Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd.
A Hen Pheasant
Mughal India, circa 1660
Opaque pigment with gold on paper, a faded Persian inscription in the foreground commencing ‘amal’i, laid down in a cropped album page with gold arcs of foliage on a rust ground, with goldsplashed margins ruled in gold and black 4²⁄3 by 3⁴⁄5 in.; 11.8 by 9.7 cm. painting 12²⁄3 by 8 in.;32.1 by 20.6 cm. folio
This splendid bird stands on a plain ground, the upper body with touches of orange contrasting with speckled feathers covering the wings and lower body. The tragopan has long been considered a rare species in India and was one of the birds painted by one of the greatest of all Indian artists, Mansur.
We are grateful to the ornithologist Katrina von Grouw for the following note on the tragopan.
This is the darkest of the five tragopan species, with orange only on the head, nape and upper breast, but it is arguably the most strikingly handsome. The orange is intense, and the white spots against the dark background of the body and wings stand out, creating a strong visual effect in this fine portrait.
The bare skin of the throat, too, is brightly coloured, though only when unfurled and inflated with air during courtship displays. It transforms into a decorative pendulous ‘bib’ with a vertical stripe of deep indigo in the centre, on a serrated leaf shape of pale blue, set off against a background of vivid pink. This is when the bird’s ‘horns’ are revealed, two erect finger-like spikes of pale blue skin on top of the head, reminiscent of the Greek god Pan. It is allegedly these which have given the tragopans their name by adding the prefix: tragos meaning ‘goat’ in Greek to the word Pan.
Tragopans belong to the phasianidae – the pheasant family – but are more closely related to the partridges, monals, and grouse than they are to true pheasants. However, they are unusual for nesting high in trees and not on the ground. Western Tragopans are birds of the temperate forests of the western Himalayan foothills and are known from only a few scattered localities in India and Pakistan. They are the rarest of the tragopans and one of the rarest pheasants in the world, with a global population estimated at fewer than five thousand. They rely on undisturbed areas with dense understorey on forested mountain slopes and are, consequently, very difficult to observe in the wild. Dedicated conservation efforts are attempting to halt the decline of these enigmatic birds.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES
The male tragopan appears with the dodo in a painting, circa 1625, in the Institute for Eastern Studies, Saint Petersburg. Lady Impey also commissioned Shaykh Zayn al-Din to paint the satyr tragopan in 1777, see Falk & Hayter, and another, by Ram Das, from the collection of Anthony Hobson, was sold at Christie’s, 10 June 2015, lot 61.
A third painting from the Impey album, of a male satyr tragopan, also by Ram Das, was sold at Christie’s, London, 10 June 2015, lot 51. An early seventeenth century Mughal painting of two pheasants, one of which is in fact a tragopan, is in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., see: https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/ edanmdm:fsg_S1986.411/
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Maharana Ari Singh II in procession at the Dassehra Festival
Mewar, Rajasthan, dated 1761
Opaque watercolour on paper, black rules with red border
23 1/4 by 18 3/8 in., 59 by 47 cm painting
25 1/5 by 19 2/3 in.; 63.8 by 50 cm folio
In a fine and extraordinarily ambitious work, the master artist Jiva has created a tripartite painting to depict, simultaneously, three separate ceremonial events in the life of Ari Singh II. Known for his skill in creating highly imaginative visual solutions to, for example, such quotidian subjects as a tiger-hunt, the bird’s eye view he takes in “Maharana Jagat Singh II shooting tiger by the lake”, dated 1749, in the San Diego Museum of Art, (Topsfield (2002), p.192, no.172), is indeed novel and creates a mesmerising effect. Here too the profusion of figures, animals and activities created to convey the narrative is visually arresting.
The lower half of the painting observes the conventions of the Mewar processional style: the Rana riding predominant with his retinues, standard-bearers proceeding in front of him. The redtented enclosure at upper right depicts the ceremonial worship of the khejari tree (seen just beyond the enclosure) by the Rana, who is seated with his chief nobles, known as the Khejari Puja. The tree, prosopis cineraria, is culturally important in Rajasthan. On the left, in the Chaugan (the former royal polo ground), diminutive multitudes surround elephant fights while others sacrifice buffalo as part of the Dassehra festivities.
Topsfield (2002, p.200, no.181) writes of this painting: “A dramatically crowded, composite subject by the long established artist Jiva in 1761 shows Ari Singh parading in procession, while the annual Dassehra celebrations at the Chaugan and the Khejari Puja are compressed into the crowded background.”
THE SUBJECT
Maharana Ari Singh (r.1761-73) ascended the Mewar throne upon the death of his nephew, Raj Singh (r.1754-61). He was not a popular ruler, alienating the sardars and earning a reputation for oppressiveness. However, painting flourished during his reign though mainly prior to 1767 when political disruption eventually led to his assassination, by a Bundi prince, while out hunting.
THE ARTIST JIVA
One of the most accomplished eighteenth century artists at the Mewar court, he painted many large-scale works, often evocative hunting scenes or complex compositions celebrating weddings or festivals. His handling of light and space and treatment of landscape is remarkable. Jiva’s work dates to as early as 1749 under Jagat Singh II (r.1734-51) and continued during the brief reigns of Raj Singh II (r.1754-61) and then Ari Singh II (r.1761-73).
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES
For other works by Jiva, see:
(i) Maharana Jagat Singh hunting tiger, by Jiva, 1749 San Diego Museum of Art, Binney Collection, California, see Diamond & Khera, pp.58-9, no.6
(ii) Maharana Jagat Singh in a palace garden, circa 1750, by Jiva and Jugarsi. Formerly in the collection of Sir Howard Hodgkin, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see Topsfield, 2012, p.236, no.101
(iii) Maharana Ari Singh shooting a tiger, attributed to Jiva, 176162, formerly in the collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, see Losty, p.28,no.13
(iv) Maharana Ari Singh bear-hunting, by Jiva, 1763, formerly in the Ehrenfeld Collection, sold Christie’s, New York, 23 March 2023, lot 412
(v) Maharana Ari Singh of Mewar Hunting, by Jiva, 1764: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va.: https://www.vmfa. museum/artworks/maharana-ari-singh-of-mewar-huntingbeneath-the-kumbhalgarh-fort-75262
(vi) Maharana Ari Singh II enjoying Jagmandir, attributed to Jiva and others, circa 1767: City Palace Museum, Udaipur, see Diamond & Khera, pp.108, 114-119
(vii) A portrait of Ari Singh and Rupaji riding elephants, by Jiva, 1767: Felton Bequest at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, see Topsfield 1980, p.125, no.180
(viii) A portrait of Ari Singh with his consort, circa 1761, formerly in the Benkaim Collection, now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.147
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Portrait of Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627)
Mughal India, circa 1605-10
Opaque pigments with gold on paper
6 by 3 1/3 in.; 15.5 by 8.5 cm
The portrait is immediately recognisable as the young Jahangir and, as it lacks a halo, must have been intended to depict him when he was still Prince Salim, prior to his ascent of the gaddi in 1605. He was thirty-six years of age when he became emperor and the treatment of the face certainly suggests a man no older than this and possibly rather younger.
As he gazes intensely into the distance, his face bears the drooping moustache, double-curl sideburn, quizzical eyebrow and half beard common to the early portraits of the emperor. He stands in a terracotta landscape of hills lightly painted with f lowers and, behind him, clumps of grass, with whisps of cloud and a retreating flock of birds in the evening sky beyond. In the foreground foliage of silver paint has oxidised. He wears fine muslin jama tied under his right arm with five lappets over a pair of orange paijama. His right hand is held forward in a welcoming gesture, his left holds the basket hilt of a straight sword, the guard with horse-head finial. His shoes, floral patka and brocade turban are embellished in gold, the former with a dagger tucked into it, the latter with plume and two pendant cords. He wears three necklaces, two of pearl and gems, the third bearing a pendant, as well as pearl bracelets, finger-rings and earrings.
SUBJECT
The reign of Jahangir (r.1605-27), the fourth Mughal emperor, was marked by consolidation of his empire and some of the greatest achievements in art and architecture. Like his father Akbar, he was a connoisseur with a strong intellectual curiosity, and this inspired the creation of superb palaces, mosques and tombs. At court he patronised some of the greatest painters, such as Mansur whose superb portraits of birds, animals and flowers remain unequalled. He also commissioned numerous portraits of himself by masters such as Bichitir and Govardhan.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES
Other early standing portraits of Jahangir:
(i) Emperor Jahangir, attributed to Manohar, circa 1600-10, Brooklyn Museum of Art: Already with the familiar facial physiognomy of his middle years, though without a halo, see Poster, pp.81-83. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/ objects/115594
(ii) Sultan Salim with bow and arrow, probably from the Salim Album, circa 1603, Freer-Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C.: Here, nimbate and wearing a flat orange turban, drooping moustache and single-curl sideburn, he has already taken on the familiar physiognomy and gravitas that mark portraits throughout his reign, see Beach, p.102-3, no.19b.
(iii) Emperor Jahangir, circa 1610, Victoria & Albert Museum, London: Almost a mirror image of this portrait, his right hand held forward, his left holding an elaborate sword. Both portraits have the distinctive half beard and double curl on https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O433966/the-emperorjahangir-painting/
(iv) Two further portraits, circa 1611, from a Divan of Hafiz in the British Library, London: Jahangir playing polo and out hawking, see Losty & Roy, pp.106-7, figs.58 & 59.
(v) Akbar presenting a falcon to Prince Salim, 1600-25; portrait of Safi Khan, dated 1618-19, Goenka Collection, Mumbai In the first, Salim is shown in an Akbari style image; the second has many features in common with our portrait. See Goswamy & Bhatia, pp.53 & 61, nos.40 & 48.
(vi) Jahangir as a young man, circa 1620, British Library, London Here he appears fresh-faced, beardless and with the double curl sideburn, though without a nimbus, see Losty no.40.
INSCRIPTIONS
shabih-i jahangir badshah
‘Likeness of Emperor Jahangir’
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Two infant princes squabbling over a pet cat
Mughal India, circa 1650
Opaque pigments with gold on paper, with white, black and gold rules and a rectangular inset of floral paper above and below, the uppermost with Persian inscription in black ink; laid down in a reduced album page with gilt foliage on a buff ground, verso lined, with a split Kalebdjian label 7¹⁄3 by 5¹⁄5 in.; 18.7 by 13.2 cm. painting 11 by 6²⁄3 in.; 28 by 16.8 cm. folio
The unique subject of this painting, which passed through the Paris collections of Pozzi and more recently the artist Le Tan, continues to fascinate. In a beautifully rendered landscape, with hills, mountains and a distant village below an evening sky, two Others include: (ii) Portrait of Shah Shuja (1616-61), attributed to Manohar, circa 1620, in the Art and History Collection, on loan to the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C. Second son of Shah Jahan and much beloved of Jahangir, his grandfather, the boy wears a similar gold chain of protective amulets, see Robinson & Falk, p.212, no.111. (iii) Mughal drawing of a baby prince, circa 1670, in the British Library, London, (Falk & Archer, p.120 & 425, no.189,xlix) also wears this type of amulet chain, similarly strung from the left shoulder across the body. (iv) Mughal portrait of a child prince, 1600-25, in a private infant boys vie for the attentions of a Persian long-haired piebald cat. Their guardian, perhaps a Sufi, a white-bearded elderly man in a grey robe and white turban sitting at the door of a woven grass hut, tries in vain to distract them with a red rattle held in his left hand. In the foreground are a startlingly white nilgai ewe and her young calf.
The two boys, possibly brothers or twins, seem to be in a tussle over the cat. The shaven-headed figure on the left, wearing a skullcap, grasps the cat by tail and hind leg with some determination. The stout frizzy-haired boy on the right avoids his gaze and stares out at us, calmly stroking the cat and fondling it under the chin – it is plainly his cat. Each of the infants is dressed in a fine diaphanous white muslin tunic, the boy on the left wearing gold drop-earrings, bracelets, anklets and a hexagonal pendant. The boy on the right wears large pearl-drop earrings, bracelets and a cord girdle across his body strung with square and hexagonal gold talisman boxes, paired tiger-claws and a tawiz pendant.
The painting of children, other than those young princes included in formal gatherings or darbars, is rare in Mughal painting, an exception being those of the Virgin and Child. This painting, in depicting an informal scene of two infant boys squabbling over a pet cat, is most unusual. They are plainly high-born children, betrayed by their well-fed appearance, their gold jewellery, the f inest muslin jamas and the fact that they are being painted in the f irst place. However, their identity remains a matter of speculation.
CHILD PORTRAITS IN MUGHAL ART
(i) One of the most famous Mughal images of a child is the portrait of Shah Jahan enthroned with the five year-old Prince Dara Shikoh, by Nanha, circa 1620, in the Kevorkian Album at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see Welch et al, pp.194-5, no.55. collection, see Pal, p.133, no.M.16.
Others include:
(ii) Portrait of Shah Shuja (1616-61), attributed to Manohar, circa 1620, in the Art and History Collection, on loan to the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C. Second son of Shah Jahan and much beloved of Jahangir, his grandfather, the boy wears a similar gold chain of protective amulets, see Robinson & Falk, p.212, no.111.
(iii) Mughal drawing of a baby prince, circa 1670, in the British Library, London, (Falk & Archer, p.120 & 425, no.189,xlix) also wears this type of amulet chain, similarly strung from the left shoulder across the body.
(iv) Mughal portrait of a child prince, 1600-25, in a private collection, see Pal, p.133, no.M.16.
(v) A rare portrait of Akbar with his two young sons, circa 1575, was sold at Rosebery’s, London, 14 June 2022, lot 159.
INSCRIPTIONS
Upper right margin with a fragment of Persian verse of a mystical philosophical nature, perhaps a catchword on the margin of a manuscript that has been incorporated into the border sifatash ra zi suratast niqab
‘The description of Him has a veil by way of form’
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AN IMPORTANT EARLY WORK BY MIRZA BABA
Early Qajar portrait of a courtesan
Signed Mirza Baba (fl.1789-1810)
Probably Astarabad
Persia, dated A.H.1208 / 1793-94 A.D.
Oil on canvas, signed at lower left in nasta’liq
32 ¼ by 30 ¾ in.; 82 by 78 cm
The Qajars were an aristocratic family that emerged in the sixteenth century as head of the Turkoman Qajar tribe of the Qizilbash confederacy. Mohammad Khan Qajar (r.1789-97) brought about the unification of Persia and became the founding prince of the dynasty, which ruled from 1789-1925.
The portrait depicts a young and beautiful courtesan, seated on a banquette in a palace interior with a window and a tasselled bolster behind her. She is wearing heavily-embroidered floral trousers, a short pleated skirt around the waist and a diaphanous jacket of fine muslin, a striped shawl flung over her right shoulder. Her rouged face confronts the viewer and “reflect(s) the late Zand/early Qajar ideal of beauty” (Diba & Ekhtiar, p.207), with dark eyes, rosebud mouth, heavy eye-brows and henna’d navel. She wears pearl and gem earrings, a striped scarf tied in her dark hair, a rose at her neck. In her henna’d hands she holds a glass of wine and a flask, a porcelain bowl of greengages and cherries to her right, a swagged green curtain behind her to the left. The back of the banquette has a woven geometric design. Many Qajar portraits and still lifes have the pointed shape of this canvas, a form familiar from Safavid and Qajar architecture, see Fellinger & Guillaume, pp. 34, 54 & 368-9 and Guadalupi, pp.57, 61, 65 & 69. Such paintings were made to decorate interiors where they were set into the walls in specially designed niches.
THE ARTIST
The two most outstanding portrait painters of the Qajar period are Mirza Baba (fl.1789-1810), who was active in the early years of the dynasty, and Mihr ‘Ali, who was active later in the reign of Fath ‘Ali Shah. Mirza Baba appears to have been trained by the master painter of the Zand period (1751-89), Muhammad Sadiq (Shiraz, fl.174090), before being adopted by the new Qajar court. Falk, pp.25-32, cites various early works and points to his skill in treating fruit, omnipresent in Qajar painting, in a realistic textured manner, something that can be observed in the present portrait. Under Fath ‘Ali Shah (r.1797-1834) Mirza Baba flourished and was made naqqash-bashi, or chief painter to the court, producing one of the most magnificent and unsettling portraits of the young Shah, dated 1799, only one year after his accession, in the India Office Collections at the British Library, London (Falk, pp.32-3, no.12). A later work attributed to him, Two Harem Girls, circa 1811-14, in the Royal Asiatic Society, London, relates to this portrait in terms of subject. However, at this point his style has developed into the brighter more emphatic palette of the middle of the reign and it lacks the subtle appeal of the present portrait.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES
The work that best compares to this is Mirza Baba’s A Tipsy Lady, dated A.H.1215 / 1800-01 A.D., formerly in the Aryeh Collection, New York, see Diba & Ekhtiar, p.159, no.28. In this portrait, painted six or seven years after ours, the subject is also a court lady, seated in a similarly luxurious setting, holding a glass of wine and an apple.
INSCRIPTIONS
raqam-i kamtarin mirza baba sana 1208
“Work of the most humble Mirza Baba, year [A.H.] 1208” [1793-94 A.D.]
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RECENT ASIA WEEK NEW YORK EXHIBITION
Luminaries, Myth and Fantasy in Indian and Persian Painting
March 19 – 27, 2026
Exhibiting at: 67 East 80 Street, Suite 2
Opening Reception: Thursday March 19, 5-8pm
Asia Week Hours: Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm; Weekend, 11am-5pm; Friday 27 closing 1pm (otherwise by appointment)
Prepare to be captivated by over 40 stunning court paintings from India and Persia, spanning the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The exhibition features an important group of large-scale Mewar paintings and a remarkable early Qajar oil painting from the eighteenth century, offering a rare glimpse into the grandeur, artistry, and rich cultural heritage of these royal courts.
In conjunction with our Asia Week exhibition of Indian and Persian Painting, we are pleased to present an exhibition of Persian Pottery from the collection of the Rabenou Family, which will be on view at the gallery in New York.
We look forward to welcoming you soon!
To learn more and view our online catalogues, click here.
PAST EXHIBITION
A Voyage to the South Seas
Artefacts from Melanesia & Polynesia
December 1 – 5, 2025
View our fine collection of artefacts from Melanesia and Polynesia in our online catalogue today!
Our Collection
We are pleased to present our collection of fine works from the Indian subcontinent, the Himalayas and South-East Asia, covering pieces from the Buddhist and Hindu dynasties to the Mughals, with a special emphasis on Indian and Islamic miniature painting and manuscripts.
To view these pieces and more in our online catalogs, click here.
About the Gallery
We are a London and New York based firm of independent art dealers, founded in 1998.
The principals are Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, former directors of the Antiquities and Islamic and Indian Art departments at Sotheby’s, London. Our professional expertise encompasses Near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Islamic art. We also specialize in the art of the Indian subcontinent, the Himalayas and South-East Asia, covering works from the Buddhist and Hindu dynasties to the Mughals, with a special emphasis on Indian and Islamic miniature painting and manuscripts.
Working with collectors, museums and galleries around the world, we act as agents for both vendors and purchasers, and advise on the best method of selling works of art, whether by private sale or at auction. Our many years’ experience of the acquisition process, and longstanding relationships with curators and collectors, helps us to ensure every transaction runs efficiently.
