A prince rides out with a hunting party, attributable to Hiranand, Mughal, circa 1605

gouache heightened with gold on paper, laid down on an album page with inner borders flecked with gold and outer margins decorated with leafy gold sprays, mounted on card

Christian Humann, New York (d.1981)
Pan Asian Collection, New York
Sotheby's London, 15 October 1984, lot 69

In good overall condition, some light cracks to upper left edge of painting, as viewed.
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This scene of a prince setting out on a hunt with a group of followers is marked by a lightness of touch, both in the style of painting and in the mood of the scene. The prince and several of his party appear to be smiling and there is a spring in their step as they ride across the landscape; there are charming details in the distance, with boats plying the river and an elephant in a pavilion below the castle walls.

The painting is close in style, palette and format to several of the illustrations to the 1602-05 Akbarnama and the 1604-05 Nafahat al-Uns, both now divided between the Chester Beatty Library and the British Library. Among those are a number by the artist Hiranand, to whom this work is attributable. For two closely comparable examples in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., (inv.52.31 and 52.34), see Beach 1981, pp.56, 114-118, cats.12e-f.

The townscape here, while relating in manner to others of essentially European inspiration in the Akbarnama and other illustrated manuscripts (see, for example, the above-mentioned Akbarnama page by Hiranand inv. 52.31 in the Freer Gallery) is distinctly Indian in architectural inspiration, and bears a passing resemblance to Agra Fort, with the Yamuna river flowing in front.

For other works by or attributed to Hiranand and for further discussion of his career and style see Leach 1995, vol.I, pp.314-5, vol.II, p.1105. Three other works in nim qalam are very close in style and attributable to this artist: Sotheby’s London, 15 July 1970, lot 8; Sotheby’s New York, 25 March 1987, lot 2; Christie's London, 28 June 1973, lot 71, pl.13.