrahim Khan, two artists working at the court of Sultan Muhammad Adil Shah of Bijapur (r.1627-56) (see Zebrowski 1983, p.133, no.101). Another work by Haidar 'Ali and Ibrahim Khan (see Zebrowski 1983, pp.132-3, no.100) has similar pricked goldwork on the sultan’s gold robe as on the background here. This technique of goldwork indented with a stylus occurs on other Bijapur paintings of the earlier-seventeenth century (see, for example, Leach 1995, vol.II, pp.912-5, no.9.641, Haidar and Sardar 2015, p.94, cat.27, p.116, cat.41, p.123, cat.46 upper part of canopy). Ibrahim Khan's name appears again together with that of a different artist on a portrait now in the Collection Frits Lugt, Paris (Gahlin 1991, p.43, no.41, col.pl.40; see also Zebrowski, ibid., pp.149-150, no.118); in both cases, he is placed as the second name in the inscription and it is possible that he was responsible for the ornamental features in all three miniatures. Similar floral designs can be seen on the textiles of royal clothing in several Deccani works of the period (see Haidar and Sardar 2015, p.131, ca.53, p.139, cat.59, p.140, cat.60). For closely related but slightly later and more simply painted examples from the north-west Deccani city of Aurangabad see Haidar and Sardar 2015, pp.292-3, cat.169.

This painting was formerly in the Dent Collection, which comprised an exceptional group of approximately 150 paintings and drawings of Persian, Mughal and Deccani origin (including the well-known portrait of Shah Abu'l Ma'ali now in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (formerly in the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection). It was assembled in Bengal in the late-eighteenth century, probably by either John Dent, who was in India as a lieutenant in the Bengal Infantry from 1782 to 1792, or by his brother William, who was in India from 1776 to 1796 at Patna, Buxar amd Tamluk. A large number of works in the collection had inscriptions indicating that they had formerly been in the collections of Shuja' al-Daula, Nawab of Oudh (1731-75). The collection was sold at auction in these rooms, 11 April 1972.