Equestrian portrait of Muhammad Shah from the Impey Album

Object Details

• Calligrapher

  Daswanth

• Court

  Mughal Court

• School/Tradition

  Mughal School

• Description

  Detached folio from a dispersed manuscript; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; recto: Equestrian portrait of Muhammad Shah from the Impey Album; verso: calligraphic panel, central panel contains a quatrain surrounded by marginal calligraphic panels; one of a group of three folios; seal with date; signed by master Daswanth.

  Border: The recto is set in gold and black rulings in a pink frame, mounted on a cream-colored paperboard. The verso is set in gold and black rulings in a green inner frame surrounded by two calligraphic panels with illuminated corner pieces and side rectangles and an outer frame of turquoise floral scroll with a pink border, mounted on a cream-colored paperboard.

• Marks

  Stamps: blue-edge Oct, No431 x'ed; Petit.

• Inscriptions

  Verso, margin, Amal-i ustad Daswanth.

  Verso, margin, Amal-i ustad Daswanth.

• Provenance

  From at least 1932

  Albert Besnard, from at least 1932 [1]

  To 1942

  Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France, to 1942 [2]

  From 1942 to 1986

  Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France [3]

  From 1986

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 7: Chart of Recent Provenance" in An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection, Glenn D. Lowry et al (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 411.

  [2] See Glenn D. Lowry et al., An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 297, no. 346.

  [3] See the Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection of January 9, 1986, Collections Management Office.

  [4] See note 3.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  Variations on a Script: Islamic Calligraphy from the Vever Collection (February 18 to September 16, 1990)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Albert Besnard

  Henri Vever (1854-1942)

  Francois Mautin (1907-2003)

• Origin

  Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state, Avadh (Oudh), India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1720s, 1740s

• Name

  Mautin, Francois Albert, Besnard, Albert, Vever, Henri

• Place

  Lucknow, Avadh, Uttar Pradesh state, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Henri Vever collection, Kings, queens, rulers, etc., Mughal dynasty (1526 - 1858), Portraits, Falconry, Halo

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Manuscripts