brush and ink heightened with gouache and gold on paper, the verso with calligraphy in nasta’liq script
Many Mughal paintings and drawings of the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth century were strongly influenced by European engravings brought to India by missionaries and travellers, and in many cases Mughal artists produced direct copies of the European works or versions closely modelled on them (see, for example, lots 3, 6, 10, 19 and 20 in this catalogue). Thus, images of Biblical, Christian and Classical subject matter abound in Mughal art. The present drawing is a fascinating example, since the subject matter and general theme is very Indian - a large group of Yogis and other ascetics around a Lingham Shrine - but close analysis shows that it is nevertheless strongly informed by European engravings and that there are vignettes within it perhaps taken directly from western prints. Most noticeable among these is the group of women at lower right (plus the diminutive male figure in European costume next to them), who are wearing the sort of garments usually seen on Biblical women. Other elements showing European influence are the rather full, fleshy, almost sculptural figural types, the distinctive scroll of paper at centre right, the moustache and forked beard of the figure holding the gold box at lower left, even the headdresses of male figures at the lower right corner and at centre left (carrying the large gold jar) seem rather un-Indian and may be derived from the floppy, almost turban-like headdresses of some Northern Renaissance male figures. Amongst this amalgam may be an element of satire: the rather well-fed and muscular figures are not the normal type associated with yogic or ascetic practice, the ecstatic musicians in the upper section (who might also be modelled on European images) dance in an almost Dionysiac manner, and the huddle of Biblical women sing and clap to the accompaniment of a vina while male attendants, one naked and one absurdly undersized, bring wine. Meanwhile, the scantily-clad group of yogis in the centre converse and gesticulate in animated manner over their books, which seem to be devoid of any writing. Two related drawings, also satirically depicting muscular yogis, are in the Harvard Art Museum and the British Library (see Welch and Mastellar 2004, pp.90-91, no.22; Losty and Roy 2012, p.118, fig.69).
Daulat was a pupil of Basawan and became a favourite painter of the Emperor Jahangir. Self-portraits appear in both the 1595 Khamsa of Nizami and the margins of the Tehran section of the Gulshan Album (Brend 1995, p.64 and Pal et al. 1991, p.88, fig.1), but little more than his appearance and the fact that he was a Muslim is known about him. That his career started in the reign of Akbar is revealed by a page of the Baburnama of circa 1597 (Pal et al. 1991, p.89, col.fig.2). Daulat continued to paint during the reign of the Emperor Shah Jahan, a page of the great Padshahnama being attributed to him and dated circa 1635 (Beach, Koch and Thackston 1997, pp.110-1, no.46, pp.210-1). For further discussions of Daulat see Beach 1978, pp.113-6; Beach, Koch and Thackston 1997, p.215; Das in Pal et al. 1991, pp.87-104; Leach 1995, vol.II, pp.1101-02, Beach in Beach, Fischer and Goswamy 2011, pp.305-320; Verma 1994, pp.126-130.
