A falconer mounted on a dappled horse, Mughal, late 17th or early 18th century

pen, ink, gouache and wash heightened with gold on paper, mounted on card, inscribed above in devanagari script: 'J(a) W(ar) D(a)ST KHA(n)'

Walter C. Lees, London & Paris (1917-2010)
Christie’s, London, 16 July 2010, lot 214

In reasonably good overall condition, central horizontal fold crease, some staining, as viewed.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This delicate equestrian hunting portrait can be attributed to a Mughal artist of the late-seventeenth or early-eighteenth century. It can be compared to other Mughal equestrian portraits of the period, such as two in the British Library (see Losty and Roy 2012, pp.145, 157, 160, figs.93, 99 and 102).

It is noticeable that the way the horse's mane is shown very long and loose is a departure from depictions of earlier Mughal horses. For example, in all the many horses represented in the Padshahnama (Royal Library, Windsor Castle, see Beach and Koch 1997), the horses' manes (if visible) are all shown either banded and tied with jewelled clips or braided with silk ties. It seems that only in the second half of the seventeenth century onwards were the manes shown long and loose. For works that show this characteristic from circa 1650 to 1725 see Rogers 1993, p.100, no.67; Sotheby's, London, 23 May 1986, lot 23; Ehnbom 1985, pp.72-3, no.28; McInerney in Schmitz et al. 2002, p.20; McInerney in Beach, Fisher and Goswamy 2011, p.552, fig.4; Sotheby's, London, 26 April 1995, lot 141.

The use of a thin wash develops over a similar timescale (see, for example, Ehnbom 1985, p.73, no.28, for an example of circa 1660-70), and it is interesting to note that the present work contains certain characteristics that seem to feed through to the eighteenth-century styles of both Kishangarh and the Mughal-influenced Pahari schools.