
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
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Sold for US$10,075 inc. premium
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International Director

Head of Sale, Specialist
Below the boughs of a gnarled tree, Layla cradles Majnun—her ashen, apolline lover—surrounded by birds and beasts that have grown akin to him fading away in the wilderness. A grey langur tugs at her light gauze. The tree is brimming with pairs of palm squirrels, golden orioles, scops owls, and cuckoos. But for the dromedaries that Layla and her guard have ridden to find Majnun, the remaining fauna consists of native and introduced species to India while the tale itself is an ancient Arab one that was popular in India in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The face and heavy shading around the flat, narrow eye of Layla is characteristic of Ghulam Reza and his followers in Lucknow at the end of the 18th century (Archer, Indian Miniatures, London, 1981, p.457, no.350v), and the technique of stippling the leaves of the tree in the foreground compares favorably with a ragamala page in the British Library (Markel & Gude, Lucknow, Los Angeles, 2010, p.183, no.140).
Provenance
Ex-Collection Jane Davis Doggett, Florida