Hunting scene probably from Warren Hasting's Album, India, D - Lot 188

Hunting scene probably from Warren Hasting's Album, India, Deccan, possibly Golconde, late 17th century Ink, watercolor and gold on paper depicting a hunting scene in a rocky landscape with a background of cutaway buildings. In the foreground, two hunters, one on foot, the other on horseback, attack felines with bow and sword. In the center, three men on foot can be seen behind the rocks, while two riders on prancing horses hunt fowl with falcon and bow. The landscape is animated by abundant game, birds in flight or resting on tree branches, canids in full flight, caprids hidden behind rocks. Mounted on album pages on white card stock speckled with gold, inscribed with the Persian legend, with a blue border decorated with gilded flowers. Framed. Painting size: 20 x 12.2 cm; page size: 39 x 28.6 cm Minor stains and wear, edges of cardboard background damaged. Provenance : Sotheby's sale, London, Phillips Collection, November 26, 1968, lot 406. This type of ink drawing heightened with colored washes, or nim qalam, was very fashionable in India from the mid-17th century onwards, and developed particularly in the Deccan, no doubt under the influence of European engravings arriving from the ports of Goa. The colors, here dominated by green and orange-pink, are reminiscent of the palette of the Persian-born painter Shaykh 'Abbassi, some of whose very Indo-Persian paintings are attributed to Golconde (see Louvre album page OA 7166). Here, the painter's subject, composition and style of figures are inspired by Mughal painting under Akbar, while the golden sky is an echo of Persian painting, a blend of influences that reflects the output of this highly eclectic artistic hotbed in central India. Warren Hastings (1732-1818) was the first British Governor General of Bengal from 1772 to 1785. A great bibliophile and scholar, he assembled a collection of paintings and calligraphy during his stay in India, which he brought back to England on his return. Several pages from his album are known in international public collections. One, for example, is in the Brooklyn Museum (69.48.2), another in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.77.154.3). Sir Thomas Phillips (1792-1872) was a great British bibliophile, member of the Royal Society and collector of over 40,000 manuscripts. Private collection from Paris, lots 166 to 193.