A CALLIGRAPHIC ALBUM FOLIO WITH THREE BIRDS

Very good overall condition as viewed. Slight staining to folio border due to age as visible in catalog illustration. Very minor abrasions to green cartouches with birds also visible in catalog illustration. This lot is exhibited in a temporary frame.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

An album page with three birds with small flowers depicted against a verdigris background, each within ruled rectangular compartments amid lines of black ink nasta'liq script.  The use of small birds set within lines of text (rather than placed in the borders) to decorate pages of calligraphy is known from manuscripts and albums dating from the 1580s to the late 1620s made for Akbar, Jahangir and Dara Shikoh. The earliest extant examples are manuscripts of Persian poetry produced for the Emperor Akbar in the 1580s. 

Refer to a Gulistan of Sa’di dated 1582 in the Royal Asiatic Society, London; a Diwan of Hafiz also dated 1582 in the British Library, London and Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; and another Diwan of Hafiz dated 1586-7 in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.  From Jahangir’s reign are several pages in the well-known Gulshan Album.  From early in Shah Jahan’s reign are several pages from an album assembled by his son, Dara Shikoh ca. 1630 that feature his own calligraphy, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession no. IS.37/2-1972).

Refer to  Linda York Leach, Mughal and Other Indian Miniatures from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1995, vol.I, pp.329-30; J. P. Losty, The Arts of the Book in India, London, 1982, no. 58n.; Sotheby’s, London, October 16 1995, Lot 88; and Sotheby’s London, April 13 2000, Lot 19.

With many thanks to Marcus Fraser for his contributions to this entry.