Central Asia, India / Persia, ca. 18th to 19th century CE. A group of six finely painted paintings on paper, created with opaque pigments as well as gold leaf and depicting regal court scenes with decorative borders. The compositions included in this ensemble are: a royal couple beside a flowering tree - the female watering it, the male holding a book and looking askance; a male equestrian figure; a couple outside the palace walls and watering a blossoming tree; an amorous couple engaged in an embrace just outside the palace; a regal figure in blue plucking a fruit from a tree branch; and a finely dressed regal standing amidst flora. Size: 12.25" L x 7.625" W (31.1 cm x 19.4 cm)

Miniature painting emerged in Persian art during the 13th century. Following the Mongol conquests, the genre displayed strong Chinese influence, and the tradition reached its peak during the 15th and 16th centuries. Furthermore, Persian miniature painting influenced other Islamic miniature traditions, including the Ottoman miniature created in Turkey as well as the Mughal miniature of India.

Interestingly, Persian art - although under the influence of Islam - never completely forbade the inclusion of the human figure. Furthermore, the depiction of figures - oftentimes in groups - is a common practice in the miniature tradition. Scholars believe that this was because the miniature was used as a private form of visual culture. These images were kept in a book or an album and only shown to a select audience. For this reason, artists could be more free when creating miniatures than when creating wall paintings which were viewed by a wider audience. The Koran (Qur'an) and other religious texts were not illustrated in this way as a rule; however, other works of literature and histories at times included religious scenes, some with depictions of Muhammed, although those rendered after 1500 usually do not present his face.

Mughal painting refers to a type of miniature painting - either serving as book illustrations or created as single work. The term miniature suggests a tiny scale; however, it actually indicates a style of watercolor work similar to early European book illustrations that used the red pigment minia. Some Indian miniatures are in fact quite large. The Mughal style stems from Persian miniature painting, though with Indian Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist influences, evolving largely throughout the Mughal Empire (16th to 19th centuries), and eventually spreading to other Indian courts - Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh - flourishing during the reigns of Akbar, Shah Jahan, and Jahangir. The tradition continues today with Mughal-style miniature paintings still being created, though only by a relatively small number of artists in Rajasthan.

Provenance: private San Francisco, California, USA collection

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#135774

Some fading and a few minute tears to borders, but the images are very good otherwise. Some wear to margins on verso. Letters/numbers written in pencil on versos of a few.