A PREPARATORY DRAWING OF WISE MEN
PROPERTY FROM THE STUART CARY WELCH COLLECTION
Possibly Provincial Pahari School in Guler style, Himachal Pradesh, Northern India, first half 18th century

Ink, pencil, and opaque pigments on paper, the horizontal-format composition presenting four sketches of wise men clad in varied attires, belonging to different schools of thought and religions including a seated Muslim mullah with a white turban on the far left, holding in his hands a tasbih (prayer bead necklace) and a red book, possibly a Qur'an; in front of him a kneeling naked practitioner with a shaved head except for a slim ponytail at the top, possibly a Digambara ('sky-clad') Jain; standing next to him a man wearing a conical hat with a folded turban at the base of the head, and a long red drape covering his shoulders and torso, the drape reminiscent of Buddhist monastic cloaks; and lastly, on the far right, an ascetic, possibly a Shaiva sadhu or a Sufi mystic, throwing a pair of red shoes in the air, his hair unkempt, wearing a necklace of bells around his chest, two later-added black ink Arabic inscriptions on the lower corners, one referring to the Persian mystic, poet, and Sufi teacher Mansur al-Hallaj, known for his astounding declaration "I am the Truth (Ana'l-Ḥaqq)", leading to his execution in 922 AD, set within concentric polychrome rules, 20.5cm x 31.5cm.