F.1r
F.22r
An illuminated and illustrated manuscript of the Kulliyat of Sa‘di (cat.9)
Deccan, Golconda, circa 1640-60
Persian manuscript on paper, ink, opaque watercolor and gold, 118 leaves, 8 illuminated folios, 7 miniatures,
rebound original covers pasted on new binding
Page: 10½ x 6¼ in (26.7 x 15.8 cm)
Provenance:
Sotheby’s, London, Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 27 June 1967, lot 236
This is an important Persian manuscript produced at Golconda in the middle of the 17th century. The style is
strongly influenced by Persian painting of the early 17th century Isfahan School, and in this aspect it represents a
wider artistic fashion at Golconda at this period, when the ruling Shi’a Qutb Shahi dynasty acknowledged titular
authority of the Shi’a Safavid dynasty and artistic and cultural ties between the two kingdoms were strong
F.32r
F.60r
F.11v
F.39r
F.43v
F.16v
The Subjects of the illustrations are as follows:
f..11v The Persian slave flung into the sea to overcome his fear of the ship
f.16v Game being roasted for Nushirvan and there was no salt to be had
f.22r The darvish laying his head on the Ka’ba and asking for forgiveness, or, Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani laying his
head on the Ka’ba and asking for forgiveness
f.32r The prince being schooled with the schoolmaster’s sons
f.39r Moses and the foolish dervish who gets drunk and slays a man
f.43v A darvish, defeated in argument by Sa‘di, losing his temper and seizing Sa‘di’s collar
f.60r The king discovers the Qadi of Hamadan in bed with the farrier’s son
While the well-known influence of Persian artists such as Sheikh Abbasi and his sons Ali Naqi and Muhammad
Taqi, who worked in a hybrid Indo-Perso-Europeanised style and who may have travelled to the Deccan, was
evident in Golconda painting from the 1660s onwards, the present manuscript displays stylistic influence from
the previous generation of Persian artists such as Reza-i Abbasi and his circle. Just how strong this influence is in
the present case is illustrated by the scene on folio 43v - A darvish, defeated in argument by Sa‘di, losing his temper
and seizing Sa‘di’s collar, which is an exact copy of the same scene in an Isfahan manuscript of Sa‘di’s Gulistan (the
same text as here) signed by Reza-i Abbasi and datable to circa 1615 (Art and History Trust Collection, FreerSackler Gallery, Washington D.C., see Soudavar 1992, pp.260, 282-3; Canby 1996, cat.74, p.114, see figs.1-2
below). Not only is the composition as a whole based on the Reza version, including the water and landscape
elements, but the central figure group of Sa‘di and the dervish is identical in all aspects, so much so that the use
of a pounce of template of some sort is implied.
1. Folio 43v in the present manuscript
2. The same scene, signed by Reza-i Abbasi, in a Gulistan
in the Art and History Trust Collection, Washington D.C.
Furthermore, the colors of their clothes are also very similar. In the Reza version Sa‘di wears a brown coat over
a grey robe, and here he wears a brown coat over a purple-brown robe; and in both versions the dervish wears a
blue robe with an unraveling white turban and an orange topi. While the compositional similarities might be
attributed to a pounce or other template, the similarity in colors indicate that the artist of this manuscript had
seen the Reza version, either because he was a Persian émigré at Golconda, or because the manuscript in which
the Reza illustrations were bound was itself present in Golconda.
An interesting parallel to this situation is mentioned by Canby in her discussion of two other works by Reza-i
Abbasi. One is a double–page scene of a Picnic with a Nobleman dated 1612 (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, see
Canby 1996, cat.55, pp.100-101), of which Robert Skelton noted an Indian version in the Bharat Kala Bhavan in
Benares (op.cit, note 8, p.128). The other is a similar single-page composition – Feast in the Country (Keir
Collection, Surrey, op.cit, cat.56, p.103), which has borders of contemporary Mughal style, leading Canby to
suggest that the painting was produced specifically for sale in India and was taken there soon after completion
(op.cit, p.106). For a related manuscript with Golconda paintings of slightly later Isfahan influence, see Fogg
1996, no.168, pp.145-148)
A general stylistic comparison can be made between the present manuscript and an illustrated copy of the
Falnama made at Golconda and dated by Leach to circa 1610-30 (see Leach 1998, pp.221-227, although the
present author feels it more likely dates from 1630-50), which is itself closely modeled on Safavid forebears.
The general debt to Persian antecedents is akin, both in terms of compositional design and more specific details,
and there are many facial types which are closely similar (see figs.3-4 below).
There are also similarities between the facial types here and those of two other important Golconda paintings of
circa 1630, although those in the present manuscript are painted in a somewhat looser manner. The first is a
Darbar of Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah (British Museum, 1937 4-10-01), which Zebrowski dated to circa 1630 on
the basis of the presence at the prince’s right hand of Muhammad ibn-i Khatun (see Zebrowski 1983, fig.145,
p.180). The figures in the lower register around the horses provide comparisons for the faces here (see figs.3
and 5 below). The second is A Holy Family, also of circa 1630 (Freer Gallery, Washington D.C., F1907.267, see
Zebrowski 1983, fig.146, p.181) in which, again, several faces are similar in style to those in the present
manuscript (see figs.3 and 6). These comparisons show the development of a particular manner of depicting the
eyes in the first half of the 17th century, which are rather bulging and heavy-lidded, (what Leach describes as
“popping eyes”, see Leach 1998, p.222), and this characteristic became a frequent feature (almost a signature
style) of Golconda painting from then on. A generally close comparison to the facial types is found in a scene of
intoxicated dervishes (de Selliers 2009, p.11)
3. Faces in the present manuscript
5. Faces in a Darbar of Sultan Abdullah
Qutb Shah, Golconda, circa 1630
4. Faces in a Golconda Falnama manuscript of
circa 1610-1650
6. Faces in a Holy Family, Golconda,
circa 1630
An interesting detail to note is the way the turbans are depicted. In the British Museum Darbar scene, in which
the main figure was ruler of Golconda and the picture as a whole therefore had an indigenous setting and was
peopled by local characters, the turbans are tied in the Deccani manner, with the main cloth sloping backwards
to a higher part at the rear, and with a gold band tied across diagonally. The folds of both the colored cloth and
the gold band are clearly delineated. In the present manuscript, which is a Persian text and whose pictorial
tradition comes from Persian sources, the turbans are generally tied in the Persian manner, with the higher part
to the front and the gold cross-band (where present) tied on the opposite diagonal. (There are only two here in
the Kulliyat which are tied in the Deccani style – the boatman in the scene on folio 11r who extends the oar to
the flailing Persian slave in the sea, and the onlooker at upper left of the Moses scene on folio 39r.). This
adaptation of pictorial detail to accord with the context of the subject is not in itself remarkable, but it is
interesting to see this process at work, with the same painterly mannerisms being tweaked to suit the different
contexts of subject matter and perhaps patron.
The style and massing of the rocks in the present manuscript, particularly those on folio 32r, resemble those in
miniatures of the 1620s and 1630s, including A Prince Hawking (British Library, IOL, 414, see Falk and Archer
1981, pl.13; Zebrowski 1983, fig.138, p.173), A Young prince riding a horse (L.A.Mayer Museum, Jerusalem,
Ms.127-69, see Zebrowski 1983, no.139, p.175) and Two Lovers (Harvard Art Museums, 1979.299b, Zebrowski
1983, no.140, p.175).
Two individual details of the miniatures worth noting here are the gold floral textile shown hanging on the
Ka’ba on folio 22r, which is essentially Mughal in style but may represent a Deccan (or Safavid) example, and
the figure of a European gentleman on the blue-and-white vase on folio 60r.
The style and format of the illuminated opening pages in the present manuscript is close to that of a Kulliyat of
Sa‘di in the Salar Jang Museum, Hyderabad, datable to 1590-1600 (Michell 1986, color frontispiece, p. viii, see
figs.7-8 below). In the Salar Jang example, the intermediate field is colored gold, whereas here it has been left
uncolored, either because the manuscript was unfinished (see below) or intentionally. But the form and
arrangement of the illuminated cartouches and panels is very similar.
7. Illuminate page from the Kulliyat
of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah,
Golconda, circa 1590-1600
8. Illuminate pages from the present manuscript
The unfinished nature of the present manuscript is evident in two ways. First, there are several folios left blank
to receive illustrations or illuminations, which were never executed. Second, on the final folio (118r) the
diagonal text in the outer column ceases in the upper half of the page, indicating that a final fragment of text, or
perhaps a lengthy colophon, was intended to be included. The unfinished state of the manuscript can be
attributed to two potential causes. Firstly, it is possible that the patron simply ran out of funds, or cancelled his
order for the manuscript, and the scribe and illuminator were unwilling to devote any more time, effort and
funds to completing it. Alternatively, the manuscript might have been made as a speculative commercial effort,
with the majority of the manuscript being completed, but enough left blank for a potential customer to be able
to influence the final decorative features, and for the scribe to record the actual date, and perhaps place, of
completion in the colophon.