Green Magpie, Illustrated and Illuminated Album Page, With an attribution to 'Ali Quli, Safavid, Persia, With Date A.H. 1159/A.D. 1746

Once in the Royal Collection of the Qajars, with the seal of Mahmud Mirza son of Fath 'Ali Shah dated A.H. 1239/A.D.1823.

This remarkable miniature is a fine example of the tradition of Mughal-inspired work painted by leading Persian artists.  It is unquestionably a Persian study of two Jahangir period Mughal miniatures by royal artists in the Victoria and Albert museum, one in the Clive album and another in the Minto album.   

The interesting question in the case of this miniature is whether it is the work of the celebrated late Safavid artist 'Ali Quli Jabbadar, or an artist of the next generation working in a similar style.

Despite being one of the most highly acclaimed artists of the later Safavid period under Shah Sulaiman, little is known of 'Ali Quli Jabbadar.  His nisbah jabbadar translates as Keeper of the Armour which would suggest that this was his formal employment (Welch 1973, p.148-149), or that he was officially employed as an artist by the head of the armoury (Falk et al 1996, p.36).  Other titbits of information gleaned from scattered signatures and colophons build a rough picture of the artist; the earliest references to 'Ali Quli Beg append the term farangi to his name, suggesting that he was of European heritage.  One single signature includes the epithet 'Arnaut,' the Ottoman term for Albania, and may give a specific reference to his origins.  Whatever his exact origins it is widely believed that 'Ali Quli travelled to Persia in the middle of the seventeenth century, converted to Islam and began working for the state. 

'Ali Quli's work is undeniably more European than that of his contemporaries.  His understanding of modelling, shading and drapery surpasses that of his most famous peers, such as Mohammed Zaman, whilst his skill at placing his figures solidly in the field is weaker.  Interestingly, the 'European' flavour of his works diminishes with time, and his paintings become increasingly decorative even as Persian tastes become more westernised.  The artist is also known to have actively copied Mughal Indian paintings. Indeed, his earliest extant work is a copy of a miniature of Majnun by the famous Mughal artist Govardhan that is signed and dated A.H.1068/A.D.1657-1658, sold through Drouot, June 23 1982. Other examples of 'Ali Quli's Mughal copies can be found in the St.Petersberg Muraqqa, the Mughal album taken as booty by Nadir Shah

Naturalistic paintings of birds and animals taken from life are most closely associated with the rule of the Emperor Jahangir in India, who Henry Beveridge rather whimsically noted "would have been a happier man had he been the head of a museum of natural history" (Prakash Verma (ed.) 1999, p.83).  The greatest artists of the Mughal atelier were set to painting the exotic creatures that fascinated Jahangir, and signed works by such artists as Abu'l Hasan, Govardhan, 'Inayat, Mansur, Murad and Pridarath are extant (see Prakash Verma (ed.) 1999, particularly pp.12-23).  Like the studies of the green magpie in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the present example, these birds and animals are carefully observed and often placed in realistic settings (see Prakash Verma (ed.) 1999 figs 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11&12, pp.12-23) .

The present miniature is dated, to A.H. 1159.  Bearing in mind that 'Ali Quli's earliest known work is dated A.H. 1068, and his latest so far documented work is dated A.H. 1129, this provides a terminus quem for the artist that would make him around 100 years old.  This is fairly unlikely. Even if the artist was in his dotage, the lines of this miniature are the work of a steady hand.

The date certainly presents a puzzle. The facts that the skilled and precise study of a popular Mughal miniature is entirely consistent with 'Ali Quli Jabbadar's ouevre, that it was part of the royal collection in Qajar Iran, that it was included in (and has remained in the same frame since) an exhibition at the Fine Art Society in 1917, all suggest that this is a genuine date and signature. But the date does not quite fit with the artist's likely lifespan, unless he lived to a prodigious age, retaining his artistic skills into his last years.  It is of course possible that this is the work of an artist of the same name from the next generation, a generation that was highly influenced by the Europeanising artists of the Safavid era but no such artist has yet been identified.

This miniature is an intriguing and beautifully executed work with a royal provenance.