Princes, Poets & Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from the Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan

191 Pages·21.721 MB·English

by  Sheila R. Canby

PRINCES ,
POETS & PALADINS
Islamic and Indian paintings
from the collection of
Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan
Sheila
~anby
Published for the
Trustees of the British Museum by
British Museum Press
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Thrt Trvsccn of the BOtish Mllkum
Sftttfully acknowk:dgc 1ht genottOU$ suppon
of tht Pnn« and Priocus Sa.druddin A,p Kh.an
and o( rht Atniar World of lsl.am Trus-.
ThiJ ca1:1~ue is publisho:I in as.sod.It.on
with an tlllhibition at tbt British Mu..seum,
London, from 11 January to 11 April 1998,
at the Anhur M. Sad.kr Museum, Harvard
Univer1hy AM Mu.s.eums, Cambridge, MA,
from May to Augu•t 1998, at the Muteum
Rkcberg, Zurich, from September 1998 10
J1nu1ry 19'9, and ar the MusCt d'art tt
d'hkcoire, Cmcva,, &om Scpttmber 1999
10 J1n1.1aty 2000.
fron1ifpt«r.1lw: story of Hahv.ad and
tk worm' (cat.no. a.,)
F, 11 q_
NL)
.3.2.37
·C3t;;' /
/"J9&
0 1"1 TM TtuJ<ta of chC' Britkh Muwum
FiM pvbUthed in 1991 tiy British MU:ttum PK"H
A dtvisk>n of 'The: British MtliNm Company Lid
4& Bloomsbury Scrm, London wet• JQQ
A c11alogut r«ord for this book is av1il1bk
lrom the British Library
IS8N 0•7141•148)•9
Ot:signed by Jam-rs Shurmcr
Phocognphy by John Williams and Dudky
Hubbard, Britb:h Museum Phot'.ottaphic Service
Typntl in ~bon by Lasc-r W«ds, MadraJ
Pttncitd and bov.nd in Gruc Britain br
PJ llt9fod.mont t...rd.. London w J Iott
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CONTENTS
Foreword page 6
Preface 8
Acknowledgements II
Introduction
CATALOGUE
Mongols, Timurids and Turkmans (1-11) 10
Early Safavid Iran (zz-40)
Late Safavid Iran (41-65)
Afsharids, Zands and Qajars (66- 8)
The Ottoman Turks (69-7 5)
Sultanate and Early Mughal India (76-99) 104
Middle and Later Mughal India (100-15) 134
Deccani India (r c6-z1) 155
Other Indian Schools and Nepal (rz1-37) 163
Company and Sikh Painting (138-45) 179
Bibliography
Index 191
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FOREWORD
It was during a luncheon rwo years ago at the Leggans• dcl~tJul flat
overlooking lake ~ntva in Vevey that Sir Hugh, former Commissioner
of the Museums and Callcries Commission. first broached the subtcct o(
an exhibition at the Briris.h Museum. Parts of this collection had been
shown in America and Switu:rland and many objects were loaned from
time to time co various institutions. But the British Museum is a place:
where indjvidual collectors are seldom invited to display the fruhs of 1heir
que.st.
A meeting was arranged at Bellerive with the British Museum's Director,
Or Robcn Anderson, Graham Creene, the Chairman of the Board of
Tru1rec1, and Roben Knox, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiqui·
tics. Dr Sheila Canby. Assistant Kttper in the Dep.anment of Oriental
Antiquities, then 1pent many hours in Geneva selecting the items with
the efficient help of Liliane Tivolet from my sccrcuriat and preparing the
entries for t'his caf.llogue. I wish to thank her for making it the reference
work that LI the luring t«rimony of any exhibition.
My warmest appreciation gOC$ to Stuart Cary Welch, who claim1 to
know me bcn-er t,han I do and i5 probably right. His wise and unconven·
fional counsel remains invaluable to this day. I am gateful fO him for
ageeing ro write the preface of thi5 cataJogue when his rime ls very much
in demand preparing other exhibitions. I particularly wish to thank the
Altajir Trust and its Executive Director, Alistair Duncan, for the generous
support given to this initiative.
My firsf a~rcncs.s of an from the Islamic world goc5 back to the library
o( the Villa Jane-Andrte at Cap d'Anribes, where my parents spent much
time before and after the Scc:ond World War. It wu a mu.sty and c:brk
place. The cumim: were ohen drawn to prevent lhc Mediterranean sun
&om blexhi"' rhc huge 14m..:enrury Mamluk Qur'an which l•r open on
~ rOS<wood stand, usually ar me beginning of 'Surai-ul-Nu', which my
father never tittd of quoting.. 1 was fascinated by the power of ia calli·
graphic counterpoint. the diacritics and illuminations. Though I could not
decipher the text~ the burnished pages and their dark comers where thumb
and forefinger had left their mark o..-er the centuries exuded a special
mystery which I never forgot. My grandmother, who was the grand·
daughter o( Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar, had left us a large library of Persian
books, particularly in Bombay and Poona. The: <laMics o( Hafiz, Rumi,
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Firdausi, Baba Tahir, Omar Khayyam and astrologjcal treatises filled the
$helves beside: Nas.ir-i Khusrau, mystical tc:xrs by Hallaj and assorted works
on Shiite: Imams and lsmailism. Sadly, the Shahnama's illustrations were:
mostly 19th-century kitsch. Mustachioed faces of Nas.iru'd Din Shah and
Muzaffaru'd Din Shah peered out of golden lacquered bindings.
But it was only aher many visits to the: great capitals of the: Arab, Persian
and Turkish dynasties, where: my father made sure I was shepherded by
leading experts such as K. A. C. Creswell in Cairo, that the complex puzzle
came together. When I arrived as a freshman at Harvard in 19 50 and
first mc:t my mentor and fellow-collector, Stuart Cary Welch, the cultural
heritage of the Muslim world took on a new dimc:n$ion, much spurred
by the enlightening lc:crurc:s of Sir Hamilton Gibb.• Philip Hitti and other
resident scholars. Coincidentally, my very first acquisition was a page from
a 14th-«:ntury Mamluk Qur'an for which the dealer Khan Monif, whosc
New York premises Cary and I visited frequently, was asking thirty dollars.
Many years have pa$$Cd and the world is a different place, but my loTe of
Azab manuscriprs and Persian and Indian paintings has never ceased. I am
grateful to my wife for putting up with my occasional fits of 'collector's
dementia', especially in the saleroom. It has been a fascinating journey
during which the 'Court of Gayuman' from Shah Tahmasp's Sha/mama
(cat. no. 25) became its Holy G·rail, like the Oower to which the aged
pilgrim is drawn in one of my favourite Mughal piCNIC$ by Abu'I Hasan
(cat. no. xo4), Emperor Jahangir's 'Nadir al-Zaman' ('Ranry of the age').
It is my hope that Prinus, Poe.ts & Paladins will spread a timeless
message, one befitting the halls of the British Museum.
H. H. Pnnce Sadruddin A&a Khan
Bellerive, Switzerland
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PREFACE
Art collecrions sometimes reveal so much about their by the countless in\·entive arransements of flowen grown in
acquircn that the merest peek at their walls or vitrines the adjoining gardens.
causes blushes of cmbarra5$.ment. In the case of Prince Prince- Sadruddin's nature and taste bring to mind the
Sadruddin Aga Khan, responses arc cntircly reassuring, beguiling grate of another favourite painting, •A noble
for th.is public-spirited man•s indinarions as a collector hunt' (cat. no. 102.). Par:tdisaic:al in its h:armoniously soaring
match the rest of his acrivirics. He is well known for cypress. its flo~·crs, horse and almost supra.humanly elegant
his work u the United N.ation's High Commissioner for prince, it wa.s painted by Muhammad cAJi, whose C.'lreer was
Refugees, as UN Coordinator for Special Operations in almost as thoug.ht·provoking and delig.hrful u the painting.
Bangladesh, Uganda, Sudan, Chile and Cyprus, and for Uke the miniature's present owner, Muhammad •AJj was
many ocher humanitarian acriviries, as well as for his an adventurous traveller. Often in the company of his dose
intcUigent, generous and sensitive response to ecological arriSt·fritnd and fellow Sufi, Fanukh Beg, he moved from
problems through his Bellerive Foun~tion, his 'Groupe de Khuras:an in Ir.an where he W1~ trained to the Mughal court
Bellerive' and one of his ~ recent projects, saving the at Agra, :and thence to 8ijapur in the Deccan. He-is probably
Alp$. He h.as also wrinen many articles, received coundeu the most enga.ging of Turko·lndc>-lranian 'little masters'. and
decorations and disrincrion.s, and founded and dir«ted hi$ pictures - especi.ally this one - achieve angelic heights.
numerous academic institutions, associations and councils. Admired as an :artist (and presumably a witty courtier) by
Prince S:11druddin's an acquisitions parallel his good the Mughal t"mpcrors Jahangir and Shah Jahan, he was
works, supporting the ~·ords of a wise polynarion.al and equally appreciat·ed by the Deccani sultan Ibraham Adil Shah
polycultural friend in New York City, a curator in a II of 8ijapur, who was a major patron of music, poetry,
major mu.St'um: 'Collectors get whar rhc-y deserve-.' Prince architecture- and painting. No other painted tree is quite
Sadruddin's picrurc-s and objects arc a splendid harvest, comparable to this: tautly and gracefully arched as a mainsail
chosen with both his heart and mind. Although his worb or jib, propelled by~ firm but gentle brtt2e.
o( art range widely and include African, Native American, Prince Sadruddin is devoted to animals., and perhaps
Inuit, Tibetan and even avant·garde European and American prin('.ely fc.linophiJia prompted the pur<:hase of one of
pirnircs and sculprures, the choices all reflect development$ Mughal arc's livelies't :11nim:il picrures. 'A hmily of checrahs'
in his own life. (car. no. 78). Unusually large :and impress:ivc-, it can be
Reminded all roo oh-en through his work o( humanity's ascribed to 8a.sawan, Emperor Akbar's most innovative
suffering. Prince-Sadruddin avoids buying works of an that and expre$$ive :inist. Only Abu'I Hasan and Mansur,
evoke pain. Visitors to his house are struck by his penchant Alclnr's son jahangir's brilliant animalicrs, equal &sawan's
for the happy and lyrical. Several of his paintings rcl:atc ro unsentimental, rigorously observed yet tenderly sympathetic
gardens and flowers. Two, acquired from London auctions, zoological studies.
arc among the- m~1 lilting botanical pictures in Indian art. People, however, remain the primary concern at Bellerive,
The first, 'Tulips and an iri.s' (car. no. 101>. represents a and those in the paintings, like the guests at Bellerive, arc
p:anicularly ch«rful aspect of the sensitive-, down·ro-carth memorable for their expressive originality, whether stately
naturalism of Mughal an, tempered with the poetic fcnrour as Shah jahan, charismaric:ally powerful u Akbar, clcverl-y
encouraged by the Mu.gha.ls' southerly rivals, the sultans of m:asterful a:s Shah <Abbas or positively comical. Particularly
the De«an. It ca.n be attributed to a DtcC2ni-born anist and striking among Prince Sadruddin's painted 'guests' is a truly
iUuminator known a.~ 'the Master of the Borders' on the exf1'.10rdinary royal per$0nage: Shah Tahma.sp, the se<»nd
basis of his superbly graceful floral arabesques, painted for S:ifavid ruler, one of the worfd's mosr devoted and effecrive
Empcror Shah Jahan's albums. Presumably, his t.alent as .an patrons of painting. We meet this Iranian 'Medici' as he
artist and designer - one also senses his h:and in architectural was ponrayed in the opening miniarurc of his own copy
orn2ment - was recognised ar Burhanpur when his patron, of the Shahnama (Book of Kings). surely the mO$t richly,
as crown prince, commanded the imperial armies from that thoughtfully and a.nfully illustrated of all such manuscripts
De«ani outpOSt. The second, a deBciously ornamental floral (c.a.t. no. i.4). The dcan·shaven, droopy·nosed string bean of
fantasy (c.a.t. no. 116), ininted in the Ocean, at Golcgnda, a shah, shy but prepossessing, stands behind Firdau.si, the
during the later 17th century, ts paradoxically empowered compiler·poct of the lf3.nian royal epic.. He too might be-a
by fragile delicacy: it make$ us wish to re:.eh out for it :and ponrait, perhaps of Qadi·yi Jahan, the patron's mentor and
inhale dctply, just as, at Bellerive, one is &equendy tempted fathcr·figure-. Be that as it may, the bearded figure is shown
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meeting with the court poets of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, During the later 19th century -and since, many great
who became the poet'$ patron. The sentitive portnit o( Shah collecrions of Islamic an have been formed. In Franc:c, $UCh
Tahmasp, probably unique in early Safavid an for its dcgrtt enlightened and e.ager gatherers ac; Barons Edmond and
of psychological c.andour, is in effect the owner's stamp in Maurice de Rothschild acquired superb Persian and Indian
the manu&cript for which it sounds a painted fan(art. It manuscriptS, miniarurcs, metalwork and textiles., virtually
W2$ painred by the counier-painter Aqa Mirak, one of the all of which have since exchanged hands. Two eminent
shah's three senior anists. Known to have been the shah's Parisian jewellers, Louisj.Cartier and Henri Vever, also
'boon companion', he profoundly under$tood his friend's brought together a$tOnishingly rich collections, whieh have
complicated nature and recorded it in benevolent depth. since been sold, particularly to John Coclet, who gave rhem
i he twenty-year-old shah's cxtre.me gc-ntlc-ness, so apparent to Harvard University, and to the Arthur M. Sadder Gallc-ry
from the portnit, may give a hint of unhappiness ahead, in Washin.goon, DC. In England and Ireland, C. W. Dyson·
(or in due count he would suffer from the guih-ridden Perrins and Sir A. Chester 8c:1itty :1icquircd brilliant material.
nightmares and orher miseries that drove him into self The formcr's smaller number of manuscripts found their way
denying orthodoxy, turning him against the ple.i.sures of by bequest to the British Library and to the saleroom, While
painring and patronage. While enjoying this joyously $Uperb the latter's magnificent bounry of m:1inuscripts, miniatures
painring. the momentum of which tugs us into the volume, and drawings were bequeathed to the lri.sh nation, where
we may be relieved to know that when Shah Tahmasp they arc maintained as the A. Chester Seany Library. During
dn.stically diminished the scale of his ateliers he conrinued the same years in the USA, museums as ~·ell a.s private
to appreciate and support Aqa Mirak, who painted for him collectors also built up fine collections.
a series of unusually large, excitingly and freely composed By 1950, however, the great collectors in our field
religious illustrarioM to the Falnama (cat. no. 30). had either died or lost their acquisitive spark. The
Prince Sadruddin's pictorial guest list :1ilso includes sub ROfhschild, C:1inier and Vcvcr colleaions were packed away
royal beings such as Pari Khan, a dancing-girl (cat. no. 139). by d.isinrcrestcd hcirsi and Sir Chf:ster Burry, Amcl'ican
She was painted in Delhi during the ca.rly 19th century, by by birth, had moved from London to Ire-land, where
a gifted anist mined in the MugMI aieliers, for William his instinct to buy in neglected fields led him to 17th·
Fraser, a most divening Irishman for whom India - and century Dutch landscapes, which were emerging from
Indians ... provided pleasure-and dc-ljght. Bringing to mind disused country houses. For those with a taste for Islamic
the offerinp of Emperor Jalu.ngir's wife Nur jahan to an, a new golden age awaited. Although a few dealers
hf:r husband, this cnnsporring ponrait was givf:n to Princf: in Paris and London had inherited dwindling uocks and
Sadruddi.n by Princf:ss Catherine. auction houses occasionally offered good, even excellent
Aqa Mirak't extnordinary miniature for the Sha/mama material, prices continued to be low and buyers rare. But
i$ one of a notable group acquired by Prince Sadruddin interest gndually r«urged, due in considerable measure 10
from Shah Tahmasp's gtf:atcst manuscript, reftccring its new activities at Harvard Univcrsiry, wherf: we staged frequent
owner as a colleaor. AlthO\lgh impassioned by art, Prince small exhibitions and attracted students to this neglected
Sadruddin is n0t onf: for aggressive display. His picrures :1ind subjea. John Coe.let, already seriously intertsted in Islamic
objf:cts rend to be small in scale, compaiablc ro chamber history and culrure, was among thf: first of a success.ion
music as oppOsed to operas or symphonies. Often they of connoiueurly students who responded strongly, and
rf:Rea hi$ cuJrural bacl<.grou.nd as a Mu$1im. A few, such through hiJ gencr0$iry Harvard acquired most of the Louis
as a superb 11rh-<f:nrury Qur'an, were gihs hom his lath«, J. Ca.nicr coUection of superb Sa(avid picrurcs. To funher
Muhammad Shah Aga Khan DI. Most were acquired from our ambitious acquisition policy we prepared Lists, based
specialised deatl'm or at auction. upon old public.ations, of the contents of other French
During the sos, when Prince Sadruddin bf:gan to collect collections, including those of the R01hschilds and Henri
Islamic material while at Harviird University, excelJent Vcvc-r.
pictures, c.alligraphies and objocu could be found in the Among th~ the most exciting to us wu the Rothschild
hands of dealers in New York City, whose cupboard$ were collection, which we pursued with the eagerness of truflle
rich with neglected worb of art. Because the field had been hounds. Upon reading in thf: London Tim.ts o( thf: death
in the doldrums for decades, new enlhusia.su were warmly of Baron Maurice de Rothschild, I cabled John Coolidge,
received. Although tuch irmiturions as the Bririth MuJeum~ director of Harvard Universiry's Fogg Art Mu.scum, and
Metropolitan Museum of Att, Freer Callery and thf: Fogg told him th:at an f:Xciring opponunity awaited. Perhaps we
Att Museum made occasional purchases, their curators couJd acquire the great but legendary - for it had not been
rarely expl0red cle.alcrs• basements and warehOU$C$. Because seen by ltnowiedgeable eyes for many decades ... Rothschild
many fine pictures and objects were available - leftovers Shdlmama. Probably the mOSt artistically rich of all Iranian
from the days when the ans of the Islamic world had manuscripts, it had bttn initiated by Shah lsma•il, founder
been ugcrly collected ... it was exhilarating for our ever of the Sa.favid kingdom, and completed for his son Shah
increasing cirde of friends to explore the wtlcoming bua:ars Tahtn.a.1p. Predictably, the Fogg Art Museum lacked funds
of New Yorlt. for such acquisitions; but upon my rerum to Cambridge he
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told mt chat a friend, Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. w..s eager as an 'illumin,atcd man., morally upright (and) profoundly
to purch~ 'a rruijor work of an'. Assuming that he would humane'. The second of these miniarures, probably the mosr
give it to the Houghton Library, whieh he and his family had luminous expression of sunlight in Iranian an, is 'Gushtasp
eSt~li.shed for Harvard, I urged him in 1959 to buy the great slays a dragon on Mount Saqila' (cat. no. i.8) by Mirta •Ali,
Shahnama from its inheritor, Baron Edmond de Rothschild. the enormously gifted son of Sultan Muhammad.
He followed my advice, and soon agreed that my friend Dusr Muhammad's 'The story of Haftvad a.nd the
ProfCSS()r Manin 8. Dickson and 1 should publish it. Our worm' (caL no. 29), one of only rwo signed mini.arures
two-volume, almost unUftable monograph, a. vast 'labour in the-Shahnama, was added in c. t s40, perhaps at the
of love', came out in 1981. To proclaim the imponanoe artisc'f behcst. Although he contribut·ed many IC$$ masterful
s
and ht:aury of Shah Tahmasp's creation, we also mounted miniatures to the project during rhe 1 i.os, this strange-Jy
exhibitions at The ~ietropolitan Museum of An i.n i97:a., personal interpretation of an oudandish tale represents this
and in 1979 at the British Ubrary, National Callery of An follower of Bihiad at his mature best. It was painred not
and Fogg An ti.iuseum. But by then Anhur Houghton had long before he departed from Iran to join the Mughal
surprised u.s by breaking up the manuscript, giving $CVt-nry· coun of Emperor Humayun. For thif art-loving emperor
eight of its miniarures ro the Metropolitan Museum and he painted a large and powerful portrait, also acquired
beginning to sell the rest of the manuscript'$ 258 p.a.intinp. by Prince Sadruddin (eat. no. 77), It dc-picu the emperor's
first at auction, later priV;ttely. controversial favourite, Sh,ah Abu'I Ma'ali, wh0$C violence
One result of Houghton's unexpected action was the and fanaticism so disturbed the emperor's sons rhat.
ss1.
sudden availability of great Safavid piccures to lovers of following the accession of Emperor Akbar in 1 he wa-s
Iranian an, one of whom w-a.~ Prince Sadruddin. Without suangled.
hesitation, he bought at auction 'The death of Zahhak' A1though unsigned, Sultan Muhammad's 'Court of Cayu·
by Sultan Muhammad and ~1.ir ~yyid <AJi (c:at.no.16). ma.rs' (cat. no. is>. acquired direetly from t.1r Houghton.,
festive in mood., it avoids calling anention to the is one of the foremOSt ma5terp;eccs of Iranian an. Spiri·
tyrant's agony. lnste-ad, it overflows with sprite-ly dragon· rually intense-, its candle·fla.me design seems to rise from the
Ulcc douds.. wondrOU$ faces - some o( 'hem smarringJy page dC$pite its myriad o( figure:.$, picruresquely oriental·
naruralisric - concealed in rocky Mount Damavand, an ising rr«s, dclightfuJ Lions and orher animals., and a density
elegant hawking party and countless splendidly attired of concealed rock~bein.gs. Minutely finished, it required
courtiers and musicians.. Ar the Sime time, Prin« Sadruddin many years- to complete, and one an perh.ap$ imagine a
bought Aqa Mirak's most lyrical y;ork, 'Firdau.s.i encounters very young Shah T ahmasp scrutinising the progress of this
the court poets of Chatna', with it$ extraordinary arnaiing work during frequent visits to his anl.sts' studios.
psychological ponnit of Shah Tahmasp (cat. no. l.4). Later, The high point of Tabriz painting, the v.•ork unites the pre·
when funher pictures ~·ere offered by Mr Houghton Safa.vid Tu rkma.n mode of western Iran with the eastern
through Agnew's, he chose rwo of the finest by anisis of sryle of Timurid Herat in a thrilling new Saf-avid synthesis.
the younger generation. The first of these, ti.iuzaffar 'Ali's It also represents the peak of Prince Sadruddin's collection,
buoyantly c:omp<>sed, freely brushed 'RU$tam purSues Akva.n reminding us that 'collectorS get what they deserve'.
the onager~iv' (cat. no. 27), probably appealed not only for
itS zestfully leaping animals but for its purity and innocence S. C. Welch
of spirit, charac:teriMic: of an anist admired in his own day Paris, Mareh I 'J'J7
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many exhibitions begin as a gleam in a curator's eye or the latter, who has written the Preface to this catalogue, has
dream of a coUmor. While both may apply to Prinus. Pons & exerted a huge influence on the fields of Islamic and Indian
Paladins, the catalysts for the exhibition were Sir Hugh and painting over the pas.t forty years through his publications,
Lady l..qptt, hic-nds o( Prince and Princess Sadtudd.in Aga exhibitions., teaching and advice to collecto~ Anthony Wekh's
Ktwi and supporters of the British Musnim. The l..tg:ptu' four·\''Olu.mc: catalogue of Prince a.nd Princiess 5.adruddin At;a
belie( il'l the exhibition proved contagious• the Chairman K.hao·'s C·ollcction is tM: b:Wc reference for much of 1he
of the Trustees of the British Mus.eum, Graham Grttne, Penian and Turkish m:1.1erial. Although 1WO ~cade$ have
tht Director, Robtrt Anderson, :1.nd the Keeptt of Orienrsl passed s.ince its pub!M:ation, much of the information contained
Antiquities, Robtn Knox, all gtttted the idt2 with enthu~asm in it remains v:i.lid 1oday and bu been incorp<>r:i.ted here.
:1.nd continued t() be m0$t $upp0rtivc throughout tht plllnning Llkewi$C., Anthony and Stuart Cary Welch's car.alogue of .a
and implemenr~rion of the exhibition. A$ the cur21or of the 198) exhibition of sevenry·five worb &om the Sadruddin
exhibition, I am most grateful to the Ltggam, Mr Greene, Dr Ag;a Khan collection includes mllth useful infonmtion, not
Ander50n and Mr Knox for thei.r ac«l:Sibilicy and guidmc;e over subiequendy superseded, on the Mughal paintings. In lj87
the past two yeau. B. N. Goswamy md Eberhard Fischer included many more
Succm in aU the practical maitttn of the exhibition would Mughal paintings in their catalogue Wonden of " Cokkn
ha\'C eJuded us entirely without the Mlp of the che«ful ~. which in Nm has proved an invalw.ble resource in
and utterly dedicated staff of Prince and Princess Sadruddin the preparation of this catalogue. Although some effon tw
Aga JC.Nin. 11.ime Li(jane Tivolet and Mme Munira Sundetji been made to include works not previously exhibited, many
are models of efficiency whose reliability g11ve us confidence paintings in this. collection arc of such high quality and of such
whcnC"Yer thtte might have bttn reason to worry. major historic.al importance that the.re could be no question of
In London my colleagues in the Oepanment of Oriental excluding them.
Antiquities have helped in innumerable ways. R.ac:hel Ward, TM Deccani, Raj:asthani, Pahari, Nepalese, Sikh and
Richard Blurton, Mich~I Willis and Veneria Porter have Company paintings in the collection of Prince and PrinCC$$
provided e:tt«llcnt S(b<:>larly ~vtce and have helped with S:i.druddin Asa Khan have neither been exhibited not
i.n5Cri-prions in lan.gu~cs that I cannoc decipher. The catalogued as a group before. Thw: I have bothered my old
transliterarion $y$(Cm u.scd here for Nabie, Persian and T urki.sh friends Mark Ztbn>W$ki and Tr:renc;e Mi;lnemey on many
i.s based on that of the ln1tm111.ional j()Uma/ of Mkldl~ East OCC2sions: wi.th rudimcnt.ary questions on lndian p.ainting.
Slwdiu. Most diacriricais have been omincd in ~nsideration Likewi&c:. Micha.cl Rogcn was extteimly helpful --;th my
of non-spccWi1t readers. Carol White and Rita Phillips have Turkish queries. and Shreve Simpson, Massoumeh farhad and
handled administrative maneu admir.ibly. john Wil(jams and Tom Len12 all indulged me with discussion of the Pcnian
Dudley Hubbard of the Museum's Photographic Servi~e spent paintings. I am grateful to my family fot neither dwelling on the
days phoc:ographing paintings in Geneva and oversaw the catalogue nor impeding me from doing so. If pre:s.sutts of rime
developing process upon returning to London. David BeJlamy, have led to the omission of references and the commiss.ion of
Jane Newson, D:tivid Turley and Julie Melrose applied their errors, ma culpa. On the other hand, wha.tever is worthwhile in
considerable skill to the installation ol the paintin$$ for the the text of this c:i.ta.logue could not have bttn achieved without
exhibition. the Mlp of my colle~cs.
On the atalogue I have reoeived immeasurable supp<>rt from The exhibition and catalogue haYe been nude: possible
Rebecca Naylor, a volunteer auistant., who worked on the through grants from the Altajir World of 1$1a.m Trust and
map$, bibliography and index, and Fahmid.a Suleiman, an i.ntem Prince and Princess Sad.ruddin Aga Khan. I would like to
from the lmricutc of lsnuili Studies. Annie Searight drew the extend my thanks to Alistair Duncan, Exei;utive OirectOf of
maps. The patienc;c and understanding of my editor at British the Altajir World of lslani Trust, whose unflagging suppoct of
Mweum Press, Nina Shandloff, kept the catalogue on course, Islamic c:ulrural programmes has so enriched (jfe in the United
as did the production skills of her colleague Susanna Friedman, Kingdom sin« r976. Finally, I must express my deep gratitude:
the copy editing of John Banks, the design of James Shurmer to Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan for their gene:rosity
and the colour reproductioo of John AUen. in lending their extraordinary collection to the British Museum
I cannot pretend to have a consistent and profound and allowing me: to catalogue it. Prince Sadruddin's equanimity
undcntanding of all the schools of painting reprtSented in and kindness, on the one b:i.nd, and his profound a.pprecillition
ibis catalogue, and I Mve relied hc:i.vily on the advice a.nd of lsWnic and Indian p:i.intin.g, on the ot-her, M.ve been the
prC"Yious work of scholars of Indian a.nd Turkish painting. inspiration for this exhibition and itS catalogue.
First among 1hesc att Anthony and Snwt C:i.ry Welch. Tbe
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