A ROYAL CAVALCADE OF HUNTERS AND A CHENCHU COUPLE STALKING DEER BY NIGHTTHE PAINTING, MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1691; THE CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED 'IMAD AL-HASSANI, SAFAVID IRAN, CIRCA 1600; THE BORDER SIGNED MUHAMMAD YAZDI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1247/1831-32 ADA ROYAL CAVALCADE OF HUNTERS AND A CHENCHU COUPLE STALKING DEER BY NIGHTTHE PAINTING, MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1691; THE CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED 'IMAD AL-HASSANI, SAFAVID IRAN, CIRCA 1600; THE BORDER SIGNED MUHAMMAD YAZDI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1247/1831-32 ADOpaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, to the left a noble on horseback and his retinue are hawking, to the right two Bhils are hunting deer by torchlight, within gold and white rules on wide margins illuminated in gold with animals and plants; the calligraphy on the reverse composed of three panels, each with 7ll. black nasta'liq in white clouds against a gold and polychrome illuminated ground, one panel signed, within pink and gold illuminated borders, the dark blue margins with gold illuminated flowers and insects, signed and dated in upper marginPainting 9 1/4 x 14 3/4in. (23.5 x 37.5cm.); calligraphy 9 3/4 x 7 1/8in. (24.7 x 18cm.); folio 12 3/4 x 18 3/4in. (32.5 x 47.8cm.)The Album: It is believed that the Indian paintings from the album now known as the St. Petersburg Muraqqa’ were taken to Iran by Nadir Shah following his sack of Delhi in 1739. Whilst there, the folios were given new borders and almost all backed by panels of calligraphy by the master calligrapher Mir ‘Imad, as here. The album was obtained in 1909 by the Russian Aulic Councillor Ostrogradsky from Jews in Tehran who had in turn purchased it from the Royal Library. It was then presented to the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (Francesca von Habsburg et al, The St. Petersburg Muraqqa’, Lugano, 1996, p.20). At that stage the manuscript contained exactly 100 leaves. In 1912 the Metropolitan Museum purchased one leaf which appears to be the earliest provenance on any of the leaves outside Russia. In 1931 six of the best folios were sold to the Freer Gallery. Other folios from the album, mostly split and thus comprising only a painting or a calligraphy, have sold at auction. These include one sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 19; 26 April 2012, lot 319; 25 April 2013, lot 49. A calligraphic folio from the album sold 25 April 2013, lot 49. The Painting: The use of bells and lamp to hunt deer by night was characteristic of some of the forest-dwelling indigenous tribes of India. That the Mughals were intrigued by these aboriginal hunters and their way of life is apparent from the many paintings produced in this genre, which lasted well into the late-18th century. Although they were celebrated for their hunting dexterity in Mughal eyes, it was only during the mid-17th to early 18th century that numerous compositions of a tribal couple hunting blackbuck by night became a popular subject for illustration. The Bhils of central and western India, often dressed in animal skins and the Chenchus of Andhra, distinguished by their leaf skirts and head dress, are the two tribes most frequently represented in Mughal paintings. This evident interest in the hunting methods and way of life of these primitive people is however only sparsely corroborated in early Mughal historical accounts and only a brief echo of it is found in the A’in (A’in, tr. vol, II, p.233). By contrast, references to these adept hunters are frequent in ancient Sanskrit literature (The Mahabharata, vol. 1, tr. and ed. J. A. B. van Buitenen, Chicago, 1973, pp. 270-71), Kannada literary sources from the Vijayanagara period and in 17th century accounts of Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaigns. Their fame as skilled hunters is shown in the sculptural programme of the 14th-16th century relief carvings of the Throne Platform of the Hindu capital city of Vijayanagara in the Deccan, where royal and tribal hunters are depicted together. This juxtaposition of the tribal and royal hunt seen in the relief carvings of the Throne Platform, is similarly expressed in several paintings including the St. Petersburg page. The picture’s foreground is divided into two scenes of a Mughal cavalcade with falconers and a Chenchu couple hunting deer by night. To the right of the rocky divide, a Chenchu huntress carrying a musical instrument made of bells blinds a group of apprehensive blackbuck with her lamp. Her male companion brings down a helpless male buck with a swift arrow. The angled glare of the lamp brings into view a pair of cobras, mongoose and a group of blackbuck. In the background just behind the Chenchu couple is seen an expanse of mountainous ghats covered by dense shrubbery. The Mughal cavalcade with a royal figure mounted on an elephant being led by flaming torches is seen in the meandering valley between the two scenes. On the ghats to the far left is seen a tribal settlement where families congregate outside their conical huts. The group of imperial hunters to the left are led by two mounted noblemen who are conversing with a group of huntsmen with goshawks and noblemen. In the far left-hand corner of the foreground is a squatting man, clearly uninterested in his companions’ conversation.The composition has previously been accepted as a mere juxtaposition of tribal and royal hunting scenes. However, the image is based on a historical encounter between indigenous tribal peoples and Kam Bakhsh’s cavalcade as it marched to Cudappa by way of Karnul. A rare textual echo of this significant meeting is found in the Tarikh-i-Dilkusha (Delightful History) of Bhimsen, a Hindu official serving with the Mughal armies in the Deccan during the second half of the 17th century. Aurangzeb’s Mir Bakhshi, Ruhullah Khan (d. 1692), also accompanied prince Kam Bakhsh on this particular campaign and it is plausible that the mounted rider with a falcon perched on his gloved right-hand to the left is Ruhullah Khan. The resemblance of the nobleman is comparable to a late 18th century portrait in the Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis 373 which corroborates his large form and his distinct profile. In another portrait from the Johnson Album 25. no.7 in the British Library dated to c.1690, the well-defined profile is yet again apparent. The painting closely derives from a painting in the Keir Collection which shows prince Kam Bakhsh’s royal cavalcade of hunters and a Chenchu couple stalking deer by night and is dated 1691. The artist has moved the crouching man to the far left corner in the St. Petersburg page, and decreased the number of figures and hawks in the imperial retinue. On the basis of the dating of the Keir painting which is the earliest depiction of the genre, and the fact that Ruhullah Khan died in 1692, the painting can be dated to c. 1691. In another painting of a similar date and theme, sold through Sotheby’s in 1988, the prince has lost his riding companion and the cavalcade now encircles Kam Bakhsh. The visual divide is subdued and the distant entourage is largely seen to the left. Despite their altered details, these images retain the essential details of the historical encounter that shapes the compositions, unlike other versions in which the narrative is lost. The context of the scene is altered in another late 17th century variation. Kam Bakhsh has been omitted and his unknown youthful companion is shown instead. An inaccurate inscription near the upper margin of the image identifies the prince as Shah Jahan and attributes it to the artist Chand: Sotheby’s 17th July 1978, lot 25, present location unknown. For another picture of the early 18th century in which the young nobleman appears instead of Kam Bakhsh, see Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D. C, 07.210 S.I. 1516. By the mid-18th century the composition was completely reinterpreted by artists and this is seen in another picture now in the Freer Gallery 07.199 S. I. 1505. This interpretation of the tribal hunt communicates the Mughal interest in people whose way of life and hunting traditions were alien to their own and also substantiates the importance of this historical encounter. We would like to thank Adeela Qureshi de Unger for her preparation of this essay.The Calligraphy: The St. Petersburg Muraqqa’ contained calligraphic folios that were the work of only one calligrapher, Mir ‘Imad al-Hassani, whose signature is found on the reverse of this folio. Mir ‘Imad was born around the year AH 961/1553-54 Ad in Qazwin, the capital of Safavid Iran. He moved to Tabriz where he was apprenticed to the master Muhammad Husayn Tabrizi, moving back to the capital on completion of his studies in AH 981/1573-74 AD. He became an itinerant craftsman, as was the custom among his profession, accepting commissions as he moved from one town to the next. Later in life he set out for the Hajj, and remained in the region for several years, working in Aleppo before returning to Iran in AH 1005/1596/97 AD. His great rival as court calligrapher, ‘Ali Reza-i Abbasi, gradually replaced him in the Shah’s favour and, in the increasingly extreme Shi’ite environment of the court of Shah ‘Abbas, he was accused of Sufism and Sunnism. He was murdered in AH 1024/1615-16 AD by an agent of the Shah.The Borders: Three artists are known to have worked on the decoration and composition of the album in the mid-18th century – Muhammad Hadi, Muhammad Baqir and Muhammad Sadiq. Most of the work decorating the album was done by Muhammad Hadi. In his discussion on the compilation and decoration of the album, Anatol Ivanov writes that Hadi only decorated the margins around the calligraphic specimens (von Habsburg, et al., op.cit., Lugano, 1996, p.26). The borders that surround the painting side of our folio are closely related to those that surround the painting side of the related folio in the album. The wonderfully vibrant border on the calligraphy side of our folio is signed Muhammad Yazdi and dated AH 1247/1831-32 AD. The latest folios from the album are dated AH 1172/1756-57 AD, predating ours by some 80 years. The St. Petersburg Muraqqa’ was however never completed and we know that many of the margins and borders were not finished in the 1750s. This might be a later attempt to complete it.细节 A ROYAL CAVALCADE OF HUNTERS AND A CHENCHU COUPLE STALKING DEER BY NIGHTTHE PAINTING, MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1691; THE CALLIGRAPHY SIGNED IMAD AL-HASSANI, SAFAVID IRAN, CIRCA 1600; THE BORDER SIGNED MUHAMMAD YAZDI, QAJAR IRAN, DATED AH 1247/1831-32 ADOpaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, to the left a noble on horseback and his retinue are hawking, to the right two Bhils are hunting deer by torchlight, within gold and white rules on wide margins illuminated in gold with animals and plants; the calligraphy on the reverse composed of three panels, each with 7ll. black nastaliq in white clouds against a gold and polychrome illuminated ground, one panel signed, within pink and gold illuminated borders, the dark blue margins with gold illuminated flowers and insects, signed and dated in upper marginPainting 9 1/4 x 14 3/4in. (23.5 x 37.5cm.); calligraphy 9 3/4 x 7 1/8in. (24.7 x 18cm.); folio 12 3/4 x 18 3/4in. (32.5 x 47.8cm.) 出版 Adeela Qureshi de Unger, The Hunt as Metaphor in Mughal Painting (1556-1707), Artibus Asiae Publishers, Suppl. LV [55], Zurich, 2022, fig. 112 (forthcoming 2022) ---------------------以下为软件翻译，仅供参考---------------------