An album of eighty-six portraits and studies of emperors, princes, tradesmen, characters and architecture, Mughal and Company School, mid-17th to mid-19th century

gouache and watercolour with gold on paper, all mounted in an album of European paper watermarked 'J. Whatman, Turkey Mill, 1828', original 19^th century green stamped leather covers

Charles William Dyson Perrins (1864-1958)

In good overall condition, spine with tear to bottom with associated repair, pages clean, a few pages with minor spotting, otherwise good, as viewed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

This album contains a wealth of paintings typical of the Company School of the first half of the nineteenth century, as well as a very fine miniature portrait of a Mughal prince, either Dara Shikoh or Shah Jahan, dating from the second quarter or mid-seventeenth century (no.74). Notable among the Company works are portraits of Emperors Jahangir and Aurangzeb, Shuju’ al-Dawla, Nawab of Oudh and Siraj al-Dawla, Nawab of Bengal. Several are in the style of Tilly Kettle.

Among the myriad tradesmen and genre characters are noblemen, courtesans, a messenger, a  farmer, holy men, a milliner, a money-changer, a traveller, a fortune-teller, a water-carrier, an occulist, a seamstress, dancers, palanquin-bearers, cotton-cleaners, a blacksmith, weavers, a saddhu, and a maiden worshipping at a lingam shrine (possibly a depiction of Bhairavi Ragini).

The architectural studies include many of the Taj Mahal, as well as the Mooti Masjid,  Akbar’s Tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, I’timad al-Dawla’s Tomb, the Diwan-i Khass, the Juma’ Masjid, Humayun’s Tomb and Allahabad.

The date of 1828 in the Whatman watermarked paper gives us an indication of the period at which the majority of watercolours in the album were executed. The provenance of this album is also noteworthy. Charles William Dyson Perrins, whose bookplate appears on the inside front cover, was one of the greatest collectors of manuscripts and printed books in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He is chiefly known in the field of Mughal art for the exceptional illustrated manuscript of Nizami’s Khamsa, made for Emperor Akbar in 1595 and bequeathed to the British Museum in 1958 (see Brend 1995). Stuart Cary Welch described Dyson Perrins as follows: “In the early 1900s, C. W. Dyson Perrins, the youthful heir to the Lee and Perrins sauce concern, acquired Indian and Iranian as well as European manuscripts in a brief, passionate fling. These included two superb Mughal manuscripts, a Khamsa of Nizami and a Diwan of Anwari, both illustrated for Emperor Akbar by his most esteemed court painters. When he died at a great age in 1958, the former was bequeathed to the British Museum; and the latter was sold at Sotheby’s, where John Goelet bought it for the Fogg Art Museum [at Harvard].” (Welch in Falk 1985, p.27)