A page from the Polier Album: a view of Shalimar Bagh, Srinagar, Lucknow, circa 1780, with calligraphy on reverse signed by Hafiz Nurallah

gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on an album page with inner blue borders filled with gold and silver scrolling flowers, wide outer margins decorated with yellow and white leafy flowers, silver-flecked cartouche with Persian inscription in lower margin, reverse with corresponding margins, enclosing 3 panels of bold nasta'liq calligraphy and a central panel in large thuluth script, ruled with blue borders and 4 panels with red and white flowers

Antoine Louis Henri Polier, India, 2nd half 18th century
Probably gifted from Polier to Lady Jane Coote, wife of Sir Eyre Coote (d.1783)

In very good overall condition, colours vivid and gold bright, as viewed.
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inscriptions

The text beneath the image: ‘Plan of Sharomar (Sic) [Shalimar?] of Kashmir’. On the reverse in the centre: the bismillah followed by: ‘And I put my trust in Him’ in thuluth script. On the top: a Persian phrase. The side panels are Persian verses signed by Hafiz Nurallah and undated (see catalogue note to previous lot).

Shalimar Bagh is a famous Mughal garden in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir state. It is connected to via a channel to Dal Lake on the northeast bank. The gardens were originally built in 1619 by Emperor Jahangir (r.1605-27) for his wife Nur Jahan, and they made their summer residence there for at least thirteen years. Under Shah Jahan (r.1628-58) the gardens were extended, and were frequented by Sikh and Pathan governors under Zafar Khan.

It is possible that the artist of this and the following lot (which depicts the same location) never actually visited in person, as the distant hills in the background resemble more closely the rolling hills of Awadh, where the paintings were no doubt executed, as were other paintings in the Polier Albums, rather than the vast Pir Panjal mountain range, the largest range of the lower Himalayas, which are the real backdrop to Dal Lake and the Shalimar Gardens.