A cut-leather portrait panel, India, Deccan, probably Bangapalle, 18th century

of square form, a lacquered wood frame enclosing a leather panel on board decorated with a dense ground of chinoiserie cloud bands and interlacing vines and split-palmettes, set with a main oval cartouche depicting a prince with attendant, flanked by 2 rectangular panels resembling book bindings, leather cut into 2 calligraphic cartouches above and below, each corner with a lobed star cut with flowers and birds 

inscriptions

in the calligraphic cartouches: 

'The one who has done good (or thanks to the kindness of), the glorious son of Khaghan, Sultan son of Sultan, and Sultan son of Sultan, Khaghan son of Khagahan, Shah Abbas Safavi, al-Mousavi Bahador Khan.'

The inscriptions refer to Shah 'Abbas II of Persia (r.1644-66), the grandson of Shah 'Abbas the Great.

This highly ornate framed leather panel incorporates an intriguing array of decorative styles familiar to both the Persian and Indian artistic repertoire. At its centre is a portrait of a prince wearing distinctively Deccani clothes including the loosely-folded turban and transparent jama over his darker paijama, which accords to the second half of the seventeenth century (see M. Zebrowski, Deccani Painting, London, 1983, p.204, nos.175 and 176). The two long chains around the figure's necks also have parallels in Deccani painting from the seventeenth century onwards, although they are more frequently depicted as pearls (see for example, ibid, p.231, no.XXII, p.248, no.248 and pp.278-9, nos.259 and 261). This, combined with the distinctly un-Persian hooped earrings and treatment of the eyes might suggest a date of production after the end of the seventeenth century, but in India rather than Persia, despite the calligraphy in praise of Shah 'Abbas II. The eyes have an almost Zand-like quality matched by lock of curls protruding from beneath the prince's turban (See Diba 1999, pp.156-7, no.27), but then this type of frequently-copied Persianate figure was introduced to India to the Deccan at least a century earlier, possibly by Farrukh Beg. 

Another element that hints towards the Deccan is the presence of the two panels either side of the portrait oval, reminiscent of book bindings, with filigree corner pieces. Each bearing inlaid-leather flowers with a bird and butterfly, they can be closely compared to the binding of a Bijapuri manuscript of Zuhuri's Khwan-i Khalili, dated 1080 AH/1669 AD, exhibited in the exhibition Ink and Gold, Islamic Calligraphy, at the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, 14 July-31 August 2006 (published in Fraser and Kwiatkowski 2006, pp.126-7, no.38).

Given that the outer decoration of the panel is also in keeping with an eighteenth century period of production, and also the lacquer decoration of the wood frame, it seems clear that this panel is not merely made up from composite parts but intended as a purely decorative device (possibly even a sampler of a bookbinder's skills), incorporating the major decorative themes of the figural, the calligraphic and the natural. Bangapalle, south of Hyderabad in Kurnool district, is one such place renowned for its lacquer work, both on wood and leather, and seems a likely place of manufacture. Although lacking the Persianate elements of the present work, a portrait panel in leather exists in the Bibliotèque Nationale, Paris, dating to circa 1760 from Kurnool, depicting a maiden and a deer and demonstrating the existence of this kind of artistic tradition in the eighteenth century (see R. Hurel, Miniatures et Peintures Indiennes, vol.I, Paris, 2010, pp.182-3, no.252). Similar work to the present example exists in the form of large partition screens, smaller framed works, and fans with the names of the nawabs written on them. Comparable examples of cut-leather work to the present piece can also be found in the Crafts Museum, New Delhi.

We are indebted to Jagdish Mittal and John Seyller for their insights into the present lot.