Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Lot 214
The mystic poet Kabir weaving and preaching to an audience seated on a terrace outside a hermitage Oudh, probably Lucknow or Faizabad, late 18th Century
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £21,760 inc. premium
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Oliver White
Head of Department
The mystic poet Kabir weaving and preaching to an audience seated on a terrace outside a hermitage
Oudh, probably Lucknow or Faizabad, late 18th Century
Oudh, probably Lucknow or Faizabad, late 18th Century
gouache and gold on paper, laid down on a large album page with naturalistic floral sprays
painting 245 x 155 mm.; album page 440 x 300 mm.
painting 245 x 155 mm.; album page 440 x 300 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Sotheby's New York, 30 November 1968, lot 121.
Samuel H. Golding, Stamford.
Sotheby's New York, Indian & Southeast Asian Art, 1st April 2005, lot 127.
Kabir was a 14th Century mystic poet, said to have been born to a Hindu mother but raised in a community of Muslim weavers (alluded to in our painting). His teachings combine Hindu and Muslim concepts. He rejected the fetters of religion, caste or class and espoused the idea of one Creator. Since his poetry was composed in simple vernacular lyrics it was widely popular. Several of his compositions appear in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.
Here he preaches, while weaving, to a mixed audience comprising a Hindu priest, an ascetic, a woman and a nobleman.
For another depiction of Kabir with attendants, including a musician, Mughal, early 18th Century, see Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 25th October 2017, lot 75.