Dora Tan
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Property from the Collection of F. S. Aijazuddin
Lot 1232
A PORTRAIT OF A LADY HOLDING A WINE FLASK ATTRIBUTED TO MUHAMMAD REZA-I-HINDI, PROVINCIAL MUGHAL, CIRCA 1760
17 – 24 September 2021, 12:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$15,300 inc. premium
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A PORTRAIT OF A LADY HOLDING A WINE FLASK
ATTRIBUTED TO MUHAMMAD REZA-I-HINDI, PROVINCIAL MUGHAL, CIRCA 1760
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper; with a salmon-pink border and gold rules, mounted on a buff album page; recto with a page of calligraphy ornamented with gold and set within a maroon and gold border.
Image: 5 5/8 x 3 1/2 in. (14.2 x 9 cm);
Folio: 10 1/8 x 8 1/8 in. (25.7 x 20.5 cm)
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper; with a salmon-pink border and gold rules, mounted on a buff album page; recto with a page of calligraphy ornamented with gold and set within a maroon and gold border.
Image: 5 5/8 x 3 1/2 in. (14.2 x 9 cm);
Folio: 10 1/8 x 8 1/8 in. (25.7 x 20.5 cm)
Footnotes
Judging by her faint shadow cast against the painting's deep olive-green foreground, the beautiful maiden glances upward in the direction of the sun, with an air of nobility. She clutches a wine flask and raises a cup made of imported Venetian glass. Her long black hair, which is covered by a translucent tangerine shawl, graces the small of her back in alluring wisps. Between the front parting of the fine white gauze around her waist is a brilliant gold floral embroidery with an orange border and gold fringe that complement her pom pom slippers.
Although unsigned, this fine painting is almost certainly by Muhammad Reza-i-Hindi, active within the provincial Mughal courts in the mid-18th century. Compare, for example the softly rendered eye and shaded pupil of a posthumous portrait of Muhammad Shah in the Cleveland Museum of Art (2013.347) and of an equestrian portrait signed by the artist which was sold at Sotheby's, London, 8 October 2014, lot 218. Other signed and unsigned examples of Muhammad Reza-i-Hindi's work were in the Forbes collection alongside this folio before it was sold at auction in 1962 (see Maggs Bros. Ltd., "Bulletin no.5", April 1963, pp.97 & 100, nos.94 & 97). More are published in Binney, Indian Miniature Painting from the Collection of Edwin Binney 3rd, 1973, p.109, no.86; Archer, Romance and Poetry in Indian Painting, Wildenstein, 1965, no.5; Falk & Archer, Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, 1981, no.211; and the David Collection, Copenhagen (12/2002).
While discussing another signed and dated work by the artist, Losty notes:
"Muhammad Reza-i Hindi's career seems to have followed a remarkable trajectory. Having initially moved from India to Iran, he is then recorded as having produced a series of later works back in India... Muhammad Reza-i Hindi seems to have been an artist of sufficient calibre to have found significant patronage in royal circles both in Iran and in India. He seems to have had a remarkable talent for adapting his style to suit the fashion and circumstances of his patrons."
(Losty in Francesca Galloway, Persian & Indian Paintings, New York, Spring 2018, p.23.)
Provenance:
Collection of Sir Charles Forbes, 1st Baronet (1774-1849), acquired in India, c.1790
Collection of Col. Sir John Forbes, DSO, DL, Bt.
Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1962, lot 6
Collection of F. S. Aijazuddin
Sir Charles Forbes left his native Scotland for India when he was just sixteen to assume the reigns of Forbes & Company Ltd, founded by his uncle in 1767, which is one of the oldest companies in the world still in business. His name ranked high in the commercial world for ability, foresight, and rectitude of character. Back home, he became a member of parliament and was one of the earliest advocates for the inclusion of women as representatives in the House of Commons. In India, he was distinguished for his philanthropy. He knew the people intimately and spent a large portion of his fortune in their midst. In parliament and in the proprietors' court of the East India Company his advocacy of justice for India was ardent and untiring. One of his last acts was the appropriation of a very large sum of money to procure for the inhabitants of Bengal a plentiful supply of pure water in all seasons. The portrait of Sir Charles Forbes that stands in the Asiatic Society of Mumbai Town Hall represents the first instance on record when the people of India raised a statue to anyone unconnected with the civil or military service of the country. (Adapted from Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, vol.19., pp.380-1.)